The exhibition “Looking Awry”, hosted by the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art and organized by Beijing Lelege Culture & Art CO. Ltd, is having its grand opening on September 22nd 4:00p.m., 2012 at Iberia Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing’s 798 art district.
This is a show that releases contemporary Chinese art from the usual historical, social, political, and cultural concepts; it aims to return to the individual, return to the basics. As the title “Looking Awry” entails, this exhibition hope to achieve the sudden emotional shiver among its audiences through the pure visual expressions of intense emotional impulse and precipitation of memories.
The “awry” used in “Looking Awry” is in reference to Slavoj Žižek, the most influential ideologist of contemporary cultural. The phrase “Contemporary Art” appears to be an extremely glamorous label, but if we try to perceive it in another way perhaps it could remind us of the various anxiety and deviation of both spirit and culture.Contemporary artworks seemed to be very straightforward, naked and integrated,inviting the public to comprehend and appreciate. However, behind the artworks there hid the artists’ secret intention and anxiety, which ther refuse to be completely comprehended by the public. This part that could not be comprehended is precisely the emotional mechanism of the phrase “awry”,and this is also the reason why contemporary Chinese art could continue to vibrantly flourish.
University of Illinois professor Gary Xu, who earned his Ph.D in Columbia University, curates this exhibition. This exhibition gathered arworks from 18 contemporary Chinese artists，they are Chen Wenling, Cui Xiuwen, Fang Lijun, Hong Lei, Huang Ying, Li Qing, Qin Ming, Tu Hongtao, Wang Guangyi, Xiang Jing, Xue Song, Yue Minjun, Yang Qian, Yang Xun, Zhou Chunya, Zeng Hao, Zhang Peili, Zhang Xiaogang they will show their newest works to the public for the first time, including paintings, new media and sculpture works. They are creating a whole new contemporary art world, and constantly exploring new forms of expression. Through this show “Looking Awry”,the public will enjoy to appreciate the deep communication between the artists and the curator.
