6:00 minutes
In the video installation Tremble, Jiang projected the life-size images of seven naked men and women onto seven individual screens. Each person displays a different facial expression and body position such as reading a book, arms open for a hug, holding a knife, raising a fist to take an oath. Each gesture reflects some essential social aspect of everyday life: hugging is about caring, taking oath has to do with politics, reading relates to acquiring knowledge, and raising a knife indicates violence. As a result of a hidden vibration machine, the images’ projection screens oscillate vigorously and the contradiction between the shaking screens and the static human figures creates an absurd effect. Through this imposed trembling, Jiang suggests the invisible power that controls modern human behavior. These seemly “out-of-control” actions are often ironically conceived as the most adaptable and mutually-agreed upon tenets of social activity.
Jiang Zhi represents a generation of artists whose practice developed against the backdrop of experimental art in China in the 1990s, during which a series of social and cultural transformation occurred in the country. His work actively deals with issues such as body, gender, identity, consumerism, conflict, fear, power, and temporality, and often involves recent social events. Jiang attended the China Academy of Art and has long been engaged with writing and video art. From 1995 to 2005, Jiang was also an active journalist, which had him on the frontlines of his country’s the social transformation, and all of his experiences have deeply influenced the language and context of his practice. Constantly positioning himself at the intersection between brutal reality and poetic imagination, Jiang’s works presents a complex trajectory of the artist’s everyday life and society at large.
State Terrorism in the ultimate form of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood features a portrait of the artist wearing a zipped utilitarian jacket reminiscent of a worker’s uniform, with one arm behind his back as if forced to ingest a bundle of stick—a literal portrayal to the definition of fascism...
A Portrait: Covering and Cleaning is an installation of six black-and-white video projections...
How Gagosian's east London Christo show proved the power of the pop-up exhibition Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art market comment How Gagosian's east London Christo show proved the power of the pop-up exhibition Who says something eye-catching and short-term can’t also be serious? Melanie Gerlis 7 December 2023 Share Installation view of Christo's Dolly (1964) at Gagosian Open, 4 Princelet Street, October 2023 © Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation Even as new galleries seem to open faster than ever, there is plenty of movement away from the white cube...
In addition to Yang’s signature drying rack and light bulbs, Office Voodoo includes various office supplies like CDs, paper clips, headphones, a computer mouse, a stamp, a hole puncher, a mobile phone charger...
Unregistered City is a series of eight photographs depicting different scenes of a vacant, apparently post-apocalyptic city: Some are covered by dust and others are submerged by water...
In Dilemma: Three Way Fork in the Road , Wang references Peking opera in a re-interpretation of traditional text...
With a habit of reading eight to ten books at the same time, Chong paints his two-foot tall novel covers through referencing an extensive reading list (accessible on Facebook) he has kept since 2006...
Empire’s Borders II – Passage and Empire’s Borders II – Workers are from the three-channel film installation Empire’s Borders II – Western Enterprise, Inc...
Drinks at 6pm, Screening at 7pm This filmic portrait of Guy de Cointet , the French-born, California-based artist, compiles interviews with friends and colleagues such as John Baldessari , Larry Bell , Richard Jackson , Morgan Fisher , Paul McCarthy , Robert Wilhite , Christophe Bourseiller , Violeta Sanchez, and Gus Foster ...