Singapore, November 2015 – ShanghART Gallery is pleased to present ‘ 7 SEVEN ’ – a group exhibition by 7 artists – Birdhead, Chen Xiaoyun, Liang Shaoji, Shao Yi, Wang Youshen, Xu Zhen / MadeIn, Zhu Jia, in Singapore from 21 st November 2015 to 10th January 2016. This exhibition unveils installations, sculptures, photographs, paintings, porcelain and a video work which have traveled from prestigious art fairs like Art Basel in Miami Beach and FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) in Paris. These 7 artists showcase works of existence in thoughts, perhaps representing one’s inherent need to seek an analogy with the unknown.
Artist Introduction
BIRDHEAD (est. 2004), works and lives in Shanghai. BIRDHEAD is an artist collective – Song Tao(b.1979) and Ji Weiyu (b.1980) whose oeuvre consists of photographic images of everyday life in theirnative city of Shanghai. The snap-shot aesthetic of their extensive and accumulative photo-series(black and white as well as color) delivers a subjective and organic take on today’s urbanreality. Recent exhibitions include: New Photography 2012, MoMA, NewYork, U.S.A.(2012);Reactivation – 9th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai(2012); The 54th VeniceBiennale – ILLUMInations, Venice, Italy (2011); China Power Station – part 4, Pinacoteca Agnelli,Torino, Italy (2010); The World of Other’s: A Contemporary Art Exhibition, Museum of ContemporaryArt, Shanghai (2008); China Power Station II, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway(2007). And their solo exhibitions include: Welcome to Birdhead World Again-Beijing 2012,ShanghART Beijing, Beijing(2012); Birdhead: New Village, EX3 Centro per l’arte ContemporaneaFirenze, Florence, Italy (2011); Artist File 2011 The NACT Annual Show of Contemporary Art, NationalArt Center, Tokyo, Japan (2011)
CHEN XIAOYUN (b.1971) works and lives in Beijing. Since his participation in the group exhibition’Art for Sale’ held in Shanghai in 1999, he started his contemporary art creation and practice in videoart, and has become one of the most important experimental artists in the most recent decade. Hisrecent solo exhibitions include: Hysteria, Metaphorical and Metonymical Life-World, A4 ContemporaryArts Center, Chengdu (2013); Darker than Darkness, Death beyond Death, Fire Burning Fire, WalkingDown along the Stairway. , ShanghART Beijing (2013); “Zhuiku Tablet” Annotation-CHEN XiaoyunSolo Exhibition, ShanghART Beijing (2012); Why Life, ShanghART Beijing (2011). Chen Xiaoyun hasparticipated in various international art exhibition and festivals, including Moving On Asia, Towards aNew Art Network 2004-2013, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand (2013); Perspectives 180 -Unfinished Country, New Video from China, The Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, U.S.A.(2012); Moving Image In China: 1988-2011, Minsheng Art Museum,Shanghai (2011).
LIANG SHAOJI(b. 1945) , working and living in Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang Province. LIANGShaoji is well known for working with animals and nature in his art. A silkworm symbolizes generosity;its thread stands for human life and history. LIANG often makes use of this symbolism to soften orease the violence, cruelty or sadness represented by the objects he uses. He has exhibited widely ininternational Biennales and Trienniales, such as Venice (1999), Istanbul (1999), Lyon (2000) andShanghai Biennales (2000 and 2006) etc. Recent exhibitions include: Questioning Heaven, LiangShaoji Solo Exhibition, Gao Magee Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2012);Liang Shaoji Solo Exhibition,Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2009); An Infinitely Fine Line-Liang Shaoji SoloExhibition, Zendai MOMA, Shanghai (2009); CLOUD, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai (2007); Art ofChange, Hayward Gallery, London, U.K. (2012); etc. The prizes he was presented include ChineseContemporary Art Awards (CCAA) in 2002 and Prince Claus Awards in 2009.
SHAO YI (b.1967), lives and works in Hang Zhou and Shanghai. His meticulously made objectsoperate on the threshold between sculpture, installation art, and craft. In many of the new (2010/2011)works, the unexpected combination of stylistically distinct objects and material suggest various kindsof personal and mythical relationships. Combined together, these objects and paintings comprisesubtle geometries and undistorted perspectives. Recent exhibitions include Time of the Dragon -Contemporary Art from Shanghai, Rauma Art Museum, Finland (2012);Pulse Reaction, AnExchange Project on Art Practice, Times Museum, Guangdong (2012); Elementary Spectacle,ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai (2010), Contemporary Art Exhibition in Songjiang, Songjiang CreativeStudio, Shanghai (2009); Light Fogging – Shao Yi Solo Exhibition, BizArt, Shanghai (2008).
WANG YOUSHEN (b. 1964), resides and works in Beijing. His art is characterized by a focus on theinfluence mass media exerts on our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Recent exhibitions includeWANG-YOUSHEN, Double Solo Exhibition, U.S.A. (2013); The Seventh Shenzhen SculptureBiennale, Accidental Message: Art is Not a System, Not a World, OCAT, Shenzhen (2012); ReshapingHistory: Chinart from 200-2009, The Theme, China National Convention Center, Beijing(2010);Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, Guangdong(2009); Wang Youshen, Washing, KwaiFung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong (2007); the 27th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil (2006); Zooming intoFocus, National Art Museum of China (Beijing, 2005); Between Past and Future: New Photographyand Video from China, (U.S.A., U.K. and Germany, 2004-2005); 5th Shanghai Biennale: Techniquesof the Visible, Shanghai Art Museum (2004); Washing – New Works by Wang Youshen, ShanghARTGallery, Shanghai (2004) and 45th Venice Biennale, Italy(1993).
XU ZHEN / MADEIN (est. 2009), MadeIn Company was established in 2009 in Shanghai by artist XUZhen. It is a contemporary art creation company focusing on the production of creativity, and devotedto the research of contemporary culture’s infinite possibilities. In 2013, the launch of ‘XU Zhen’ wasannounced, a brand produced by MadeIn Company (“Xu Zhen – Produced by MadeInCompany”). MadeIn Company’s exhibitions include: La Biennale de Lyon (2013); “China China”, AGroup Show of Chinese Artists, Pinchuk ArtCentre, Kiev, Ukraine (2013); MadeIn Company,Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2012); Distance Produces Beauty, A Display Co-curated andCreated by GUEST, TOF and MadeIn Company, ShanghART, Beijing (2012); Physique ofConsciousness, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2011), Long March Space, Beijing (2011); Action ofConsciousness, ShanghArt Gallery, Shanghai, China (2011); Seeing One’s Own Eyes–Middle EastContemporary Art Exhibition, ShanghART Gallery & H-Space, Shanghai (2009), S.M.A.K., Gent,Belgium (2009) and IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2010); MadeIn company also participated in the8th Shanghai Biennale and the 7th Busan Biennale, Korea (both 2010), and group exhibitions atUCCA, Beijing (2009) and Rijskakademie, Amsterdam (2011), among others. Curatorial projectsinclude the solo show Standing on the Shoulders of Little Clowns——An Exhibition by “GUEST”,UCCA, Beijing(2012); group show Bourgeoisified Proletariat, Shanghai Songjiang Creative Studio(2009), besides exhibitions at MadeIn Space (2010) and TOP Contemporary Art Center (2011).
ZHU JIA (b. 1963) , works and lives in Beijing. As a pioneer of the practice of video art in China, Zhu Jia always tries to capture ordinary scenes through distinctive methods of practice. ! Selected exhibitions include: Mobile M+: Moving Images, Hong Kong (2015); Landseasky, Revisiting Spatiality in video art, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai (2014); Out of the Box, The Threshold of Video Art in China (1984-1998), Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou(2011); Trans Local Motion—7th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Musuem, Shanghai (2008); 10th International Istanbul Biennial-Not only Possible, But also Necessary-Optimism in the Age of Global War, Istanbul, Turkey (2007); Zooming into Focus (NAMOC)-Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video from the Haudenschild Collection, National Art Museum Of China, Beijing (2005); 50th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale-Dreams and Conflicts. The Dictatorship of the Viewer, Venice, Italy (2003); Tempo, the Works Show of Contemporary Art in 20th, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, U.S.A. (2002); Living in Time-29 Contemporary Artists from China, National galerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Museum fuer Gegenwartskunst, Berlin, Germany (2001); Every Day-11th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art etc., Sydney, Australia (1998); Trade Routes: History and Geography, 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa (1997).
ShanghART Gallery ShanghART Gallery is one of the first galleries from China to participate in international art fairs such as Art Basel and FIAC in Paris. ShanghART Gallery is regarded as one of the key players in the development of contemporary art in China. It is also named one of the 75 most influential galleries in a Thames & Hudson publication, “International Art Galleries: Post-war to Post-millennium”. As ShanghART Gallery’s first overseas branch, ShanghART Singapore was opened in 2012, provides an array of artworks that reflect the present trends and developments of the Asian art world, set in the midst of natural greenery and historical buildings rich with Singapore’s colonial heritage.
