ART-TRIBUTE:Chen Zhen
The work of Chen Zhen, one of the most important Chinese conceptual artists, that in Greece we came in touch with his work, through two exhibitions: 1998 in the exhibition of the Deste Foundation, “Global Vision: New Art from the ’90s (Part II)” and in 2002 with the exhibition “Transportation of the body” at the EMST, is on exhibition at the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) of Shanghai, to celebrate its five years of operation.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Rockbund Art Museum Archive
Throughout his artistic career Chen Zhen was concerned with what he called “transexperience”. This not only describes his personal experience as a Chinese artist living in France since 1986 and working internationally, but also alludes to his concept of art and method of creation. Situated in between East and West, he employed materials, signs and concepts original to the Chinese tradition, including the most recent revolutionary tradition (he grow up in the era of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) and to contemporary Western culture. The interplay of material and conceptual juxtapositions in his mixed media installations aims at releasing a dynamic balance, to which he referred as “synergy”. He therefore sought to explore the correlation between technology and nature, community and individual, the body and the self, or again the material and the spiritual, aiming to propose a cure to the basic problems of mankind. The exhibition “Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalized” features large-scale installations, as well as sketches and notes by Shanghai-born conceptual artist Chen Zhen. The exhibition also includes an installation coming from the catalogue Chen Zhen. 1991-2000 Unrealized (Ed. Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 2007), thanks to the support of RAM in collaboration with the artist’s estate. The exhibition focus on Chen Zhen’s travels in and out of Shanghai during the 1990s, reflecting on the rapid changes of social reality within the city at this time. Chen Zhen frequently returned to Shanghai during this period and developed a series of new works responding to the changing social landscape as Shanghai established itself as a new global city. Large scale installations on display, such as “Le Bureau de change” and “Daily Incantations” reveal this interest in Shanghai’s urban and socio-economic developments and provide a commentary on the changing daily life Chen Zhen witnessed. Throughout the exhibition, Chen Zhen’s keen interest in human conditions is presented, from his reflections on his own personal health, seen in the delicate alabaster and crystal sculptures of “Zen Garden” and “Crystal Landscape of Inner Body (Coq)”, against the backdrop of an ever-changing economic, political and social landscape. Using a range of new and recycled materials, many of the installations include everyday objects that could be found on the streets but have been transformed into performative and site-specific assemblages. Alongside more traditional objects such as Chinese chamber pots and coins, Chen Zhen also worked with new technologies and digital media, marrying cultural heritages with contemporary innovations in order to create a synergy reflective of the contemporary world.
Info: “Chen Zhen: Without going to New York and Paris, life could be internationalized”, Curating: Hou Hanru & Xu Min, Rockbund Art Museum, 20 Huqiu Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, Duration: 30/5-7/10/15, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun: 10:00-18:00, www.rockbundartmuseum.org
