Jin Lie: What is past, is still present
Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu, Chengdu, China
March 28—May 14, 2017




Jin Lie was born in Shanxi, grew up in Beijing in 1969 and has lived in Germany since 1990. He studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and has lived in Berlin since 2002. He has taken part in many renowned exhibitions and his works can be found in international collections.

Jin Lie's works have for many years focused on the tension between painted and drawn abstraction and figuration, as well as between visual representation and physical two and three dimensionality.

For the Chengdu MOCA Jin Lie is planning a presentation of recent works most of then produced for the exhibition, of different sizes, specifically designed for the museum space. All works on display, including those which play with physical three dimensionality, are to be presented on the museum walls with a clear, reduced-minimal hanging. The exhibition project as a whole, which through use of historically loaded motives and references invites us to reflect on the presence of the past, is to be perceived as a painting exhibition and will be developed and implemented as a site-specific installation for Chengdu MOCA. For the artist, reality exists through using examples of historical developments which are interconnected. As a result, a narrative emerges wherein it is not clear if it is real or fiction. This duality, of reality and fiction, is expressed in the works.

The title of the exhibition is "Was vergangen ist, ist immer noch da" (What is past, is still present) – "过去的事现在还在". The phrase references a special edition of the German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" from 2001 entitled "Die Gegenwart der Vergangenheit" (The presence of the past) in which writers debated the topic of the presence of the past and its relevance today.

In the spirit of this, and alongside a selection of paintings on canvas, Jin Lie will presents installations and objects. Together these provide the viewer with a clear indication of reality as Jin Lie observes it and its history, which often becomes apparent in the perception of the present. Concretely, it focuses on a memory of the media representation of alleged past colonial connections, be they between Europe and Africa or China and Africa. The intention of the exhibition is to give a platform to Jin Lie's works in China. The experience which the artist has gained over the last 25 years through living in Germany and working within the international art scene will be discussed in an exchange with local audience, curators and artists in partnership with the Sichuan Art Academy.

Tereza de Arruda, Curator

靳烈1969年出生于山西，成长在北京。1990年移民德国，就学于杜塞尔多夫国家艺术学院专业自由绘画，自2002年生活工作在柏林。他的作品曾参加不同国家的联合及个人展览，在国际收藏家与机构中都会发现他的作品。 靳烈的艺术作品多年来专注于绘画中抽象与具象之间的巧妙关系，特别是二维与三维立体之间的视觉感应。 靳烈在成都当代美术馆将展出他近期创作的，尺寸不同的作品，大部份是以成都当代美术馆的空间结构特色特别设计创作的。所有展出的作品，包括三维立体题材的作品，都以简单易明的极简布展方式布置展出。 这个展览项目作为一个整体，通过使用参考历史题材邀请我们反思过去与当今共同存在的意义。对艺术家来说，现实的存在是一个历史与当今相互关联的存在。通过他的作品表达出真实与虚构的边缘，现实与过去的双重性。 这次展览的标题, "Was vergangen ist, ist immer noch da" (What is past, is still present)–"过去的事现在还在"，来自于德国新闻周刊"Der Spiegel"(明镜周刊)2001年特刊的"Die Gegenwart der Vergangenheit"(当代中的过去)，特刊作者讨论的主题是"过去（历史）在当今时代的继续存在与其体现"。 以此为含意，靳烈在选择了油画同时也将展出装置作品。这些交融在一起可以暗示给观众，靳烈是怎样感应现实与现实的历史，他对历史的感应清晰体现在他对现实的感应中。除了利用艺术历史题材，具体的也在几个作品中表现出他对媒体关于殖民历史报道的关注，欧洲（西方）与非洲，中国与非洲的内在联系。艺术家将通过27年在德国生活以及在国际艺术平台上工作所获得的国际艺术交流经验与当地观众和艺术界，学院机构进行共同交流。


Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu [visit website]
C1, Tianfu Software Park, Tianfu Avenue, Chengdu, P.R.China
Exhibition period: March 28—May 14, 2017