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Virus inspires new art exhibition at West Bund
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Mark Rothko stated in his 1943 Manifesto: “It is our function as artists to make the spectator see the world our way — not his way.”
True, artists usually offer a unique way of stimulating communication between an individual and the outside world.
The exhibition “On Sabbatical,” currently running at the West Bund Museum, brings together artworks created by nine Chinese contemporary artists.
The concept behind the exhibition is rooted in the global stagnation brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. In the face of deserted streets, suspended social activities and delayed plans, almost everyone was suddenly forced to go “on sabbatical.”
Perhaps it’s only during moments like these when everyday habits and routines are disrupted that people grow more acutely aware of core values such as love and life.
The nine artists featured in the exhibition — Chen Fei, Chen Wei, Cheng Ran, Ding YI, Hao Liang, Huang Yuxing, Jia Aili, Shi Yong and Zhang Huan — come from different generations and backgrounds. Their works offer unique perspectives of internal growth and changes in people through their own artistic language. Here, space, time, distance between people, moments of life and death and unpredictable natural forces are reinterpreted into silence, unknown disorder and voids.
The highlight of the exhibit is Ding Yi’s “King of Crosses.”
Born in Shanghai in 1961, Ding graduated from the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Institute in 1983. Crosses are dominant symbols in his works. He overlays them and switches both colors and patterns, creating textures within his grids. The continuous and long-standing work process can be viewed as an evocation of energy that brings about very powerful spiritual, or Zen, changes in healing.
“I went to my studio alone every day during the lockdown and witnessed dramatic changes along the West Bund,” Ding said. “At the beginning, the area was desolate with no workers, but slowly museums and galleries began to open their doors. Now, so many people come for picnics and sports on the weekends. It reminds me of George Seurat’s painting ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte-1884’.”
Over the past two decades, Ding has explored different possibilities in crosses, from neo colors to black and white; from orderly to irregular rows; and from flat to multi-layered.
Date: Through September 6 (closed on Mondays), 10am-5pm
Admission: Free
Venue: West Bund Museum
Address: 2600 Longteng Ave
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