Beautiful and haunting; these are words that come to mind in appreciating Liu Guangun’s work. Passionate about personal identity and the establishment of unity within chaos, Liu Guangyun borrows heavily from contemporary culture and mainstream society. Linda Singapore is honoured to be able to host two of his most eyebrow-raising series yet: The Unknown Road and Surface.
Though conceptually different, both series holds within them a common thread that is distinct of the artist. A rebel, he cries out upon the conventional ideas of art and its genres. They appear to be paintings, but a personal, realistic viewing of them reveals their inner substance, literally. From the sideview, the 4cm thick resin shows off an effective rendering of two dimensional prints upon the three dimensional work. Viewed from the front, it is hard not to feel inclined to believe the faces to be three dimensional in itself, surfacing out of the resin. The strong, powerful tension established through the artful creation of a rounded print within the resin, combined with a flat top demonstrates Liu Guangyun’s experience in the media, utilizing the properties of resin to give the illusion of the face breaking the surface, as if in water.
As an artist based mainly in new media, his refreshing take on the genre of painting places him firmly in the generation of artists that is redefining the ideas of what makes art. With a strong formalistic training in Art from the Central Academy of Fine Art at Beijing, Liu Guangyun has taken the world by storm, exhibiting in countries like Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Japan, USA and England. With collectors all over the world, Linda Gallery honoured to be able to be the sole representative in Singapore for his works that delve into the demographics of China yet are able to reach out to the world at large, touching its conscience.
About Liu Guangyun's Time X
by Shen Qibin
I believe those who travel a lot all over the world would have a deep understanding of time difference. It is far more than a pure scientific concept in terms of time and has a profound influence on human beings both physically and psychologically. In a broader context, it can also refer to variations in cultures, histories and values. Moreover, the figure X contains many layers of meaning. Mathematically speaking, it can refer to an unknown factor. In some circumstances, X can also be considered as a symbol of rejection and negation. Considering Liu Guangyun’s life experience and art practices, the title Time X does mean a lot to him.
During the past two decades, Liu constantly commuted between Germany and China. To him, time difference has already become an integral part of his daily life. Given the fact that his family is a typical combination of east and west, lifestyles, cultural tastes and values of this family are established on a dual context. In other words, a double standard is always applicable, which would easily lead to a variety of difference, gaps and conflicts in everyday life. Such difference between western and eastern cultures and values is presented as a daily task for the artist to tackle. His past videos such as Unable to Sleep and Losing My Face all featured the subtleties of such everydayness.
For his recent work, the artist used his experience of frequently flying between the two countries as a starting point, connecting his two home addresses in Germany and Shanghai respectively by means of web technology. It was no exception that Liu Guangyun used to fly between the two countries by air. However, this time by resorting to the virtual web he managed to find a route on the ground between the two destinations: starting from the gate of his house, he found an actual route through with he could head to his home in the other country at a speed of 120 km per hour. The route was 11071.9600114143km long and took 92.258 hours to finish. When the route was confirmed, the artist erased the background of real world including every single country, city and road in between from the image, retaining only an abstract and pure route line and presenting it in the form of a two-channel video. The flowing line was stripped away from any associations with external factors, making it a pure reflection of the soul journey of him during the past two decades and having no relevance to others but him.
This media installation will be installed at a fixed location and will accomplish this long journey. Actually from an objective perspective it eliminates the jet lag created by a route crossing various time zones. It is a kind of rejection versus time difference, which is <time x>, reflecting this meaning.
To further enhance the power of Time X, the artist ordered an 11071.960011 meter long cable to be made, representing 1/1000 of the actual distance between the artist’s two home addresses. During the exhibition, images and data were actually transmitted through the cable, to fulfill a transcontinental journey from one home to the other via visual images. The cable was embossed with “Liu GuangYun 11071.96011km Shanghai 31.287363/121.616960 Germany51.377735/6.405731”, referring to the artist’s name, length of the cable and the latitudes and longitudes of his two home addresses in Shanghai and Germany. The combination and conversion within the images and installation which were based on his personal experience highlighted his view of time in a subtle and yet precise way.
“The jet lag caused by the high speed of airplane and self rotation of the earth often brings me many troubles and confusion, making me doubt the certainties of time and distance. The 19 years experience of living constantly in different time zones has caused great stirs in my personal experience.” Such are the words the artist used to describe his understanding of Time X. He managed to reveal the various intricate problems behind time difference in a simple and yet efficient way, from which not only the artist’s concept, logic and wisdom could be perceived, but a sophisticated grasp of mixed artistic languages was also highlighted.
As an old saying goes: we need to express what we feel and what we are. Art, after all, should be the reflection of one’s true feelings. However, due to the current hype around the art market, art is often simplified to the level of mere images or symbols. In particular, the legend created by the Chinese contemporary art market during the past decade has imbued some artists with self-conceit and impatience, which makes a peaceful and honest mind extremely rare. That’s why I always consider Liu Guangyun’s approaches and attitudes toward art healthy and precious. The flowing line in Time X represents more possibilities and breakthroughs in his art creation, which, if properly explored, can function as a good starting point for further practices.
July, 2010, Shanghai
