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Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne: Li Dafang �MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY! Painting is an Aversion to All that Glitters� - 30 Oct 2009 to 30 Jan 2010 Current Exhibition |
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Li Dafang, Fumin Brand Dried Noodles, 2009
oil on canvas, 165 x 130 cm Courtesy: Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne |
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Li Dafang �MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY! Painting is an Aversion to All that Glitters� October 30, 2009 � January 9, 2010 Opening: Friday, October 30, 2009 6.00 PM � 8.00 PM �MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!� Li Dafang�s (born in Shenyang in 1971) paintings have departed from the new generation of figurative painters such as Liu Xiaodong and filmmakers such as Jia Zhangke, who have emerged in the spotlight since the mid-1990s. At that time, there was a collective return of the artistic community to everyday life which was extremely dramatic and dynamic in itself. What the artists had to do was to extract samples from this social reality and then represent them without having to demonstrate any critical or analytical position. But the temptation and need to truthfully document and expose a fast-moving and powerful reality is less urgent today, as exemplified by artists such as Li Dafang. For Li, what connects his art to his own being is less the subject matter his paintings depict or its relationship to society than the possibility of experiencing and reflecting through the act of painting on what painting means to him on an individual level. Li Dafang strongly advocates the withdrawal of any expectation that art should have a function. The attempt to resist such expectations is exemplified in �painting is an Aversion to All that Glitters�, the subtitle of his solo exhibition MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY! at Galerie Urs Meile in Lucerne. Li Dafang presents in this exhibition a series of seven works completed in 2009 that were created through an expression of attitude rather than a theme. There is no radical stylistic rupture or conceptual transition from his paintings of the last few years, but more of a continuation. His detailed brushwork is unmistakably Li Dafang, the foggy quality is enduringly present, the trees cannot be mistaken, and the senseless scenarios are still perplexing. From very early on, the artist revealed his grand ambition to carve out a space for drama and storytelling, the flat surface of his canvases are the equivalent of a theatrical stage. He recalls his childhood exposure to, and fixation on, theatre and literature. He paints human figures, depicts scenarios, creates tensions, invents dialogues and monologues for his characters, gives out clues, designs plots of suspense, and emulates the effect of the long exposures found in movie making. He is the scriptwriter of all the absurdities in his paintings; he has tight control over the narrative structure and won�t let it run on its own free will. Yet, the artist will hasten to add that the narratives in his paintings are not to be trusted. They simply make no sense, and it�s no use trying to piece a story together from what he chooses to paint in such meticulous detail. No one other than the artist can figure out the puzzles or bring any logic to his images. However, the discrepancies between the depicted and the actual in Li Dafang�s paintings, although it�s often an impossible task to gauge the degree of absurdity between the two, are almost imperceptible and securely concealed in the contained space of his canvases. It�s no surprise that Li Dafang is a fervent admirer of Alfred Hitchcock, whose strength lay in his ability to formulate suspense through the extension of time and the closing in of space in his story-telling. The simultaneous depiction of everyday situations and hints of potential danger, as well as the obliviousness of his protagonists to their immediate jeopardy, played masterfully on the fear that exists deep within our subconscious minds. But Li Dafang�s paintings are far away from playing exclusively on instinct. The artist is confidently in charge of bringing together various possible elements of theatricality despite their obvious incompatibility with each other. His recent addition of wooden stairways and ladder-shaped podiums to support the canvases, or enlarged and elaborate wooden frames, defies easy classification or interpretation. It�s another Hitchcock-esque strategy. Images of staircases often play a central role or are featured prominently in Hitchcock's films; his stylistic interest in staircases can be attributed to the influence of German Expressionism which often featured heavily stylized and menacing staircases. Yet the staircases in Li Dafang�s painting installations are more stylistic than symbolic. They are bulky, artificial, and conspicuous, lending a solemn and monumental quality to Li�s canvases, yet they bear no responsibility in conveying meaning. As the artist points out, they are, instead, an embodiment of his attempt to understand and exercise perception about what is painting and what is art. Text: Carol Yinghua Lu (2009) Li Dafang 1971 born in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China lives and works in Beijing, China Solo Exhibitions 2009 �MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY! Painting is an Aversion to All that Glitters� Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland 2007 �Cui Ping Bei Li�, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing, China 2006 �Moving Shadows�, Museum Zhujizhan, Shanghai, China �Sophisticated Stories�, Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland 2005 �The Light of Day�, China Art Archive & Warehouse (CAAW), Beijing, China 2003 �Adventure�, Sanhe Art Center, Beijing, China 1999 �Li Dafang's Solo Exhibition�, Dongyu Art Museum, Shenyang, China Selected Group Exhibitions 2009 �The State of Things. Brussels/Beijing�, BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium �Textbook: An Exhibition Of Chinese Lively Paintings�, Li-Space, Beijing, China �Zhang Hongbo�, Art Unlimited, Art40Basel, Basel, Switzerland �White Snow and Black Earth � 70�s Northwest Youth Artist Exhibition�, Hejingyuan Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China 2008 �Half-Life of a Dream� Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA �Vision of East Asian 2008�, Gehua Plaza, Beijing, China; Fine Art Hall of Henan Art Center, Zhengzhou, China 2007 �1997-2007. Awakening From a Ten-Year Long Sleep�, Hejingyuan Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China �Art from China � Collection Uli Sigg�, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil �Black White Grey � A Conscious Cultural Stance�, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China �China Now�, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, the Netherlands 2006 �The Road Map to Painting 2�, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China �CHINA NOW � Faszination einer Weltver�nderung�, Sammlung Essl, Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg / Vienna, Austria �Twelve � Chinese Contemporary Art Awards 2006�, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China �From 'Polar Region' to 'Iron Westsection' � Northeast Contemporary Art 1985-2006�, Quangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China �The Self-Made Generation � A Retrospective of New Chinese Painting�, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China �Removing the Ladder�, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing, China �Size Decides Attitude. First 5x7'' (Pingyao) Picture Taking Biennale Project�, TS1 Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China �SUSI � Key to Chinese Art Today�, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila, Philippines 2005 �In � Between Realities�, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China �The 2nd Chengdu Biennial�, Chengdu Contemporary Art Gallery, Chengdu, China �After 70's Art � The Generation Changed through Market�, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China �Archaeology of the Future � The Second Triennial of Chinese Art 2005�, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China �Prague Biennial�, Prague, Czech Republic �Conspire�, TS1 Contemporary Art Centre, Beijing, China �China - Contemporary Painting�, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, Palazzo Saraceni, Bologna, Italy 2004 �Spellbound Aura: The New Vision of Chinese Photography�, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan �China's Photographic Painting�, Beijing Art Seasons, Beijing, China �The First Wuhan Fine Arts Invitation Exhibition 2004�, The Gallery of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China �Matchmaking at Suzhou Creek�, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China 2003 �Embracing the New Century � Third China National Exhibition of Oil Paintings�, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China �The Artificial Respiration�, Beijing Sanhe Art Center, Beijing, China �New Generation Post-Revolution�, China Blue Gallery, Beijing, China �The Image of the Image � 2003 Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting�, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China 2002 �Bridge � Changchun Annual Invitational Exhibition�, Yuandong Museum, Changchun, China 2001 �K Space Opening Exhibition�, K Space, Shenyang, China �The 2nd Northern China Contemporary Art Invitational Show�, Dong Yu Art Gallery, Shenyang, China �The 1st Chengdu Biennial�, Chengdu Contemporary Art Gallery, Chengdu, China 2000 "Small Report � An Exhibition of Seven Artists�, China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), Beijing, China �Shanghai Art Exhibition�, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China 1998 �The Works Exhibition of the Representative Artists�, Dongyu Art Museum, Shenyang, China 1994 �China Professional Painter's Exhibition�, Beijing Ammonal Gallery, Beijing, China |
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