Art Weekly: “Parcours,” "The Common Reader,” “The Liver,” and “Painting as Strait Gate”
Ever since Louis Daguerre invented photography diehard proponents have argued that “painting is dead,” comparing the accuracy of photography with the lesser ability of painting for recording, and therefore communicating messages. Well, it's quite obvious that photography hasn’t eliminated painting from people’s daily life, even though the former has become indispensable. To prove such, we have two solo shows and two group exhibitions all about paintings in this week’s Art Weekly. However, if photography is more your thing, there are plenty of other exhibitions to be found here.
Until November 19: Zeng Fanzhi-Parcours
Zeng Fanzhi is holding his largest and most comprehensive exhibition to date, and his first institutional solo show in Beijing at the UCCA. This exhibition includes nearly 60 works, featuring key works from each major series in his 30-year career, encompassing parcours – a walk through, among, around, and beyond these diverse yet complementary bodies of work. Born in 1964, Zeng Fanzhi has used his artwork to reflect on the social and cultural climate of his country through a personal visual language. UCCA
Until October 5: Dong Dawei-The Common Reader
The Common Reader is the first solo exhibition in Gallery Yang's new location, showcasing the work of thirty-six-year-old Dong Dawei, whose work uses ordinary tools, plain techniques, and forms which are upon first inspection easy to understand. The name of the show is pulled from British writer Samuel Johnson’s essay of the same name, who considered that writers should chime in with common people, and retain common sense for common readers instead of holding literary prejudices. Gallery Yang
Until September 23: The Liver
The liver helps in metabolizing and production, including in the decomposition of red blood cells, hormone production, and detoxification. In numerous tales, the liver is related to a mirror that reflects our emotions, and regeneration. This group exhibition centers around that theme and includes Guo Yilin, Jia Hongyu, Liu Guoqiang, Pan Zishen, Song Zhen, Wang Jianxin, Ye Nan, Yi Lian, and Zhu Changquan, aiming to combine the abstract and the scientific understanding of our livers. CAFA Art Museum
Until September 24: Painting as Strait Gate: Post-80s Artists Invitation Exhibition
Thirty young artists from China's 80s generation have been invited to exhibit in this group show, curated by Xia Jifeng, as well as Bao Dong, Dai Zhuoqun, Lu Mingjun, Carol Yinghua Lu, Xia Jifeng, and Zhu Zhu as guest critics. This exhibition presents painting’s wideness in the form of narrowness by facing the possibilities of painting through “the strait gate,” and posing it against the confines that photography must exist. Hive Center for Contemporary Art
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Photos courtesy of organizers
