TKG+/Tina Keng Gallery is pleased to announce the presentation of recent work by the mainland Chinese artist Xu Jiang on the concourse of Hall 3 and a solo exhibition of the recent video and photographic works by the Taiwanese artist Wu Tien-Chang at the ASIA ONE section of ART HK 11 Hong Kong International Art Fair (booth 3C05).
Xu Jiang’s encounters with sunflowers, a plant that is rare in southern China, has led him to treat the subject in painting and sculpture, as in the larger than life “field” entitled, Is It Possible for Them to Live Together? II (2010). For Xu, the sunflower garden suggests a “homeland,” its memories, and its people. Xu’s sculptures show the artist’s concern with history, nature, and society.
Wu Tien-Chang’s work reveals the contradictions of the photographic medium, with its apparent reality, yet often contrived and fictitious nature. He makes costumes, props, and backdrops for his elaborate and surreal sets and directs his actors to perform, as he did for We're All in the Same Boat(2002), which will be on view at our booth. He digitally recombined, deformed, and reshaped dozens of snapshots taken during carefully staged sessions, to create theatrical and painterly photographs. The resulting works depict surreal and haunting scenes, deeply steeped in Wu’s interests in photographic theories and Taiwan’s complex history and culture.
In his recent photographs from the series Unforgettable Lover (2011) and Luan (2011), as well as the video (2010) of the latter, Wu examines the relationship between the still and the moving image. While photography seals time, moving images are fleeting. Wu’s recent turn to video is an attempt to capture this fleeting time. He shows how time unfolds in his complex and shifting sequences with characters changing clothing and props right before the audience. His work highlights the complexities of the mediums, as in the example of his multi-layered lenticular photographs entitled Luan (2011). These are not video stills, but rather photographs produced at the same time as the videos. Their medium affords them with movement and depth, bringing into question the photograph’s presumed stillness. The digital prints of Unforgettable Lover (2011), created simultaneously as his in-progress video by the same title, feel deeply nostalgic. Wu’s evocative interplay between video and photography, the moving and the still, will capture viewers’ emotions and imaginations.
Wu Tien-Chang (b. 1956) lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan. He received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Chinese Culture University (1980). His work has been shown internationally, including at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2011, 2009, 1990, 1987); the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2011, 2010); the Soho Photo Gallery, New York, New York (2010); the Hong Kong At Centre, Hong Kong, China (2010); Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2010); Art Beijing, Beijing, China (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan (2009); National Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2009); the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2009); the Taipei Cultural Center, New York, New York (2008); and MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan (1997).
Xu Jiang (b. 1955) graduated with a degree in oil painting at the China Academy of Art, of which he is now president. He has been included in many exhibitions worldwide, including at the Zhejiang Art Museum, Zhejiang, China (2010); the Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China (2009); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2006); the 10th Architecture Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2006); the Bethanien Art Center, Berlin, Germany (2001); and the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art and Fanst Gallery, Hamburg, Germany (1988).