The strange world of young Shanghai artists
- Source: Global Times
- [10:13 July 14 2010]
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Accident by Zhang Yong. Photos: Courtesy of 1918 G ArtSPACE
By Nick Muzyczka
The 1918 Gallery is currently showing off its newly acquired second location with a group show entitled It's a Strange Strange World!
The brand-new G ArtSPACE on Huai'an Road is set in a refurbished printing house whose several floors include a bar/lounge and a rooftop garden.
The whitewashed main gallery on the ground floor is a nicely proportioned space, with enough room to house a number of projects simultaneously.
The current exhibition consists of paintings and one video projection, though Kartini Tanoto, co-director of 1918, told the Global Times that the new location will look to focus more on multimedia and experimental works.
"One of our aims for the future is to continue building relationships with academic institutions, because these places are a fertile source of progressive art," said Tanoto.
Huai'an Road, which is actually quite close to Shanghai's principle art enclave, Moganshan Road, has been undergoing development in recent months, with a number of design companies and creative ventures moving to the area.
Tanoto believes that this area may become "a sort of Moganshan satellite."
It's a Strange Strange World! features works by a number of local artists with some contributions from further afield. Visitors are greeted by a number of large-scale paintings by Huang He, a Beijing-based artist whose works look to explore the struggle between life and death.
Huang's paintings are wonderfully expansive and abstract, featuring nebulous shapes that can be variously interpreted as fire, tornadoes, clouds or rock formations. It is also possible to see human and animal forms within the constructions.
The latter are a particular focus of the artist, especially in Ancient Time, which depicts a monkey riding on the back of a pig. Of all the artists on show, Huang's works seem the most representative of exhibition's slogan, a quote from famous astrophysicist Arthur Eddington: "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine."
Although the quality of the work is very high in general, the highlight of the exhibition for the Global Times was a short animated video created by Le Youxun, entitled TV Buddha.
