Chen Yujun THE RIVER NEVER REMEMBERS, THE HOUSE CANNOT FORGET

CHEN YUJUN
THE RIVER NEVER REMEMBERS, THE HOUSE CANNOT FORGET

Opening：2017.2.25, 4-6PM
Duration：2017.2.25 – 2017.4.16
Address：Building 2, Lane 298 Anfu Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, China

In a rare collaborative effort, ARARIO and BANK team up to present Chen Yujun’s solo-project, The River Never Remembers, The House Cannot Forget. Spanning both former-French Concession galleries, this two-part exhibition showcases the artist’s creative production of the last few years. A portion of the works presented come from the permanent collections of two international private museums: The Arario Museum in Korea and the White Rabbit Gallery in Australia, and are being shown in China for the first time.

Chen’s work reevaluates the emotional bond to one’s homeland in a modern context whereby the migrant’s tribulation is shared across generations. In light of this nostalgic sentiment, ARARIO and BANK present this project in the first month of the Lunar New Year — a season for returning home to one’s roots and memories.

Chen’s continued interest in the affinities between personal and social history as well as natural and manmade space take precedent in this ambitious presentation. The exhibition is divided into two interdependent sections, both of which use the artist’s native Fujian province as inspiration.

At Arario Gallery, The River Never Remembers presents a series of mixed media works on paper and installations from Chen’s Mulan River project. Meandering around his hometown and finally depositing into the ocean, Mulan River to Chen Yujun is an intimate symbol of native roots as well as memories of family members who have immigrated to the outside world. It also represents the impermanence of life and our inability to retain the feelings and experiences that flow through it.

BANK presents The House Cannot Forget, an installation in the form of an abstract dwelling that houses archival elements, works on paper and video. These works come from the artist’s Temporary Constructions series and blend found imagery with a fantastical architectural element. Frequent return visits to the artist’s hometown, which has witnessed demolition and urbanization over the past decades, has made Chen very aware of architecture’s role in collective remembrance. The house represents the human tendency to attachment – of harboring objects, memories, and sentiment to the point of nostalgia.
In both exhibitions, the stuff of our environment - natural phenomena and manmade constructions - are personified, giving the exhibition settings an almost spiritual vitality. Mixing multi-media works on paper with installations and archival materials, Chen helps to map the vicissitudes of rapid change between our surroundings and psyches.

陈彧君 “故土不乡愁”

开幕：2017.02.25 4-6pm
展期：2017.2.25 – 2017.4.16
地址：上海市徐汇区安福路298弄2号楼底楼

阿拉里奥画廊和BANK荣幸宣布将共同举办陈彧君的个展“故土不乡愁”。在此次难得的合作契机下，展览将分为两个部分，横跨这两个地处旧法租界的画廊，集中展出艺术家近年来的创作成果。值得一提的是，此次展览的所有作品都是首次在国内展出，部分作品来自两大国际私人美术馆的永久收藏：韩国阿拉里奥美术馆和澳大利亚白兔美术馆。

陈彧君的作品在现代语境中重新审视了个人与故乡之间的情感纽带，与其世代相传的移民经历紧密相连。这份“乡愁”如今显得格外应景，因此展览选择在农历新年的正月开幕 —— 这个让大家各自回到家乡，找寻记忆与根的时节。

此次别开生面的展览延续了陈彧君对个人与社会历史、自然与人造空间之间亲密关系的持续兴趣。展览被分为“自然”和“建筑”两个相互依存的部分，灵感来自艺术家的故乡福建莆田。

阿拉里奥画廊将会展出“故土不乡愁”中源于“木兰溪”项目的一系列创作，包括纸上综合材料拼贴和装置作品。木兰溪是蜿蜒于艺术家的故乡、最终汇入海洋的一条“母亲河”。木兰溪对陈彧君而言，既是一个故乡的根的象征，也是对移居南洋的家族亲人的回忆；同时，河流亦象征着生命的无常，以及我们对难以保留随之流逝的情感与经历的无助。

BANK将会呈现“建筑”的部分，在抽象式房屋构成的大型装置下，包含了档案资料，纸上作品和影像。作品均来自艺术家的“临时建筑”系列，将各种现成的图像元素与独特的建筑元素相互融合。在过去几十年间，艺术家的故乡几经拆迁和城市化建设的改造，频繁的返乡经历让陈彧君深刻体会到“建筑”对于集体记忆的重要意义。“房屋”是人类依恋的象征——包括使用的物件，记忆，情感，直至乡愁本身。

在两个展览空间中，所有的环境元素——自然现象和人造建筑——都是拟人化的，为空间注入了近乎精神归宿的生命力。通过纸上综合材料作品、装置和档案资料的集中呈现，陈彧君为我们描绘了在周围环境与心灵之间不断产生的起伏变化。