挂塔&完美鸭潭
DEEP POND PERFECT DUCK

开幕/Opening：2017.9.15, 4 - 8 PM
展期/Duration：2017.9.16 – 2017.10.15
Address：B3, K11 Art Mall, Middle Huaihai Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
地址：上海市黄浦区K11购物艺术中心B3层

Hanging Tower & Perfect Duck Deep Pond is Geng Yini’s latest exhibition featuring creations from 2017 as well as a selection of earlier works. If Geng’s past works could be described as psychotic carnivals of global culture, then this exhibition is a valiant adventure in reconciling the essence of traditional Chinese culture with the artist’s surrealistic tendencies.

In the Chinese title “Hanging Tower” refers to the kungfu kata - attack quickly; destroy the opponent’s central strength and fall him. Deep Pond Perfect Duck is the title of painting in which a gigantic duck, framed between two distant mountains, peacefully floats on a pond. For Geng, Hanging Tower represents the skillful grace of tradition, and its ability to persevere through the onslaught of change, while the ‘perfect duck’ alludes to youthful aspirations for an ideal life far from the reaches of reality. Geng’s shift of focus from international themes to traditional Chinese culture is rather recent, yet both have been informed by her long-term residence in the industrialized, yet peripheral, Northeastern city of Shenyang. Geng applies a peculiar curiosity of the world to real-life elements of her surroundings, creating a colorful, extreme, yet absurd pictorial language. Throughout the show a number of old sayings and folk wisdoms appear scribbled, graffiti-style, over the artist’s eclectic images. These thought-provoking proverbs eloquently evoke everyday and down-to-earth beauty while the correlated images often confound them. “Hanging Tower” is placed alongside Perfect Duck Deep Pond, but the two remain distinctly independent. Such harmony and stark disunity are the very essence of this exhibition. Reality vs. fiction, tradition vs.innovation - these inner tensions are the hidden features of the works on display. “The two titular terms together embody connection and contradiction,” Geng Yini explained. “The theme of the exhibition comes from my work, and my work is derived from my life. This exhibition reflects my true feelings which stem from my social environment.”

​此次耿旖旎的最新展览“挂塔 & 完美鸭潭”集中呈现了艺术家2017年的最新创作，同时包含了其部分早期作品。如果将耿旖旎过去的作品视为全球文化的荒诞狂欢，那么此次展览则是一个将中国传统文化精髓与艺术家超现实主义风格完美融合的华丽冒险。

中文标题“挂塔”是中国传统武术术语，意为“快速迅猛地破坏对手像塔一样稳固的着力点而使其跌倒”。“完美鸭潭”是此次展出的一幅画作标题，一只巨大的鸭子被置于远处的两座山峰之间，安逸地浮游于潭水之中。 对耿旖旎而言，“挂塔”代表了传统技艺的娴熟优雅及其久经考验的传承能力，而“完美鸭潭”则暗示了青春对远离现实的理想生活充满了向往。尽管从全球视野转向中国传统文化是耿旖旎近期才有的转变，但这些都是艺术家长期居住在沈阳，这个北方工业化城市的所闻所得。 耿旖旎用她独特的好奇心对待其周遭的现实生活，创造出一种色彩缤纷，极端而又荒谬的图像语言。 整个展览将各色俗语和民间智慧用涂鸦的风格穿插于艺术家不拘一格的画作之间。 这些引人遐想的谚语有力地唤起了日常而接地气的美感，而与之相关的作品往往又会让人混淆其原本的含义。虽然“挂塔”与“完美鸭潭”并置，但两者依然各自独立，而这种鲜明的和谐与不和谐正是这次展览的精髓所在。 现实与虚构，传统与创新 —— 这种内在的张力则是作品的隐藏属性。 “这两个术语的结合是联系与矛盾的体现，”艺术家解释道，“ 展览的主题来自于我的创作，而我的创作源于我的生活。 这个展览反映了我从自己的社会环境出发所获得的真实感受。”