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"Chinablue in Berlin" celebrates the first participation of the renowned Chinese art gallery Chinablue in the German art scene.
Wang Chengyun's intensive activity as an artist between both countries has also served as a starting point for the development of this exhibition. This kind of double activity is also present in his latest works, which were all developed in China. The artist takes on the role of a kind of ‘flaneur’ who simultaneously slides through different levels, contexts and situations. He behaves like a travelling artist, who documents and transfers the current Chinese reality. His representations are not at all idyllic!
Wang Qingsong creates certain scenes in an ironic and critical way, which seem to be quite direct. They act almost as propaganda for the contemporary Chinese way of life. The viewer who is not very well informed about the context can be confused at first sight. The image exists between fantasy and reality. Usually the artist himself appears as a central character.
Qiu Xiaofei's representations maintain a certain degree, a romantic and nostalgic view of Chinese characteristics by rendering everyday scenes and contexts. He remakes in his paintings, installations and objects precise scenarious pointing out their unreal content in both metaphoric and concrete sense.
Chen Bo's work presents us individual people and their way to individuality through the representation of single portraits. His prior work dealt with western icons such as Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe, models who represented international recognition and were themselves live symbols of success. At the moment Chen Bo has decided to focus more on the representation of anonymous local heroes.
Zhou Wenzhong's art works are crowded with fantastic creatures who secretly appear in the background of his paintings. They appear as anonymous individuals in a collective and symbolize fear and danger as in his work "Figures Under Streetlamp". The eyes shine sparingly out of the darkness. The whole composition seems as an intensive confrontation between figurative and abstract representation.
Xiong Yu surprises through the creation of androgen figures that inhabit his paintings. They appear out of a puzzling magic world filled by ornaments like wings and feathers. This being lives in its own dark universe as contrast to its shiny white existence. Despite the current speed in the Chinese way of life, artists such as Xiong Yu surprise with a quite introspective and fantasy-orientated representation
ART CENTER BERLIN [visit website]
Friedrichstr. 134, 10117 Berlin, tel.: 030 27879020
daily 11am-7pm
Exhibition period: September 6 - October 6
Opening September 6th at 7:30pm