【BLG LAB】Artists and Artworks

Installation View: There are volcanoes under the sea, 2019.3.21 – 4.14, BLG LAB, Beijing. Courtesy of Boers-Li Gallery

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【现场】BLG LAB：海面之下是火山

【BLG LAB】海面之下是火山

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)

A still—Volcano—Life—
That flickered in the night—
When it was dark enough to do
Without erasing sight—

A quiet—Earthquake Style—
Too subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples—
The North cannot detect

The Solemn—Torrid—Symbol—
The lips that never lie—
Whose hissing Corals part—and shut—
And Cities—ooze away—

Video Installation

Tang Chao

Tang Chao, What Needs to Be Answered is Skin, Video, 2018, 11'51". Courtesy of the artist

Tang Chao’s first collaboration with local criminal police can be seen in Local Photography, a video installation made by the artist in 2016. He discussed with the police over photos shot at the crime scene, and then processed the photos basing on these conversations, to “constantly guide andrectify the logic used by the police at work,” in order to blur “the relations between photography as evidence and photography as artwork (quote from theartist).” The artist sought after this cooperation pattern out of his professionality and intuition towards the medium of creation. At the same time, it achieves an unexpected documentary view point that seems pedestrian but isactually full of investigation into reality. In his new work What Needs toBe Answered is Skin in 2018, although the crime scene remains, the sense of reality and presence has weakened. The artist’s account through photography on criminal cases continues to transform into a fascination for narrative through video.

Tang Chao, artist, born in 1990, works and lives in Shanghai.

Migrant Workers Video Collective

Migrant Workers Video Collective, Solidarity(Part One, Two and Three), Video, 2018, 21'56''; 16'35''; 3'25'' . Courtesy of the artist

The Migrant Workers Video Collective was initiated by worker Wang Dezhi and artist Song Yi in 2016. Before that, Wang had been creating xiangsheng, comedy sketches, and videos for a decade. He invited Song to start the Collective in the hope to create a united force by gathering people from different knowledge background. They strive not only to reveal the veil of hardship over the group, but also to clearly present its current organizational condition and phase of struggle. In 2018, they re-edited and consolidated alarge amount of video footage, compiling them into Solidarity, a video collection that consists of five sections including Work, Life, Love, Family+Residence+Children, and Struggle. It tries to present an overall image of the underprivileged population. What should be stressed is that the collection emphasizes the nature of goodness, ability of rational thinking, as well as wish for unity of the underprivileged group.

Alvin Luong

Alvin Luong, The Young Comrade, Video, 2018, 16'30''. Courtesy of the artist

The Young Comrade is a pseudo-documentary that interprets as historical facta communist propaganda play that was written and set in 1930 by Bertolt Brecht. The play, titled The Measures Taken, was designed to help people become better communists, and was about the founding of ahypothetical Chinese communist state. In the artist's delirious interpretation of the play as history, the contradictions, absurdities, and similarities between the West's present and past political arenas are brought to reckoning. The Young Comrade features the performance of four scenes from The Measures Taken that Luong has altered, his conspiratorial story about the characters of the play, and personal travelogue footage from Beijing. As a work that blends the contemporary with the historical, the line between hope and disillusion, between revolution and a promised better future is also blurred, especially against the context where the video is mostly shot.

Alvin Luong, born in1993, works and lives in Toronto, Canada.  

Rouzbeh Akhbari

Rouzbeh Akhbari, Prizes from Fairyland, Video, In collaboration withAmin Roshan, 2018, 9'50''. Courtesy of the artist

Prizes from Fairyland is a part of a project by the artist that investigates the historical facts and impacts of British colonization in Iran, combining avariety of artistic methods ranging from sculpture, storytelling, and pseudo-documentary. This was filmed around an active oil well in the suburbs of Ahvaz, Iran. It is a five-act chronicle that re-animates historical colonial drawings, as well asphotographic documentations produced during the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s(now BP) presence in these landscapes. This investigative piece is in line withthe artists’ consistent practice based on research that wandered between political economics and critical architecture and planning. The narratives of the video begin by an imaginary tea ceremony between the Shah of Persia and William Knox D’Arcy in 1901, facilitated by contemporary oilmen. It continues to depict the indigenous Bakhtiari clothing pattern, later known as the signature uniform for British-backed local militias. It follows with appropriating drawings relating to militarized smoke-generators and oil-denial schemes. Lastly, the video brings attention to the visual modes of rebranding associated with the moment of postcolonial oil nationalization inIran.

Rouzbeh Akhbari, artist, born in 1992, lives and works between Tbilisi, Georgia and Yerevan, Armenia.

Wall 1

Song Xi

Song Xi, People’s Daily, Newspaper, gel pen, 2017, 59.4×42.1cm. Courtesy of the artist

The artist intruded into a newspaper of similar kind using a main stream sensitive word filter, making his questioning and humor towards the language system and its wider extension goes without saying. Together with Li Chang’s A Poem of Emptiness in the exhibition, the work sketches the manipulation of discourse system and the decreasing and fading of truth-reflecting investigative reports both at home and abroad in the post-truth age.

Song Xi, Square (Shenyang, Nanjing, Shanghai), Video, 2018, 7'25''; 5'08''; 7'28''. Courtesy of the artist

Similar to many artists who touch upon the theme of “square” in their works, Song Xi also views the square to be a motivational public space owned by the people. From a more personal perspective, the artist considers the projectas a “nomad state of self” (quote from the artist). He simulated and re-actedthe repetitive movement carried out to complete missions continually in the virtual games physically. His infinitely looping but meaningless steps may try to ask: what is this reciprocating movement for? Is it futile and no good? Is itonly a real imagination or an imagined reality?

Song Xi, artist, born in 1983, works and lives in Shanghai.

Li Chang

Li Chang, A Poem of Emptiness, Newspaper, carbon ink, pencil, 2017, 58×40cm. Courtesy of the artist

In A Poem of Emptiness, Li Chang continues her creative exploration with time-sensitive media, simulates the process in which individual experience, memory, thoughts and consciousness come into their forms at different temporal-spatial coordinates, and in this way raises metonymies and inquiries that can retrospect and critique. From research on empirical time and big data analysis, she chose News of the World of the most newsless day in the 20th century as the medium of her creative work. Li Chang covered certain contents and made a work that shares a lot in common with modernist poetry. Coincidentally, the choice of News of the World has also linked the current media ecology. In the exhibition, this work, together with Song Xi’s People’s Daily, roughly depicted thepost-truth era (from home to abroad) when the discourse system is manipulated and truth-revealing investigative reports are decreasing.

Li Chang, artist, born in 1986, works and lives in London and Beijing.

Li Junnan

Li Junnan, Harpy, Art paper, gel pen, 2018, 23×42cm. Courtesy of the artist

Li Junnan, Massacre on theIsland of Lemnos, Art paper, gel pen, 2018, 23×42cm. Courtesy of the artist

Two paintings based on the ancient Greek mythology the Golden Fleece tell the story of slaughter and death. The half-human and half-bird Harpies are minions of Zeus. They always leave a stench when passing by, eventually killed by the son of the god of NorthWind. The artwork featuring Harpy imagined by the artist portrays the scene where people fainted due to the smell of Harpy. In another work, the women on the island of Lemnos slaughtered all the men there because their husband scheated on them and brought back the mistresses. For the artist, these storiesare “delirious, crazy, full of imagination”, in which they are cloaked with the disguise of mythology but with hidden disappointment and pain beneath them. The pain of the history is heart breaking, but also destined to be found out by future generations.

Li Junnan, artist, born in 1987, works and lives in Beijing.

Wall 2

Zhu Xiang

Zhu Xiang, Untitled Book series, Artist book, 2018, Size variable. Courtesy of the artist

InZhu Xiang’s artist books, the individual lives she paid attention to have become a kind of collective memory because of the fever of a particular period: the manuscripts used for her artist books are dairies and notebooks written during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Zhu Xiang got these notebooks from second-hand bookstalls, and she made “illustrations” for these dairies usingimage collages. Although the dairies should be very personal objects, the individual lives recorded in them share the similarity of a sort of monotonous collectivism on account of the extraordinary politicization of the Cultural Revolution. As the artist describes, “the contents of these dairies mostly reflect the universalized politics of the day, such as people’s livelihood, idol worship, autobiography, quotations, and occasionally they are mixed upwith some old photos, newspaper cuttings, calendars and letter papers, and some diaries have glued or missing pages. It is very rare to obtain materials of personal texts and pictures from the dairies, which of course will not be categorized into historical archives as they are just some ‘dull’ recordings of individual political lives. However, it was these ‘dull’ individuals that contributed to the collective images of a feverish era.”

Zhu Xiang, artist, born in 1991, works and lives in Guangzhou.

He Xun

He Xun, ParentingEncyclopedia - A Letter Home, Artist book, 2019, 21×14.5×14.5cm. Courtesy of the artist

To He Xun, Artist Book (“Yi Shu Jia Shu”) is one kind of “Jia Shu” (letters written between familymembers). His mother passed away when he was little and at that time she did not know her son would become an artist. Knowing the affective potential of these letters, He Xun wrote a letter to his mother about his recent updates and a new exhibition he was to participate. Through the idea and the title of this book, he passes and exhibits the affective connections. Although in this exhibition, we appear to be never satisfied with the perfect serene world that is constructed and presented to us, and constantly in cite the real reflections of the roars and roils beneath, it does not lead to the absence of tender and genuine feelings, or the rejection of lyric expressions of ourselves. Doubtlessly, He Xun’s A Letter Home is an expression of himself, while for each of us, home will always be the exit when we encounter despair and pain.

He Xun, born in 1984, worksand lives in Beijing.

Christa Ziegler 

Christa Ziegler, Cities in Images, Artist book, 2013, 21×28cm. Courtesy of the artist

Christa Ziegler’s photography book collects the photographs from her urban travelproject from 2007 to 2011. During this time, she traveled to Africa, Asia and South America, focusing on the economic, social and spatial realities of the developing countries and regions. She captures mainly architecture and people, crystalizing the landscapes in urbanization and the mental state of people in the city. By using the minimalist design and black-and-white pictures, the artist casts acalm gaze of these vibrant cities, from Cairo to Bangkok, from Dakar to S?oPaulo. It is worth mentioning that Chinese cities play a large part in the photography book, for example, Xiamen, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

ChristaZiegler, artist, born in 1970, works and lives in Switzerland.

Thomas Galler

Thomas Galler, Palm Trees, Sunsets, Turmoil, Artist book, 2017, 16×20.5cm. Courtesy of the artist

Thomas Galler’s photography book Palm Trees,Sunsets, Turmoil is an exact product of the digital age. He searched photos about the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2016 on social media platforms and compiled them into one book. The photographers were all witnesses of those wars: soldiers, mercenaries, journalists and local civilians. Discussion about the legitimacy of the wars is often polarized, which Galler focuses in his critique. In addition, the photographs collected in this book poke the painful aspect of the current reality, or a perpetual one – the war. While presenting wars and chaos, the artist focuses on nature: palm trees are very common plants in the Middle Eastand sunsets represent infinite circulation. Looking through the photographs, one can’t help but sigh at the eternity of nature and the transience of mortal life. The tranquil landscape brings an infinite sense of trauma, from the wars that existed, from relics that are left till today, and also from the unpredictability of future. Only, the sun also rises.

Thomas Galler, artist, born in 1970, worksand lives in Munich, Germany.

Wenjie Junjie

Wenjie Junjie, Collection of wifi Poems, Artist book, 2016-2018, 10.5×14.5cm. Courtesy of the artist

Collection of wifi Poems is a collection of Wenjie Junjie’s recent works. The poems are couplets: one line uses the name of a wifi signal; the other line is the password the poet wrote. The inspiration could be traced back to the artist’s personal experience. In 2016, he began to write poems using wifi names and created passwords in the pin boxes. When reflecting on his writing, he realized that wifi names reflect social classes. “Wifi names in urban villages areas could always give you surprises. They are primitive, untamed and incredibly creative. In middle-class residential areas, however, wifi names are either set by defaultor boring.” In his collection, we can see many different types of wifi names, some romantic, some erotic, some sentimental, and some whiny. Wenjie Junjie acts as a psychologist and a fellow patient at the same time. He responds to these strangers and discusses their ailments with an ironic sense of humor, and with love and squalor.

Wenjie Junjie, artist, born in 1980, works and lives in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Door

Wang Yunchong

Wang Yunchong, Night Rain, Acrylic on canvas, 2019, 50×60cm. Courtesy of the artist

Wang Yunchong, Duck, Acrylic on canvas, 2019, 50×60cm. Courtesy of the artist

Although Night Rain echoes the gloomy atmosphere of the artworks on the same wall, and Duck displays a much more brisk parkscene, in general, Wang Yunchong’s paintings are so light-hearted with the relaxed touch of the flat-painting technique that they seem to be extinguishing the “volcanoes” in the title of the exhibition. These two small-scale works are gracefully hung on the revolving doors respectively. While the doors open, the worksspread a touch of excitement, and the air of the exhibition is illuminated withn light. The artist says, “in my paintings in 2018, the pursuit of formal beauty droveme to the edge of abstraction, and I feel that emotions were suppressed. So in 2019, I start to respect the emotions more in painting, and bring the rational training of 2018 to these emotional paintings. My state of mind, is sometimes depressed and sometimes self-satisfied; while waiting for an exit, it prepares itself quietly, before finding it.” For all kinds of things, there are always flaws, while looking to a way out, quietly prepare.

Wang Yunchong, artist, born in 1980, works and lives in Beijing.

Sound Installation

Huang Cheng

Huang Cheng, Baishizhou, Hubei,Huanggang Village, Xinji, White Pagoda Temple, CD Albums, 2015-2018, 14×12cm. Courtesy of the artist

Huang Cheng’s sound pieces are concerned about urbanization, especially the phenomenon of urban village. In the exhibition, his works are displayed/playedas a source of public sound. They were recorded in the Pearl River Delta since 2015 and named after the village where the recording took place: Baishizhou, Hubei, Huanggang Villageand Xinji, besides a recent onecompleted in Beijing: WhitePagoda Temple. Each recording is special on its own. They focus on memory and discussthe relation between individual and collective; they use autobiography andnoise; they use documentary techniques and stream of consciousness. In aninterview, when talking about Baishizhou, the largest urban village in Shenzhen, the artist said, “From the perspective of the documentary, I woulduse VR devices to record Baishizhou and preserve it as a historical archive. For the city of Shenzhen, this is an epitomic database documenting its own development. More often, however, I listen to the ‘documentary’ sound as ‘music’ and use it to present my works’ ideas. I don’t think too much about whether the work itself can be categorized as documentary.”

Huang Cheng, artist, born in 1983, works and lives in Guangzhou.

BLG LAB is an open collaborative platform for artistic research, experimentation and creation as well as talks, screenings, exhibitions, Pop up store and performances, taking contemporary themes and innovative artistic strategies out of the gallery and into an ongoing dialog with the public.

即将展出

博而励纽约 Boers-Li Gallery New York

Esteban Cabeza de Baca: Worlds without Borders

2019.4.5 - 5.26

博而励画廊呈现Esteban Cabeza de Baca在纽约的首次个展。《无边世界》展示艺术家最新作品，质疑“边界”作为概念划分国家，种族，与生物。Esteban Cabeza de Baca运用涂鸦技法，神话符号，以及前哥伦比耶时期的图像语言，其绘画与雕塑作品试图结构线性的时空表征，从而以多维度视角“重”现风景，历史，及人类，非人类，和自然之间的关系。

正在展出

博而励北京 Boers-Li Gallery Beijing

André Butzer

2019.3.2 - 4.14

博而励画廊荣幸呈现艺术家安德烈·布特兹（André Butzer）在北京的首次同名个展，这是继 “5 X Berlin柏林五人展”后，画廊再度为德国艺术家在国内举办展览。展览展出的作品包含艺术家自2018年以来创作的布面丙烯和铅笔手稿。此展于3月2日对公众开放，并参加北京画廊周期间系列活动。

博而励实验室 BLG LAB

海面之下是火山

2019.3.21 - 4.14

展览以含蓄的艺术媒介和作品尺幅（影像、艺术家书和小幅绘画）构造而成，试图对应“海面”所隐喻的外在世界被营造出的平静而稳定的模样；但是，由表及里，在这种被塑造出的表面形象下，却潜藏着艺术作品内容所揭示的无数重“火山”：真实的调查、狰狞的状况、痛苦的诉求、无奈的申辩、诗意的档案和温存的情感……

 

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