Two exhibition information
Duration: From now until October 27
Address: No. 6, Meihe Road, Beijiao New Town, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
Travel means different things to everyone, and so do the ways in which they are transformed. Contemporary artist Pu Yingwei has created "New Century Encyclopedia" due to his global travels in recent years; Another contemporary artist, Sean · Scully, travels upriver in the direction of the river into the sea, embarking on another journey in a small town hidden in a network of intertwined rivers, groping for "a place to leave the sea". The two exhibitions were held at the He Art Museum (HEM) in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, on the same day, in the same place, we can experience a double art journey. He Art Museum (HEM) is a non-profit private art museum initiated by the family and designed by Tadao Ando. HEM focuses on the process from modern cultural and artistic trends to contemporary art from an international perspective, and hopes to establish a hub for communication and explore cross-cultural diversity and diverse values by presenting unique and attractive exhibitions and diversified and open cultural activities to the public. In addition to the art exhibition, the Hema Museum (HEM) itself is a work of art, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a "triple tour" of art today.
Because of her global travel in recent years, Pu Yingwei has created a "New Century Encyclopedia"
"The Four Seasons Change" group of paintings
He Art Museum recently held the first solo exhibition of contemporary artist Pu Yingwei, "New Century Encyclopedia", presenting hundreds of paintings, sculptures and video works created by the artist for this exhibition after the completion of his global travel.
He arrived in London and then in Paris
Subsequently, he set foot in Eastern Europe, Africa, Central Asia and other regions......
"Pu Yingwei: New Century Encyclopedia" not only represents the release of many "new clues" of the artist's works, but also a "creative encyclopedia" to understand his thoughts and artistic propositions. The core of openness, inclusiveness and freedom conveyed in the works in this exhibition comes from the artist's experience of traveling around the world in recent years. This exhibition can also be understood as a manifesto of self-reinvention made by a young artist in the face of globalization and many global issues. Whether it is his focus on postcolonial issues while studying in France or his recent plans to travel around the world, Pu Yingwei has been trying to find possible ways of communication between different civilizations and histories, different regions and ecology. He attempts to propose a cosmopolitan spirit of openness as understood by Chinese artists, and attempts to explore the temporal and spatial connections of Chinese contemporary art, thereby establishing a globalized narrative towards the self.
Details of "The Four Seasons Change Now: Spring".
Between 2021 and 2023, after completing a study tour of Central and North China, the artist embarked on a courageous journey around the world, including London and Paris, and then to Eastern Europe, Africa, and Central Asia. During this round-the-world trip, the artist and photographer Without Borders Li Yanan drove through Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia, visiting dozens of monuments in person. These monuments were born at the height of the former Yugoslavia in the last century and are now scattered throughout the Balkan Peninsula and are part of a very special aesthetic heritage in the history of mankind. The revisit of these monuments directly inspired the artist's new animated video work "New World Encyclopedia" in this exhibition.
He created an autobiographical animated avatar of PAPU, and tried to share his thoughts on the world with a wider audience through the perspective of PAPU. After leaving the former Yugoslavia, Pu Yingwei traveled to Kenya, visiting many local art institutions and artists, visiting the Kibera and Mukuru slums, as well as the Chinese construction teams stationed in Africa, trying to feel and understand the connection between his identity and the region. After returning to Paris, the artist launched the "Red Rendezvous" dialogue marathon project, which included art ·historian Philippe Dagen, sinologist Emmanuel Lincot · Simmanuel Lincot, postcolonial theorist Seloua Luste Boulbina, Thierry Raspail, founder of the Biennale de Lyon· and others. The artist's "world experience" is further opened up in such cross-regional, cross-climate, cross-ideological and interdisciplinary experiences and exchanges.
This also inspired him to advocate the concept of "world art" in this "New Century Encyclopedia" exhibition: it echoes the concepts of "world music" and "world literature", both of which point to the commonality and openness of human emotions and civilization, that is, the undifferentiated perception and communication of life itself. Starting from the concept of "world art" and his consistent historical thinking, Pu Yingwei was inspired by Chinese artists in the last century to interrogate Chinese and Western issues, ancient and modern issues, and tried to respond to the integration of global knowledge and values with the integration of artistic styles. In the new series of paintings, Pu Yingwei re-learns and interprets the concept of "Six Methods of Painting" in traditional Chinese painting with contemporary life experience and awareness of global issues, and creates a number of works, including the "Four Seasons Change" group of paintings. In this exhibition, the artist will also exhibit the "Library of the World", a giant sculpture made from a thousand books of ceramics.
At the end of the previous stage of his globetrotting journey, the artist arrived in Kiev, located in the conflict zone. The confrontation between history, reality, desire, and land is fiercely staged here. Deeply aware of the fragility of life and culture in this situation, he tried to perpetuate the human mind with this work.
PAPU and the Art Museum Ahwa
Screenshot of the New World Encyclopedia animation
Because of his lifelong passion for travel, Sean · Scully groped for "a place away from the sea"
Arles Star Vincent Sean · Scully Triptych on oil on aluminum: 215.9 × 190.5 cm (each) 2021 © Sean Scully; Courtesy to the artist and Lisson Gallery
In addition to "reading" the "New Century Encyclopedia" by contemporary artist Pu Yingwei, you can also follow contemporary artist Sean · Scully to explore "A Place Leaving the Sea", an exhibition of 40 sets of paintings and sculptures by the artist spanning more than half a century since the 60s of the 20th century.
Delicate, sincere emotions
Scully began his career experimenting with a combination of minimalism and opticism, using cascading "supergrids" to create works. In the early '80s, he began to rethink his past approach and tried to incorporate spiritual metaphors into it, forming a visual style dominated by stripes and blocks of color that he still uses today. Technically, his work draws on a wide range of traditions of art history – from United States Abstract Expressionism (Mark · Rothko, Jackson · Pollock, etc.) to European modernism (Henri · Matisse, Piet · Mondrian, etc.), and ancient Greece architecture is also one of his references.
Despite the scale and structure of Scully's work, delicate and sincere emotion has always been at the heart of his work. Sean · Sculley's childhood wandering inspired him to travel throughout his life, and many of his works are sensual depictions of journeys and landscapes. He took refuge in a gypsy home and wandered through several slums in London, with his grandmother's singing scattered – "When the eyes of the Ireland smile, so does the spring". Later, in Morocco, Mexico or Barcelona, with the eyes of Dublin on the verge of the tide, he described the soft light and endless night there. Emotional blocks of color are stacked in his paintings and sculptures, as evidence of the eternal fluctuations of the world and emotions. Scully has held exhibitions in China on several occasions, often in cities further north. Now, swimming upstream in the direction of the river flowing into the sea, he has embarked on another journey in a small town hidden in a network of crisscrossed rivers. At the He Art Museum, the colors of paintings and sculptures ripple lightly or deeply with the thickness of the daylight.
In addition, 30 Sean · Scully aluminum plates, baked paint 305 × 129.5 × 137 cm 2018 © Sean Scully; Courtesy to the artist and Lisson Gallery
From left: Sean · Scully, Oil on linen, Ground linen, 119.4 ×, 106.7 cm, 2013 Land Star, Oil on aluminum, 215.9 ×, 190.5 cm, 2017 Untitled (Landline), Oil on aluminum
215.9 × 190.5 cm 2021
and the exhibition view of the art museum
Photo: Liu Xiangli
From left: Sean · Scully In addition to 30 aluminum plates, lacquered 305 × 129.5 × 137 cm 2018 landline cube stainless steel, acrylic 274.3 × 91.4 × 91.4 cm 2015-2020
涂漆的塔抛光不锈钢、丙烯涂料 240 × 100 × 100 cm 2018
and the exhibition view of the art museum
Photo: Liu Xiangli
Provision of materials / and art museum (HEM)
Edit/Lora