Farbwerte

The following ten artists are participating the Farbwerte project in China. The works will be shown at the next Farbwerte exhibition in Berlin on Saturday, 6^th November at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD). More about the Vernissage…

吴梦 / Meng WU （visual artist, theatre artist）
1980 Born in Suzhou . Graduated from Fine Art College of Shanghai University and Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute. Now lives and works in Shanghai and working as the staff writer for Taiwan Art Today magazines.

唐狄鑫 / Dixin TANG (painter)
Born in Hangzhou. Graduated from Shanghai Normal University majoring in oil painting. Now work and live in Shanghai. Find more information at Artlink.

施勇 / Yong SHI （video + installations）
Shi Yong was born in Shanghai in 1963. He graduated from Light Industrial School, Fine Art Department. He resides and works in Shanghai. Shi Yong has exhibited widely since the early 1990’s. Recent shows include Follow Me!, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, 2005), Second Guangzhou Triennale, Guangsong Museum of Art (2005), Zooming into Focus, China National Art Museum (Beijing, 2005), Felicidad Indecible, Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art (Mexico, 2005), The Heaven, The World, ShanghART Gallery & H-Space (Shanghai, 2004), Shanghai Biennale (2002), Bienal de Sao Paulo (2002) and Bienal de Maia (1999). Find more information at Artlink.

陆平原 / Pingyuan LU （installations）
Graduated from China Art Academy School, Shanghai design department . Now works and lives in Shanghai.

刘非 / Fei LIU (artist, painter)
Born in Hubei Province in 1969. In 1995 graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts.

Fei LIU interviewed by Parker Voss

Q:  Why are you an artist?

A: I don’t need to speak much.  I use paintings to communicate with people.

Q:  Who or what inspires you and your art and when did you start doing it?

A: Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Damien Hirst, Artists who have influenced me include Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Shi Tao, Ba Da Shan Ren and Damien Hirst. Nowadays we are highly influenced by western contemporary art, starting at the earliest stage as an artist.

Q: What aspect of Chinese history influences your work most?

A: the Warring States Period, Qin Dynasty, and Wei, Jin and Nan Bei Dynasty, all their cultures and thoughts have very lively and inspiring.

Q: How does your art fit into the development of China? Is it a reaction to it, against it?

A: Both.

Q: Is your work an expression of your individual? Epic social commentary? Trendy, momentary, “Made-in-china” art? Something else?

A: There are pieces focused on self-expression; there are some that are a form of social commentary; and some others are also observations of artistic trends.

Q: You seem to enjoy working in different media using such things as oils, acrylic, and papier-mâché. Do you just like variety or are there other reasons for the changes in medium?

A: Using the same medium repeatedly, painting the same subject repeatedly will make a person numb. Therefore, experimenting with new subjects and media allows one’s flow of thought to be more creative.

Q: The phrases that frequently appear in your work are classic. When it comes to conceiving these phrases, do you find yourself thinking hard on them or do they come naturally?

A: They come up naturally. Our society is multifarious—by organizing your thoughts ideas will just appear in front of you…no need to dwell on things for too long.

Q: Has installation changed your painting?

A: They both have an impact on each other, but don’t meddle together.

Q: What inspires you to paint and what keeps you motivated when things get tough in the studio?

A: Different things will bring on different urges of creation.  When facing difficulty, I just persist.

Q: How have you handled the business end of being an artist?

A: Art and money’s relationship is like a marriage: you can’t ignore either or neither will last.

Find more information at Vanguard Gallery.

梁钥 / Yue LIANG (photographer)
Liang Yue was born in Shanghai in 1979. She graduated from the Shanghai Art Academy in 2001. Today she lives and works in Shanghai. Liang Yue’s photographic work negotiates the complex symbolic terrain between the exterior and interior, memory and reality and the public and the private. Her open-ended series of photos “Several Dusks” (2003) and “Lily’s Afternoon” (2003) focus on moments drawn from ordinary life. Yet, a sense of foreboding pervades all of them.

Liang Yue observes and elaborates on a uniquely ambiguous, uneasy assortment of public space in Shanghai, but with a detached viewpoint. The images are shot just before nightfall and are linked to an elusive time and the question of presence. The snapshot aesthetic makes it difficult to think of it as specific to a single place. The recurring images are a partial and instant view of the city. Her scenes of distant frenzy co-mingle possibility and problem, and leave the viewer uncertain about their specific mood and theme. The contrast between familiarity and strangeness is highlighted, and it is precisely this feeling of contradiction that makes her photos so fascinating and attractive. Find more information at ShangArt Gallery.

高铭研 / Mingyan GAO (video, installation)
Born in Shanghai in 1983. Now work and lives in Shanghai. Find more information at Artlink.

苏畅 / Chang SU （sculptor, installation）
1985 Born in Songjiang, Shanghai. 2003 Graduated from Oil Painting Department of Fine Arts College of Shanghai Normal University. Now Chang Su works and lives in Shanghai.

盛韵 / Yun SHENG (writer)
Sheng Yun, is a writer and arts critic. She obtained her PhD at Fudan University’s Deptartment of Chinese Language and Literature majoring in Ancient Chinese Text. Her prolific writing and activities as arts critic center around book review and music review.

The Oriental Morning Post, Shanghai Weekly, Xinmin Evening News, Music Lover, The Bund Magazine are some of the media to which she regularly contributes. She also translates books and essays of leading Western intellectuals into Chinese.

谢栋磊 Donglei XIE (graphic designer)
Xie Donglei, born in 1983, from Shanghai. Graduated from China Academy of Art. Devoted to Graphic desgin After graduation. Have participated in and planing various kinds of contemporary art exibition which is mainly with young artists.  Most of the works are as the form of installation and video.