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November 16, 2006
Imagery from Contemporary Chinese Minds
by Doug Stuber
"Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China," continues on view at the Nasher Museum (what you haven't been yet!?) at Duke University. This exhibit, proves beyond a doubt, that Kimerly Rorschach and the delightfully approachable staff at the Nasher are not afraid to step into the 21st Century unclothed.
Anyone see "Pillow Box" the Chinese movie about the female calligrapher who makes art on humans, then sends them to galleries and collectors? "Between Past and Future" first hits you with Zhang Huan's progressively inked face. It starts as a type of poetry and turns into an all-black creep show that could cause nightmares. Eight of the nine large photographs are crisp, but the last one (bottom right) curiously allows movement, apparently by the camera, which causes cheek-glare on the man, thus opening a small portal back into the skin, or away from the solid black. The glare of background lights gives a glimmer of hope that China's new totalitarian capitalism may one day offer country peasants more than the lure of city money, which, so far, has caused laborers to go into massive debt, thus making them more impoverished, by far, than they were in the rice fields.

You will run into the theme of China progressing not into a golden age, but from the silver of Mao's time to the copper of the cultural revolution, and finally into war, not Nirvana. War, one gathers, that is inevitable when a country starts to control big hunks of the rest of the world economically. The show has been described around here as Avant Garde. Oh? Is it Avant Garde to take a thin slice of Mao Tse-Tung, full of parallax challenge, to distort the leaders face? Perhaps in China, but in the art world, I doubt it. Time-capsule collages that mash home photos, blurry newspaper renderings, and unusual smashing of subject matters are not on the cutting edge, but do show Chinese citizens smiling, which is more than their Russian comrades were doing, say, in the 1950s.
The newer photographs also take us into fashion, family fun, and goofy shots, like a woman on a ferry standing cross-armed, while four friends hide behind her waving hands in an eight-spoked send off that coincidentally relates to Hinduism's Eight-Spoked wheel. This "History and Memory" section leads to the stark blast of Xing Danwen's "Born with the Cultural Revolution," a series of three nudes in which a pregnant woman stands and lies in front of old photographs of Mao and other old-school communists. It was nice to see the familiar baby-line running vertically up the model's stomach.
Even more exciting is Fen-Ma Laning who shares a photo-video performance piece. His yard-long hair flows as he walks nude along a dilapidated section of the Great Wall of China. Conservative parents will go beyond simple avant garde verbiage if their children see this one. He often walks on the very edge of the half-broken wall, defying death, like an acrobat on a tight rope of feet-stinging rocks.
Now we're getting into the good stuff. Cang Xin's irresistible series of 12 tongues ("Communication Series No. 2) repeats the same tongue stuck over diverse subjects from dirt to money to dripping water.
Even more toward the "new" is Qui Zhijie's "Washroom," which stretches us (and the model's face) with a video that dangles the burning desire to know what the model is saying and screaming, even if un-translated. Ironically, the work is shown on a Samsung (Korean-made) screen.
This is a show worth taking your time to see.
Bravo to the Nasher for not only being at the beginning of this exhibit (Kimerly Rorschach just happened to be in on the concept of such a show from the get-go) but also its LAST STOP anywhere, having already hit New York, Chicago, Seattle, London, Berlin and Santa Barbara along the way. One New York critic pointed out that few, if any of these fun-loving and ballsy artists have representation up in the "City," but it's hard to believe this hasn't started a new wave of Chinese art flowing in.
The venerable Ethan Cohen in Tribeca, switched his entire line-up to nothing but Chinese art fifteen years ago, but, so much has been a rehash of artists that are well-known (read sell well) Chinese staples.
A couple years back I saw an artist in Cohen grinding one American and one Chinese headstone together, while making a video of the event. He kept doing it for six months until both stones were dust. This may seem extreme, but just look at Song Dong's effort, in which the vapors of his steam-breath are continually exhaled until ice forms on Tiananmen Sqaure. Not a bad tribute, and one that is appropriately Asian or even Buddhist in both technique and perseverance.

This new wave of Chinese photography and video, not only picks up on the art school students here, (where art movies propagate like John Waters on Viagra meeting 25,000 Brittany Spears wanna-bes) but at times surpasses it.
The Nasher has soundly challenged local norms to end its first year with this often sexy/sadomasochistic/prostitute-laden show. OK, in terms of subject matter, this is avant garde here in North Carolina, and for sure in China. Now that nearly everything in art has been tried, perhaps subject matter is the last frontier, and perhaps shocking people into realizing the fleeting moment that is life is worth showing over and over, no matter what people's take on life is.
If artists aren't out there breathing life into a community, uh, who's going to, the cubical-farmers at RTP?
Huan Yan's "Chinese Landscape - Tattoo," (above) is one thing, but the scenes from the edges of sexuality in the same bay are quite another (and not available for media exposure, so go check it out).

And humor is part of it. Dig "922 Rice Corns," a short film by Yang Zhenzhong. Two chickens pick up 908 Rice Corns, in their pecking way, as a counter for each chicken clicks away, and a middle counter adds the total. Voice-overs literally count the pecks in Mandarin (one female, one male) until the number adds up to 908, then the camera zooms in on 14 remaining rice corns, which are photographically "disappeared" as the count continues to the very last grain. Seems boring here, but tell me you didn't laugh once you see it. It's "Borat," Chinese style.

Zhang Dali has been crowned one of the stars of this exhibit, mostly for his concept that smashing down buildings in order to make Beijing look good for the Olympics is a waste of time, energy, and perfectly good living quarters, which are hard to come by in Beijing. Drawing graffiti around smashed holes in already-demolished walls just can't be why the big-city critics are enamored (I hope).
I liked his three-screen slide attack "Beijing Story," that inserts AK-47 lingo, graffiti and stomach paintings into scenes of the demolition in a bold shot at just what caused the original tenants to move out. Piles of wax AK-47s pile up on the middle screen, which, sadly, is too short for large hunks of this slide show, thus taking away from Zhang's work.
Photographs from nude performance art, done right on the streets of North Beijing, performance installations of 200 sheep spines in snow, showing off life at it's own speed, the tenuous state of nature, and the fleeting shots at joy humans have all abound in this show.
And strong photography work is evident everywhere too, like Hong Lei's "I Dreamt of being Killed by My Father When I Was Flying Over Immortal Land."

When Jack and Coke becomes a treasure in "Night Revels of Lao Lin," by Wang Quinsong, the thoughtful viewer may well be moved to realize just how easy we have had it "over here."

One Response to “Imagery from Contemporary Chinese Minds”

1. Administrator Says:
November 17th, 2006 at 5:32 am e

There has been a lot of private mail to the artrambler correcting the title of the film to which Mr. Stuber refers. We quote gentle, anonymous source:
Just a comment for those who would like to see the BEAUTIFUL, provoking film by British filmaker Peter Greenaway,”The Pillow Book”…not “Pillow Box”. Pillow books have a long history in Japan, the female calligrapher does send bodies(live) as books to one specific collector for an intrigueing reason. A must see.