The 79-year-old American conceptual artist Dan Graham died in New York over the weekend, and his rich artistic practice has influenced generations of artists, from Julian Oppei to Tino Seigel.
In Shanghai, the painters Yu Qiping and Chai Yiming jointly exhibited together for the second time, "One Thought and Three Thousand", and the two of them played a play, showing the love and charm of ink art. In addition, the solo exhibition of "Painting and Photography - The First Person of Chinese Botanical Painting" Zeng Xiaolian will open in March, and he was a researcher-level senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has painted grass and trees in his career for nearly 40 years. In addition, architects Li Hu and Huang Wenjing added seaside landmarks to Yantai, Shandong Province.
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New York | American conceptual artist Dan Graham
He died at the age of 79 and influenced generations of artists
Dan Graham
American artist Dan Graham died in New York last weekend at the age of 79, according to foreign media reports. Graham was one of the most important figures in the history of contemporary art in the second half of the 20th century, and his many practices,including theoretical writing, textual works, acts, videos, installations, and architectural interventions—influenced generations of artists, from Julian Opé to Tino Saeger.
In the early 1960s and 1970s, Graham began exploring issues related to behavior, nudity, voyeurism, specular reflection, and the mundane. In order to gain the widest dissemination, Graham's preferred way of advertising his work in newspapers and magazines at that time was to present the artwork as a simple advertisement, challenging traditional values and being regarded as a milestone in Graham's formal involvement in conceptual art.
Born in 1942 in Urbana, Illinois, Dan Graham did not receive a formal education after high school, but taught himself the theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Margaret Mead, Walter Benjamin, and others. Initially, he aspired to become a writer, and the text played an important role in his later works. In 1964, Graham founded the John Daniels Gallery in New York, which was not well-known at the time, but has since been regarded as a legend of that era, as one of the artists who pioneered Minimalism, Sol LeWitt, made his debut there, and many Minimalist artists have since exhibited there.
Dan Graham's Octagonal Pavilion in Münster, 1987 DAN GRAHAM_COURTESY LISSON GALLERY
"All of my work is a critique of minimalist art," Graham once noted, "and it starts with minimalist art, but it's about how the viewer observes themselves and how they are observed by others." As a result, his work takes the following forms: interaction between two performers; interaction between the artist and the audience; film and video reflecting on the space in which he was born; installations that allow the viewer to walk into cubicles, mirrors, and/or videos; architectural models; and pavilions made of translucent reflective glass.
Graham is seen as a pioneer in the development of the minimalist, post-minimalist and conceptual art movement, but he himself claims not to have been involved in any movement. Instead, he saw himself as an architect and writer. In a 2011 interview with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, he said: "Art has never been my interest. Architecture, travel, rock and roll, and writing are. (Text/Qian Xue'er)
Shanghai | Painters Yu Qiping and Chai Yiming
Exhibition "One Thought, Three Thousand": Two Paintings and One Drama
From February 20 to March 13, "three thousand | Yu Qiping Chai Yiming Double Solo Exhibition "Held in Shanghai Dahu United Art Space, presenting "Two Painting Cafes and One Drama".
Yu Qiping was born in 1957 in Nanjing. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Nanjing Academy of arts in 1984, majoring in Chinese painting. In the same year, he worked at Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House and served as the editor of Jiangsu Pictorial. In 1991, he went to Japan as a professional artist for exchange. He currently lives and works in Shanghai.
Yu Qiping, Erma Ink on Paper 2021
Yu Qiping Luohan Tu (I) Ink on Paper 2021
Chai Yiming was born in Harbin in 1965. He graduated from the Design Department of Shanghai Commercial College in 1987. Professional artist, currently living and working in Shanghai. Over the years, he has devoted himself to expressing surreal pictures with the materials of Chinese painting, blending modern elements with ink style. He has held exhibitions in China, the United States and Europe, and has participated in many important art fairs in China.
Chai Yiming , Spring is Coming" Ink on Paper, 2017
Chai Yiming "Mountains and Forests" Ink on Paper 2019
The exhibition is curated by art critic and curator Shi Jianbang. He described the exhibition, which opened in the first month of Ren Yin, as "two paintings and a drama":
Yu Qiping, who has lived in Kyoto for 20 years, can lead his friends to "walk around the streets of Kyoto and Nara, watching exhibitions, visiting temples, catching markets, shopping for old goods, buying old books... Get up early every day and be greedy, dusty. "He's especially good at finding beauty, finding beauty. In the winter in my hometown, he would rush into the field to pick up a remnant of cotton dry and insert it into a stoneware vase, and the beauty would suddenly come to life. At the stall in Zhengzhou Bibo Garden, he bought a few old scales that did not look amazing, gave us one each, and said to use it as a paperweight. Take it home and put it on the desk, and sure enough, the ancient meaning is mottled. That kind of ability to turn decay into magic, Teacher Yu is the best at it. ”
Yu Qiping, who communicates and paints in life
Chai Yiming is making up the painting
Chai Yiming was "a maverick eccentric" and "he can turn everything at hand into a work of art, cardboard boxes, torn clothes, etc. As long as it reaches his hand, he is reluctant to throw it away." He painted and played with it, and after some 'tossing' it became a work of art. In the same way, when a good friend feels that he can't paint a painting, when it reaches his hand, he can 'save it' without thinking, and clean it up. Not only that, but he often paints in a bizarre and eccentric way, leading people into a realm of unimaginable absurdity. ”
The two painters, who held exhibitions together a few years ago, continued the style and continued to improvise, responding to "false canons" and "too serious" with seeming "unorthodox".
Exhibition site
In the view of the curator, painting is the daily practice of painters, the heartbeat and pulse of the painter, whether it is fine work, "blind collapse", or huge and detailed, are the reproduction of the painter's thoughts and emotions:
(Arrangement/ 畹machi)
Shanghai | Plant science painter Zeng Xiaolian
Engineer of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, how to draw the glory and withering of grass and trees
Zeng Xiaolian Liu Xiangcheng
Zeng Xiaolian is a top plant science painter in mainland China, a researcher-level senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is known as "the first person in Chinese plant painting". He devoted his life to the creation of flower and bird paintings, adhered to the rigorous scientific spirit, and had a reverence and love for life. After retiring in 1997, Zeng Xiaolian worked tirelessly, using exquisite painting techniques to outline flowers, birds, plants and trees, and praising the endless beauty of nature.
Mei Tong Zeng Xiaolian
From March 5 to May 22, 2022, Zeng Xiaolian's solo exhibition "Painting and Photography – The First Person of Chinese Botanical Painting" will be held at the Shanghai Photography Art Center, featuring 40 masterpieces by Zeng Xiaolian, which depict natural vientiane and the prosperity and withering of grass and trees.
Zeng Xiaolian once said to himself: "Condensing flowers, birds and trees on the end of the pen, coaxing yourself, but also leaving some aftertaste for the viewer." Casual and secure, do your best, plain and self-satisfied. ”
Blue-winged Xilu Zeng Xiaolian
Zeng Xiaolian was born in 1939 in Kunming, Yunnan. After graduating from high school in 1958, he entered the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and successively drew illustrations for scientific works such as Flora of China, Flora of Yunnan, and Flora of Tibet until his retirement in 1997. From 1983 to 1988, Zeng Xiaolian was appointed deputy director of the Botanical Science Painting Committee of the Botanical Society of China. From 1988 to 1993, he was appointed Director of the Professional Committee. In 1995, he was hired as a researcher-level senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a member of the China Artists Association. Since 1991, he has designed more than ten sets of stamps for the State Post Office.
Zeng Xiaolian relentlessly conducted research on flower and bird painting through immersion in observation and creative depiction. In 1958, Zeng Xiaolian entered the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and began nearly 40 years of plant science painting work, he first carefully studied the scientific painting method, and then based on meticulous observation, he created exquisite plant science paintings. After his retirement, Zeng Xiaolian innovated in his painting skills, from the veins of flowers and leaves to the texture of feathers, he vividly interpreted the artistic beauty of nature with his brush. (Text/Hatacho)
Yantai | Architects Li Hu and Huang Wenjing
Building the "Tower of Time on the Coast"
Li Hu and Huang Wenjing (right)
According to Youfang Space, OPEN Architects, founded by Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, is building a "time tower on the coast" in Yantai, Shandong Province. It is a 50-meter-high cultural building consisting of a semi-amphitheater at the bottom, a circular exhibition hall in the middle and a library in the air, and a unique semi-outdoor "phenomenon space" at the top for people to enjoy the magnificent natural landscape throughout the year. The project won the UK AR Future Architecture Awards Jeu d'Esprit Special Award in 2021 and is expected to be completed and open to the public in 2024.
Yantai got its name from a series of beacon towers set up here by the Ming Dynasty. The Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the Time Tower is located, is one of the first batch of state-level development zones in China, and it is also the current industrial development center. Faced with the need to create a seaside "landmark" for the rapidly developing new area, the designer's response is to build a meaningful landmark, on the one hand, to evoke a sense of reverence for nature, ancient rituals, and on the other hand to bring much-needed public cultural functions to the new city. The beautiful Yellow Sea sunrise and the trajectory of the sun's movements have also become important factors in the design.
The "Tower of Time" in the Winter SeaScape
The geometry of the tower has been carved by time as if it were a large sundial, and its curved structure is magically cut open by the sunlight, opening the interior to the magnificent sea. The building sits in a plaza that sinks slowly towards the center of the site, in the form of a combined shell structure, with two layers of white concrete shells inside and outside supported by horizontal floor slabs and ramps.
Li Hu has an excellent resume as an architect: graduated from Tsinghua University, studied in the United States, "born" Steven Holl Architects, his work "Contemporary MOMMA" won the 2009 World Association of Tall Buildings Best Tall Building Award, and "Shenzhen Vanke Center" won the American Institute of Architects' 2011 Architectural Honor.
Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, founding partners of the firm, said: "Connecting and embracing nature today is very important, and we want to make this the core design concept of the Time Tower and respect the power of nature. When we designed, we first thought of finding inspiration from ancient rituals, paying homage to the sun, moon and stars, and providing a space for contemplation and tranquility. On the other hand, we also hope that this building has real function and practicality, and it will truly serve the citizens of Yantai, not just a decoration on the beach. (Finishing/Qian Xue'er)