Mixed feelings
I’ve mentioned Moganshan Road art village before, one of our China OCA study days was held there. It’s an inspiring concentration of different artists, outside the normal touristy area of Shanghai. I follow some of the galleries, but when Gareth emailed me a link, I couldn’t believe I somehow almost missed the exhibition that was going to be held at ShanghART gallery from July 27th till August 27th. With my dear Mom and sister in China for a holiday over that period, it was also the perfect opportunity to show them the Moganshan Road village, so we went on August 17th…. but I came back home with mixed feelings.
A Lecture Upon The Shadow, is a group exhibition of six artists, a collaboration between two galleries: ShanghART and Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool, UK). This exhibition will also travel to the UK, and can be seen from December 7th till February 17th, at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool. The six artists, FAN Shisan, LIANG Yue and MAN Yi (the three from Shanghai), and David Jacques, Tabitha Jussa and David Penny (the three from the UK’s North West), are all working with photography, quoting from the press release “…using different approaches, the artists play with light, shadow and form to re-imagine familiar situations, exploring photography’s relationship to illusion and the everyday….” The key words I would say: familiar, exploring, relationship, illusion, everyday.
So, back to the visit… armed with tutor Liz Smith’s helpful study visit structure and notes, with an open mind, and an eagerness to scribble on a new page in my little YOP notebook with the communist China propaganda poster picture on the front, I marched into the massive white-walled un-airconditioned space of H-Space. First, I had a walk through, to try and find or feel a connection between the work of all the artists, and made notes on images that pulled (or pushed) me more than others, to return and work out why.
A small range of multimedia was on display, David Jacques’ narrated (by the voice of the ‘supernatural’) projected film, David Penny’s framed images of constructed paper sculptures, made from pages of reproduction Dutch paintings art-book pages, and Tabitha Jussa’s impressively large horizontal print composited digitally from 50 separate negatives to create a single image. Liang Yue and Fan Shisan’s work also consisted of media manipulated work, but like Man Yi’s, theirs came across as more ‘normal’ photography. This odd balance of the three UK vs China artists in their chosen method of work made me wonder whether I should read more into it, but decided not to do so for now. The six separate wall spaces for each artist didn’t connect to each other as much as I’d somehow expected, and this disappointed me a little, but I can only put it down to not really having looked at group exhibitions before, to know what to expect in terms of ‘connected-ness’. Looking back at the exhibition, the cohesive element is much clearer in the views and media exploration of these artists, than in the subject matter on display. As prompted by the study day visit notes, I returned to the bodies of work, and then further closed in on the individual images that pulled me first time round. Only two artists’ work really pulled me… Jussa and Fan, followed by some images of Man.
Tabitha Jussa’s image titled Eldon Grove (2012), which deals with the ‘abandoned utopian social housing development’, struck a cord with me, because of my own recent explorations on a slightly linked, yet opposite subject matter. Like most of the prints in the exhibition, Tabitha’s print was nailed neatly to the wall, unframed. The print quality was beautiful, sharp and colours rendered beautifully, to bring across the gray drab British weather, but also, this allowed her to show minute detail. Her image seriously demands a first glance, followed by a second much closer analysis, because at first view it’s a beautiful place, seemingly (possibly) under paused construction, but is in fact the opposite – a slowly deteriorating once-idyllic ideal. As a single image, Tabitha’s piece is striking, and stands alone strongly, and carries a beautiful invitation to the viewer to engage in a Q&A as to what we create as utopia, and what eventually happens to these dream spaces we create.
A few of Man Yi’s prints from black and white film, Memory of Water (2006 – 2010) caught my attention, because of, once again my own recent experimenting with a 120 Holga, his exploration around the element of water, and the near impossible-to-detect details, creating a strange unease, to me it almost felt like being an intruder on his own private views onto spaces, yet it felt distant.
But it was Fan Shisan’s work topped my list of work that engaged me as person and viewer. The project called Two of Us (2009 -) deals with something much closer to home over here, people born under the one-child policy. The project explores the identity of these individuals through the constructed images of young people, at first glance possibly twins in the frame. On closer inspection and reading of the work, it becomes clear that the people in the photographs are the ‘one-child’, plus an imaginary reflection. To again quote the press release, because it’s so perfectly put, “… the works are suggestive of separation and loneliness, as the two characters in the images never seem to be able to communicate…”. It may sound like an easy multiple exposure or two layer Photoshop concept to pull off, but it isn’t. Each print is magically a space where the viewer steps into the world of these lonely young men and women. The locations vary from a quiet sparsely decorated bedroom, to that of a classical Chinese garden. What struck me was the disconnected element between the two people in each frame, yet, one of the people in the frame connects or makes contact with the viewer, drawing the viewer into the relationship in that particular room, but then the viewer finds himself not being able to connect with the third person, in the same way as the second. Individually, some of the images are strong in their own right, but to me, this series working together, left me with an immense sense of unease and loneliness.
One thought that came to mind when standing there, was how successful these photos would be in the UK? Would the concept of the one-child policy be understood in such depth by a culture which has only read and possibly seen documentaries on TV about the way China has dealt with their population since 1978? The beautifully composed and processed prints, with their very subtle colour schemes and soft light, very strongly capturing the exact light we work with here in China, is strong enough, I believe, to bring across, not only the cultural link with the explored subject matter of loneliness and identity, the lack of communication and placement of the person as self in relation to someone as close as a brother or sister, but also the context of the location of the series and the way Fan Shisan has explored his subjects. If I’d be pressed to select one or two favourite images from Fan’s work, they would be: 1, the print where two men appear to be on some form of jetty, with the low contrast water and sky as the background, the men (well, the one man with his reflection), without shirt, but dressed in black trousers. 2, the print of two men (again, one man actually), the non-contact person, slightly in the background, further in the room, with distance between him and the viewer, but with his ‘reflection’, sitting on a table, knees drawn up, elbows resting on his knees, making eye contact with the viewer. As in the other prints, this one particularly feels like the body language of the two people in the frame need to have a relationship, but it simply isn’t there, and it questions my perceptions of the relationships, not only between the person and his or her reflection (which one is the real person is never indicated) and myself, the viewer.
A Lecture Upon The Shadow is an exhibition which left me with mixed feelings, lots of questions to which I’m not sure there really are answers to… which is fine by me, since I’ve come to the realization that I personally find work which creates and questions, invites and includes me in a conversation, much more interesting than something where I can find the answer (too easily), or even where no communication is elicited. I’m fully aware that I might not have gone to the exhibition totally unbiased, but with slight too strong hopes of the British artists to be ground-breaking or trend setting or cutting edge, and a possible on-the-side-of the Chinese artists, which is silly really, it isn’t a competition… nevertheless I ended up really enjoying one British artist’s work, Tabitha Jussa, and thoroughly liked Fan Shisan’s work. Conclusion? Interesting art makes me question lots of things, and myself.
Photos courtesy of artists and ShanghART gallery, exhibition view photographer Alex Wang.
Dewald Botha is a level two photography student living in China. As he mentions above ‘Lecture Upon The Shadow’ comes to the Open Eye in Liverpool this winter and may form the basis of an OCA study visit.
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I’ve read your blog already Dewald and was struck by your comments on the Exhibition. Shan Shi San’s images are very poignant with that reflective shadow-self. I watched a videoed interview with Duane Michals a while ago and he said something along the lines of ‘the perfect other’ is the person you’ll never be.
I agree about Eldon Grove. It does look utopian until one looks closer. It reminded me of your own images of the advertising wall-drops hiding building work.
I won’t be going to the Liverpool study Visit but I’ll be interested to read further views/comments from the UK perspective.
Thanks for the review Dewald, looking at the one child images…which I understand the context of as its reported here occasionally….but looking at them I find I’m reading them as though the person was disconnected from a part of themself, like a kind of mourning. I guess that is the metaphor that the artist is using and so I can see it in a less specific way than the intention which is to highlight the lack of a sibling.
Very thought proking anyway, also thinking about the process used to create Eldon Grove…maybe that is a way for my small sensor make itself do comparable work to a large format camera :-O 😀
Catherine and Anne… a sentence from each of you really made me think about this more – “…’the perfect other’ is the person you’ll never be…” and “…the person was disconnected from a part of themself, like a kind of mourning…”.
I’m not quite sure exactly what to make of it, but a seriously thought provoking starting point, not only for looking at Fan’s work again, but to think of, just as a random example, again the word relationship, between yourself as photographer and the final body of work.
A quote from M. Silverstone comes to mind, the book Context and Narrative (Maria Short) I’ve read for PWDP – ‘A photograph is a subjective impression…. and in the end, the whole corpus of our work becomes a portrait of ourselves.’
Bit off the line of thought, but it is something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently: photographer + subject matter + personal voice = ?
And what and how to use / learn that ability, or recognise it, to include it in your work, as to function as the invitation to someone else to react to the work… not necessarily on the grounds and rules of the photographer (Anne, we talked about this a little time ago), but allowing for a fresh personal response from the viewer, on his terms.
Am I making this too complicated?
Catherine, can you remember where you saw the interview?
Well it makes sense to me, but also I like the fact that I might be able to make some work that makes me look at it as though it was saying something more or different to what I initially intended. I think it makes you realise how sometimes images can work as though they were mirrors and different persons maybe see a different aspect of things based on what has some resonance for them personally. So that a viewer can relate to the work based on their own personal experience and feelings rather than by logically working out what message the photographer or artist was intent on conveying to them.
How you actually find a way to do that in practise is a good question!
Hi Dewald,
The interview is on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0yoUWwI90M
it’s with
Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel in her series of interviews with prominent artists, circa 1970-1985 – a video collection in the Duke Library archives. It’s a long interview (30 minutes) and his statement comes around 16.30 minutes. Michals was actually given the same name as the son of a family that his mother worked for. The two boys never met, and this other Duane committed suicide during his somophore year at college.
Michals is being asked about a Slovak working class alter ego he invented for himself ‘Stephan Mihal’. I got the quote wrong although the sense of it is pretty much the same – it’s actually “All of us have an alter ego. He’s the person we never became”.
For me this does fit with the perfect other – the one who will complete my life, who has all the qualities I don’t so we make a perfect whole. I always wanted an older brotherThis was what I was reading into Fan Shisan’s images.
Thank you Catherine…
Not sure about this.
Thanks for the post Dewald. Two of Us is a powerful body of documentary work. Moving in the no-mans-land between real and imaginary, the photographs convey a strong message and the photographer’s intention. In fact, it is the photographer’s point of view that comes across in the images, rather than the sitters’. It is the photographer’s feelings about the one-child policy that clearly transpire in the photographs.
Subjective, performative documentary at its best I would say. I don’t think we can draw any conclusions re. the feelings of the people photographed. The only conclusion we can come to is how the photographer feels about the one-child policy.
And that’s precisely why I like it so much. No claims of objectivity in Two of Us. The photographer felt strongly about something and let us know in his own personal, artistic way.
Thanks Jose… “..No claims of objectivity…”… very true, and I wonder whether that wasn’t the real reason why it pulled me so much.
Now that I understand a little more, and had time to reflect, I wish I could see the exhibition again (online is fine, but not the same).
It brings me back to the question on whether the sucess of a body of work, in it’s attempt to include / invite the viewer, is directly linked to the personal involvement of the photographer as artist.
Interesting line of thought… thanks again Jose.
Interesting blog. I liked what i could see of the ‘Two of Us’ photos. Chinese art is so big these days, but so little known over here. I wonder what kind of painting is on show.
Thanks Olivia…
Painting over here is something I’ve only really paid attention to if it didn’t pull me immediately, which means its usually more abstract.
I have however on the day same day as above, seen a few interesting pieces.
Oil on canvas work by an artist called Wang Hui, a man from Fujian province. His earlier work, which I prefer, is more abstract, with textures and cooler colours, some pieces almost cubist in style.
His work can be found through several dealers, but the following site has English: http://www.art7km.com/en/
Also, I’m quite a fan of Wang Yehan’s work, very abstract, and beautifully textured in extreme detail and use of colour. His work can be found online at: http://yehanart.com/
At a more commercial gallery I’ve found the work of a very young (early 20s) painter called Darrell Leung, from Hong Kong, but sadly nothing online. He paints portraits, which comes across as frames taken from movies, himself or parts of himself quite often in the frame. I saw his work at Pacific Perspectives, their normal work on display doesn’t pull me, but D. Leung’s work did, hence me going into the gallery. The site is: http://www.ppl.bz/en/ (but not easy to navigate, sorry).
I’ll keep an eye open for some more interesting work!
Dewald
sorry… “I’ve only really paid attention to if it pulled me immediately”
Excellent piece Dewald, Fan Shishan’s seems overtly subversive, I am pleasantly surprised to see it exhibited so openly. I was reminded of Ishiguru’s “Never let me go”, another take on eugenics, but from a very British perspective. I also remember the Walton Breck road on match day by Tabitha Jussa, it was exhilarating but the terraces have now been replaced by seating, just as the housing is being pulled down to make way for a bigger stadium and pushing out the working class supporters to be replaced by richer people. So, overall a strong political slant to some of this work, I will try and get to the Open Eye later this year (and maybe catch a match).
Thanks for this posting Dewald.
I would like to see this exhibition in Liverpool partly because I think one does need to see photography from around the world. It may not be the best example of Chinese photography but it is at least relevant.
I would attend an OCA visit to see this exhibition in Liverpool (also another chance to visit the Cavern Club !!)
John, Amano, thank you very much….
It’s still quite some time to go, but it would be really interesting to hear what you guys make of the exhibition if you can manage to make a day of it.
Amano, since Olivia’s comment / question on Chinese painting, I’ve been trying to think of what is current Chinese photography, and I keep coming up blank… certainly something I would have to look into.
“What is current Chinese photography”? “What is photography … ?”
These are questions that seem to defy any clear answer !!
Hi Dewald.Thanks so much for bringing ‘Two of Us” to my attention.I had 3 weeks in China earlier in the year and the most disturbing and lasting image was of small single children( usually with Grandma) looking longingly at other single children, wanting a playmate. My latest work even reflects this.I simply hadn’t thought it through, until I saw these images. That simple need in childhood , doesn’t resolve itself with maturity but seems to grow into something much more damaging, both individually and for a generation. I’ll certainly go to the Liverpool exhibition
Apologies for such a subjective post,
Hi Jan, thanks for your post!
One of the things that struck me ages ago when I moved here, was the TV adverts on the buses (I don’t have TV at home), of the mom, dad, one child, grandmother and grandfather… usually advertising anything from wooden floors to medicine for colds.
There is actually so much we can go into in conversation about the differences between East and West, one or more kids, but it’s better discussed over a coffee I guess. But, even though there are a lot of families where the single child do (I don’t want to use the word suffer, but yeah…) suffer from this concept, I would however say that up to the current generation, the extended family support system works much better than in the West, where younger parts of families look after the elder ones. This is changing however, and the saddest thing I’ve probably ever seen, was a TV advert on the bus some time ago, asking people to love their parents…. They used the word ‘FAMILY’ and played with the letters: Father And Mother I Love You.
Hi Dewald
Thanks for the post. Out of interest, you mention tutor Liz Smith’s helpful study visit structure and notes – can we download this somewhere on the OCA site?
Thanks
Hi Mike! Thanks for the note!
I know OCA HQ asked Liz for the document at the same time I asked for it, but I can’t find it on the student site if it is there, sorry.
It’s not a lengthy or complicated document, but I still did find it really helpful learning how to ‘visit an exhibition’, rather than just walk through.
Give HQ a mail if you too can’t find it on the student site…