Cheng Ran, “Tide Conversations”, part of the solo exhibition “The Last Generation”
Galerie Urs Meile (#104, Caochangdi, Old Airport Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing, China) May 11 – July 7, 2013
“Tide Conversations” is a new work from Cheng Ran, part of his thoughtful solo exhibition “The Last Generation” at Galerie Urs Meile. Fragments of stone, shells and a few fountain pen nibs are arranged on a white ground inside a glass case. Each (or almost every one), has an attendant strip of paper on which is printed a few words or a phrase – such musings as “But the war did come”…”It drags your heart till…,” “With you?” and “I can’t make you understand.” The fragments are thus personified or made into gestures or additions to feeling — or perhaps they convey these thoughts as part of some greater natural architecture. One is reminded of Bachelard’s beautiful book “The Poetics of Space” — the residual, tactile and spatial appeals of objects and natural sculpture. Here, Cheng Ran has created something like a poetics of samples or of pieces, those freer things collected on walks along shores or high ground, picked up without thought and as part of something larger — tangible relics. To set them like this holds onto and sustains the pairing of word and object that books are not permitted. They rest in time; placed, annotated, married, implied.
Cheng Ran, “Tide Conversations”, mixed media installation (stones, sea shells, fountain pen nibs, inscribed notepaper, wooden plinth and glass cover), 105 x 244 x 80 cm, 2013 (detail).
程然，《潮汐交谈》，混合媒体装置（石头、海贝壳、钢笔笔头、落款的信纸、木质底座和玻璃盖），105 x 244 x 80 cm，2013（细节）
