Hakgojae Shanghai is pleased to present Ma Liuming’s solo exhibition “A Tenth of a Second" at Hakgojae Shanghai. This exhibition aims to focus and show Ma’s recent paintings that are based and created on his records of performance from the 1990s.

Since 1997, Ma Liuming produced his self-portrait performance for the spectators around the world. Keeping an expressionless face and silence, Ma just sits on a chair and hits the remote shutter control whenever a spectator steps into the photo zone and does anything to him or to the empty chair beside him.

“A Tenth of a Second” is from a title of the essay written by Duan Jun and also from the camera shutter speed set by the artist during his performance in taking a self-portrait with the spectators with a remote shutter control. Since 2012, Ma has selected from the historical records of performance as a subject matter of painting. After 15 years of sedimentation, the figures of the spectators have already fermented, changing into different appearances, even getting reconstructed and recomposed, acquiring an absurd and conflicting nature that transcends reality and time.

There are 13 canvas works and a video of performance “Fen•Ma in Dusseldorf” on display in Hakgojae Shanghai.

*image (left)
courtesy of Hakgojae Shanghai