Pace Beijing is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Hai Bo, one of China’s most important conceptual photographers.This will be the artist’s first solo exhibitionat the gallery.
Hai Bo expresses his understanding of art and creativity through his photographic practice. Since 1987, Hai Bo has worked continuously in the rural areas of Northeast China, leading to the completion of numerous series of work. In his photographs, Hai Bo tends to choose a specific location as a starting point. By introducing the effects of time and narrative into his photographs, he explores the unavoidable changes that occur throughout history, both external and internal. These poetic images stand as a lyrical memorial to the endurance of time and nature.
This exhibition will feature both Hai Bo’s iconic and most recent works.Untitled No. 8, completed in 2009, portrays an old man in the dusk, flanked by significant still-life objects from his life. By flanking the image of an elderly man with a pile of potatoes and a clock, Hai Bo visualizes the traditionalmetaphor of life and time in a delicate and subtle manner, and manages to convey a sense ofpermanence and immutability under the ever-changing surface of reality.Hai Bo demonstrates his ability toexcel at recording constant change through photography.
One of Hai Bo’s iconic series, The Photographic Diary, uses seemingly scattered visual fragments of everyday lifeto record people’s habitualmemories that have the tendency to erode and disappear gradually over time. These fractured mental images often flash back through the subconscious like a rebus, encouraging people to reexaminethemselves in a way that is separate from narration, and to regain lost memoriesthrough a stream of consciousness approach.
This exhibition will also display Hai Bo’s latest series, The Blind. The artist chose a blind fortune-teller as the subject in order to explore both the human desire to control fate as well as, realistically, our helplessness. Hai Bo reflects on the fear of the unknown, pursuit of lost memories and the consequential, inevitable sadness that comes with the longing for something that will last forever.Hai Bo, who is now in his fifties, has chosen to express his ideas on the ever-changing nature of life as well as the unpredictability of fate through his new photographic works. They seem to suggest that even in these uncertain times, some things remain constant.
Hai Bo was born in 1962 in Changchun, China. He currently lives and works in Beijing. Hai Bo has shown and gained popularity both locally and internationally, including exhibitions such as Hai Bo atPace/MacGill Gallery, New York, U.S.A (2011) and Perspectives: Hai Bo at Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, U.S.A (2010).He was also included in international group exhibitions such as The China Project at Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia (2009) andJourneys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Artat Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A (2007).Hai Bo was awarded The Martell Artist of the Year prize in 2011 andChinese Contemporary Art Awardin 2000. His works are in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum,Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,Queensland Art Gallery, National Art Museum of China, Guangdong Museum of Art.
Pace Beijing is also pleased to present a solo exhibition by installation artist Liu Jianhua. Following his preview two solo exhibitions at Beijing Commune, the artist is examining a deeper exploration into the thematic overlap of contemporary art and the traditional Chinese spirit, unveiling a new aesthetic that drifts away from the prevailing popular value system in the country.
Beginning in 2008, Liu Jianhua started to shift the theoretical focus of his artistic creation away from sociological interpretations and towards the development of his ownunique conception of what he refers to as “quiet aesthetics.” In his recent work, the artist avoids the distracting noise of a superficial reality, watching calmly and rethinking thoroughly his view ofsociety, the cultural environment and the human spirit from a distance.
This exhibition will include two new sets of Liu Jianhua’s recent work, Behind the Lines and Elegancy and Danger, Your Visual Experience. The works feature a daring materiality designed to deliver a new visual experience to the audience. Through these innovations in materials, the artist seeks to elicit a different interpretation from viewers than what is the customary response to other installation work. In Behind the Lines, Yingqing (Shadow Blue) antique dishes and Qinghua (Blue and White) porcelain are intentionallymixed together to create subtle nuances, implyingthe possibility of an objective judgment and recognition gained from daily observation. Our everyday perception has been skillfully transformed into a philosophical inquiry, with sculptural functionality serving as epistemological metaphor.
Elegancy and Danger, Your Visual Experiences presents a constant feeling deeply woven into people’s daily life. This piece utilizes iron wires as its medium, reappropriating these mundane connective tools by elevating their utility from the anonymous materials of mass production to the precious status of rarefied art objects. Iron wires have been transformed and expanded from a kind of relatively violent material into a clearing where elegance and danger co-exist, opening a new perspective and the possibility of refreshed analysis and judgment.
The era of information overload also poses the threat of cultural homogenization. In response to the pervasive current psychological state of people, trapped in an unthinking addiction to rapid development and technological innovation, Liu Jianhua tries to awaken a traditional spirit through his artistic creation. He provides a kind of reflection and introspection that is independent of any popular value and interest, a re-interpretation of individuality and spirituality in contemporary times.
Liu Jianhua was born in 1962 in Jiangxi Province, China. He currently lives and works in Shanghai, China. He has shown and gained popularity both locally and internationally, including exhibitions such as Silent Anomalies, Art & Public Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland (2012); Screaming Wall, UCCA, Beijing, China (2011); Liu Jianhua: Horizon, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China (2009) and Dream in Conflict, Galleria Continua Gallery, San Gimignano, Italy (2008). Group exhibitions include ARSENALE 2012: The 1st Kiev Biennale of Contemporary Art, Kiev, Ukraine (2012); The 2nd Beijing Voice: Leaving Realism Behind in Pace Beijing, Beijing, China (2011); The 14th International Sculpture Biennale of Carrara, Carrara, Italy (2010), as well as New World Order: Present-Day Installation Art and Photography in the Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands (2008).
