ZHAO GANG: COCKERSUCKER BLUES
赵刚 Zhao Gang
Opening:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
Duration:2015.09.06-2015.11.01
Address:BANK 1/F, 59 Xianggang Lu, Shanghai, China
Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays, 10:30am - 6:30pm开幕酒会:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
开幕酒会:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
展期:2015.09.06-2015.11.01
地址:BANK 中国上海市黄浦区香港路59号1楼
开放时间:每周二至周日上午10点半至下午6点半
Using the historical BANK building as his inspiration Zhao Gang’s debut in Shanghai forms a ballad to the possible pasts of this city. Like the infamous, unreleased Rolling Stones’ single that this exhibition borrows its title from, Zhao’s paintings moan with a destitute sense of an unfulfilled, dirty romance. While the Stones song is about a desperate wanderer arriving in London, Zhao’s characters are adrift in Shanghai. In these off tone canvasses the relics of a bygone era are conflated with the artist’s personal narrative, cynicism, and hidden desires.
Shanghai is a dream city where a sense of territorial displacement is fed by constantly shifting historical and national boundaries. Today the notion of ‘old Shanghai’ conjures up an image, style, or attitude rather than a series of historical facts. It’s in this romanticized fiction that Zhao carves out his sparse but phantasmal architectural studies. With the BANK building as his muse Zhao becomes the antagonist in a narrative where spies, prostitutes, and the downtrodden mingle with bankers and intellectuals.
As one of the earliest and most consistent proponents of the Chinese avant-garde, Zhao has never stopped re-inventing himself. Having been the youngest member of the Stars Group in the late seventies and early eighties, he subsequently went on to study, live, and work in New York. Sporadically trading his identity as artist for banker, publisher, and filmmaker, with his brushes never too far behind, Zhao returned to the art world with a hungry vengeance. Zhao’s multifaceted work, international experience, and audacious character have helped deem him father of ‘bad painting’ in China. Zhao has participated in PERFORMA, the Guangzhou Triennial, and the Yokohama Triennial. His has recently held solo exhibitions at UCCA, Suzhou Museum, and has an upcoming exhibition at Christian Nagel Gallery, Berlin.
赵刚在上海的首展使用了具有历史意义的BANK大楼作为创作灵感,与上海可能的过去形成了一首歌谣。此次展览借用了滚石乐队臭名昭著的、未发表 的单曲名字,赵刚的绘画在一种不可满足的、肮脏的浪漫的缺失感中呻吟。滚石乐队这首歌是关于一个到达伦敦的绝望的漫步者,赵刚的形象则在上海 漫无目的的游荡。在色调失真的画布上,早期的遗迹和艺术家的个人叙事、愤世嫉俗、隐藏的欲望互相融合。
上海是一个梦之都,一种地域的错置感被持续性的、历史性、民族性的叙事界限的转换所滋养。如今“旧上海”一词却唤起一种图像、风格或者态度, 而不是一系列的历史事实。从赵刚那浅显的、幻想性的建筑研究中雕刻出的正是这种浪漫的虚构。利用BANK大楼做缪斯,赵刚变成了在间谍、妓女、 被压迫阶级与银行家、学者社交之叙事中的一个反面人物。
作为中国先锋艺术中最早的、最持久的一个发起者,赵刚从没停止重塑自我。曾经作为70年代末80年代初星星画派中最年轻一员,到之后开始在纽约 学习、居住、工作。赵刚偶发地从艺术家变为银行家、出版人、电影人,但是他的画笔从未落后,他带着饥饿的复仇回归到了艺术界。赵刚多面的、国 际化的经历和大胆创新的性格使他被誉为中国的“坏画之父”。赵刚已经参与了PERFORMA,广州三年展,广岛三年展。最近在UCCA、苏州美术馆和新兴 的德国柏林画廊Christian Nagel Gallery举办了个展。
赵刚 Zhao Gang
Opening:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
Duration:2015.09.06-2015.11.01
Address:BANK 1/F, 59 Xianggang Lu, Shanghai, China
Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays, 10:30am - 6:30pm开幕酒会:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
开幕酒会:2015.09.06, 5pm - 7pm
展期:2015.09.06-2015.11.01
地址:BANK 中国上海市黄浦区香港路59号1楼
开放时间:每周二至周日上午10点半至下午6点半
Using the historical BANK building as his inspiration Zhao Gang’s debut in Shanghai forms a ballad to the possible pasts of this city. Like the infamous, unreleased Rolling Stones’ single that this exhibition borrows its title from, Zhao’s paintings moan with a destitute sense of an unfulfilled, dirty romance. While the Stones song is about a desperate wanderer arriving in London, Zhao’s characters are adrift in Shanghai. In these off tone canvasses the relics of a bygone era are conflated with the artist’s personal narrative, cynicism, and hidden desires.
Shanghai is a dream city where a sense of territorial displacement is fed by constantly shifting historical and national boundaries. Today the notion of ‘old Shanghai’ conjures up an image, style, or attitude rather than a series of historical facts. It’s in this romanticized fiction that Zhao carves out his sparse but phantasmal architectural studies. With the BANK building as his muse Zhao becomes the antagonist in a narrative where spies, prostitutes, and the downtrodden mingle with bankers and intellectuals.
As one of the earliest and most consistent proponents of the Chinese avant-garde, Zhao has never stopped re-inventing himself. Having been the youngest member of the Stars Group in the late seventies and early eighties, he subsequently went on to study, live, and work in New York. Sporadically trading his identity as artist for banker, publisher, and filmmaker, with his brushes never too far behind, Zhao returned to the art world with a hungry vengeance. Zhao’s multifaceted work, international experience, and audacious character have helped deem him father of ‘bad painting’ in China. Zhao has participated in PERFORMA, the Guangzhou Triennial, and the Yokohama Triennial. His has recently held solo exhibitions at UCCA, Suzhou Museum, and has an upcoming exhibition at Christian Nagel Gallery, Berlin.
赵刚在上海的首展使用了具有历史意义的BANK大楼作为创作灵感,与上海可能的过去形成了一首歌谣。此次展览借用了滚石乐队臭名昭著的、未发表 的单曲名字,赵刚的绘画在一种不可满足的、肮脏的浪漫的缺失感中呻吟。滚石乐队这首歌是关于一个到达伦敦的绝望的漫步者,赵刚的形象则在上海 漫无目的的游荡。在色调失真的画布上,早期的遗迹和艺术家的个人叙事、愤世嫉俗、隐藏的欲望互相融合。
上海是一个梦之都,一种地域的错置感被持续性的、历史性、民族性的叙事界限的转换所滋养。如今“旧上海”一词却唤起一种图像、风格或者态度, 而不是一系列的历史事实。从赵刚那浅显的、幻想性的建筑研究中雕刻出的正是这种浪漫的虚构。利用BANK大楼做缪斯,赵刚变成了在间谍、妓女、 被压迫阶级与银行家、学者社交之叙事中的一个反面人物。
作为中国先锋艺术中最早的、最持久的一个发起者,赵刚从没停止重塑自我。曾经作为70年代末80年代初星星画派中最年轻一员,到之后开始在纽约 学习、居住、工作。赵刚偶发地从艺术家变为银行家、出版人、电影人,但是他的画笔从未落后,他带着饥饿的复仇回归到了艺术界。赵刚多面的、国 际化的经历和大胆创新的性格使他被誉为中国的“坏画之父”。赵刚已经参与了PERFORMA,广州三年展,广岛三年展。最近在UCCA、苏州美术馆和新兴 的德国柏林画廊Christian Nagel Gallery举办了个展。
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