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【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕

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【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕崇真艺客

山河宣言行为现场 – 妙峰山支脉悬崖，北京门头沟，2023.04.26
Shanhe Delarationperformance scene – Miaofeng Mountain branch cliff, Mentougou, Beijing, 2023.04.26

曹雨 Cao Yu：

I Was Born To Do This

开放时间：

2023.5.11 - 7.21

开幕 Opening：
2023.5.11（周四），5.30-7.30 pm

麦勒画廊瑞士卢森
Galerie Urs Meile Lucerne

“我将艺术磨成一柄利刃，注入想象力与创造力，直劈时代中的劣质价值观、劣质审美、劣质人性。艺术创作并非我的‘职业’，而是自然而然的求生本能，是呼吸，即便世界上不存在‘艺术家’这个词，我也会这样做，因为‘I Was Born To Do This’（我天生就是干这个的）。”

——曹雨

曹雨(1988年生)的创作横跨影像、装置、表演、摄影、雕塑及绘画等诸多媒介，她以其独特的跨学科实践、诙谐讽刺的表达以及尖锐大胆的艺术语言而闻名。获国内外诸多大奖，其作品亦在海内外重要艺术机构展出。她是中国新一代女性艺术家中的领军人物，也是现今亚洲最具影响力的新兴艺术家之一。麦勒画廊很荣幸地宣布我们将于卢森部推出曹雨的最新个展“I Was Born To Do This”。本次展览将展出艺术家一系列新作，包括绘画与装置，除了针对艺术在当下时代呈现方式的重新思考与挑战外，亦不乏对中国社会现状和重要历史事件进行回顾与演绎。曹雨不同媒介的作品是透过多棱镜折射出来的哲思品，它们共同呈现出一个扔掉性别、身份和国界的独立个体，充满争议和火星四溅的人生，一个想要改变世界的狂人式的存在。

若要理解曹雨的绘画，首先要明白绘画是艺术家有意识地选择实现其观念想法的媒介之一。她不认为自己是画家，她只是用绘画来作为表达特定信息的方式，关键是信息本身。这些画作没有统一的风格、色调和技法。有的色彩浓艳，有的显得昏暗陈旧。有的笔触细腻，有的似乎一带而过。曹雨不刻意讲究绘画语言，色彩渐变，也不纠缠于构图。全新绘画作品《最后一只麻雀》中（2022，布面油画，210 x 290 cm，两联画），人们会看到艺术家在此故意使用传统画法以保持与此事件发生的年代风格一致。在这件作品中，人们将被带回至60年代。

【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕崇真艺客曹雨，《最后一只麻雀》，2022，布面油画，210 x 290 cm，双联拼接（每联 210 x 145 cm）
Cao Yu, The Last Sparrow, 2022, oil on canvas, 210 x 290 cm, 2 panels (each panel 210 x 145 cm)

她曾说：“艺术是智慧转化了的“社会现实”，也像一面锃亮的镜子，将人们自己和周围的一切哪脏哪丑，映射得清清楚楚。艺术也是一把刮骨疗毒的手术刀，就像想要痊愈的病人不辞热痛也要手术。”

作品《红日》（2022，布面油画，200 x 320 cm，两联画）呈现了美丽、辉煌而又悲壮的风景。整个画面被平均一分为二，一半绝对光明，一半绝对黑暗与死亡。在洒满红光的广阔大地上呈现一片壮观景象，全画面没有一个人，只有死去的，密密麻麻的麻雀。整个画面美丽，壮观，辉煌，却血流成河。画面中死亡的尽头转而呈现光明，人们期待那是新一轮希望的开始。

中国有句俗语——“画饼”，有人为你描绘了相当美好的前景，实际却没有做任何事情。在《画饼》（2022，布面油画，160 x 160 cm）中，曹雨向我们展示了这样一个极其“写实逼真”的大饼，它似乎刚出炉，还热腾腾的冒着油花。如果你说它是假的，但那的确是艺术家亲自画的；如果你说它是真的，那它的确只是一个假饼。曹雨“画饼”，当有人心甘情愿花真金白银买下这所谓“假饼”，假即成真。

作品《Boss》（2022，布面油画，195 x 150 cm）中，穿着“虎纹皮”的猪先生，身旁也有一株遍布真虎纹皮的绿植——虎皮兰。猪先生将已膨胀得即将爆炸的身体塞进椅子，踏踏实实踩在目前双腿正苦苦死撑的另一位上。不过，二者的面部朝向却极其一致，只是一只双耳高耸，一只双耳拉耸，也许新的一位Boss随后也要诞生了。无论如何，一切皆被深色背景所吞噬。

每逢过年过节，人们买猪宰羊，一片红火。在作品《丰满的生活》（2022，布面油画，160 x 240 cm，双联拼接（每联 160 x 120 cm））中，似乎有着同种氛围。而摩托车上被“闷棍”和“板砖”间绑着的是一只身体“丰满”的母猪。身边站立的同类“八戒”正是中国人惯常印象中最值得信赖的老实形象。二者之间的画面刚好被“8888”一分为二。挡住母猪逃生小路的，是一群旁观者同类还是幼崽？路过人间，一切现实皆为荒诞。

【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕崇真艺客曹雨，《丰满的生活》，2022，布面油画，160 x 240 cm，双联拼接（每联 160 x 120 cm）
Cao Yu, Life in Fullness, 2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 240 cm, 2 panels (each panel 160 x 120 cm)

《桃花源记》（2022，布面油画，200 x 316 cm, 双联拼接（每联 200 x 158 cm））为东晋陶渊明之诗词中描述的完美胜景。在这件作品中，乌云滚滚之下，是一座“物产丰富”的巨型垃圾山。一把烈火之后，一世沉浮荣辱皆尽，那也许是真正“桃花源”的到来。

【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕崇真艺客曹雨，《桃花源记》，2022，布面油画，200 x 316 cm, 双联拼接（每联 200 x 158 cm）
Cao Yu, The Peach Blossom Land, 2022, oil on canvas, 200 x 316 cm, 2 panels (each panel 200 x 158 cm)

“龙头 · 山河宣言”为曹雨的最新大型项目作品。作品原型取自2020年摄影作品“龙头”。如果说“龙头”是艺术家对人们先天便予自身设限与边界的颠覆，那么《龙头 · 山河宣言》（2023，刺绣贡缎仿古战旗，铸铁三叉戟，皮绳，346 x 165 cm（旗：250 x 160 cm））则是在其之上更磅礴与浓墨重彩的一笔。她说“龙头”中的人物角色，如同花木兰般，是不受先天性别束缚的阳刚儿女。而龙头中喷出的水是智慧源头，是灵感，也是一道白光，任何人，均可以没有性别之分地，放肆地创造。导演宁岱（第十四届台湾电影金马奖获得者）曾说，这龙头中喷出的水终将汇集，兴风作浪成我们谁都不可预知的洪流。在曹雨眼中，腾空跃过水槽喷射而出的水，和人们眼中所谓的“坏”水龙头正是能形成未来巨浪和洪流的“源头”。

在“龙头 · 山河宣言”中，艺术家将摄影作品龙头刻印在三国时期样式的，及带有古代冷兵器三叉戟战旗上，并扛着不同战旗步行穿越世界不同国家的荒野大地。作品从2023年3月15日（1988年3月15日为其出生当天）开始实施。曹雨说，无论是有人还是无人之地，皆为她的艺术展场和人生战场。这件作品不仅是作为一名艺术家，也是作为一个人，对全世界的一种宣言，一种雄壮的表态，是个人在政治和社会的缝隙中获得权力的方式，苍茫的宇宙中，她希望在自己的物质肉身灰飞烟灭前，将艺术创造力洒遍山河。就像她的另一件大理石雕塑的标题“是的，我无处不在”。

曹雨，《龙头 · 山河宣言》，2023，刺绣贡缎仿古战旗，铸铁三叉戟，皮绳，346 x 165 cm（旗：250 x 160 cm）
Cao Yu, Dragon Head · Shanhe Delaration, 2023, embroidered satin antique battle flag, cast iron trident, leather rope, 346 x 165 cm (flag: 250 x 160 cm)

山河宣言行为现场 – Place du Panthéon，巴黎，2023.05.02
Shanhe Delarationperformance scene – Place du Panthéon, Paris, 2023.05.02

她曾说：“我誓死捍卫思想自由。思想不是权利者独有的产物，而恰恰是每个人拥有的权利。只是大多数人放弃了，惯性地去拿来主义，并不自知地做着一件事——变成别人。我创作的初衷在于我嗅到了生命深处的不完美、痼疾与痛苦,在这个世界上，多数人的认知是被少数人操控的结果。我不想被别人制造的“准则”裹挟头脑，不想让我的灵魂随惯性而奔流，因此，我将艺术磨成一柄利刃，注入想象力与创造力，寄希望于刺入靶心、一刀殒命。我的艺术是振聋发聩的声音，是带领观者共同杀出一条血路之物，直劈时代中的劣质价值观、劣质审美、劣质人性。”

“脱下高跟鞋猛跑吧，就像一个亡命之徒，艺术家永远都是绝处逢生。其实我们完全可以做《西游记》中的孙悟空，猴王，齐天大圣，以及电影中的《超人》。”如今，她似乎逐渐做到了……

“艺术创作并非我的‘职业’，‘艺术家’也并非我的‘职称’，而是自然而然的求生本能，是呼吸，即便世界上不存在‘艺术家’这个词，我也会这样做，因为‘I Was Born To Do This’（我天生就是干这个的）。”

(Please scroll down for English)

“I sharpen my art into a sharp blade, injecting imagination and creativity. It should like a dagger that pierces the bull's-eye and kills with a single blow,directly attacking the inferior values, inferior aesthetics, and inferior human nature in this era.Art creation is not my ‘profession’, but a survival instinct to me, it's breathing. Even if the word ‘artist’ didn’t exist in the world, I’d still do it—Because I was born to do this.”

– Cao Yu

Born in China in 1988, Cao Yu’s work spans video, installation, performance, photography, sculpture and painting. She is famous for her incisive and bold artistic language, distinctive cross-disciplinary practice, witty and ironic expression. She has won numerous art awards both domestically and internationally, the work have been exhibited globally at important museums and institutions. Cao has been recognized as one of the most influential emerging artists in Asia today, the leading figure of Chinese new generation female artists. Galerie Urs Meile, together with Cao Yu, are delighted to announce the opening of the artist’s long overdue exhibition, I Was Born To Do This, at Galerie Urs Meile Lucerne. The show will feature a series of the artist’s most recent and significant works, including paintings and installations, in addition to rethinking and challenging the way how art is presented in the current era, there is also a review and interpretation of the current social situation and important historical events in China. Her works in various media are not just physical objects, but philosophical creations reflected through polygonal prism. They portray an independent individual who has set aside her gender, identity, and national boundaries, living a life full of controversy and explosive creativity, a crazy existence, someone who dreams of changing the world.

To understand Cao Yu’s painting, one must understand first that painting is one of the media that the artist consciously chooses to realize her ideas. She does not consider herself a painter, paintings are more of a way of presenting a message for her, and the key is the message itself. She just used painting as a way to convey her particular message. These paintings do not have a unified style, tone and technique. Some are vibrantly colored, while others seem worn out. Some have delicate brushwork, others are reduced and brushed over. Cao Yu does not pay attention to the language of painting, does not study the gradient and harmony of colors, nor is she obsessed with composition. One example would be The Last Sparrow (2022, oil on canvas, 210 x 290 cm, 2 panels (each panel 210 x 145 cm). The artist deliberately uses tones and brushstrokes that are consistent with the historical period in which the event depicted in the painting took place. In this piece, people will be transported back to the 60s.

She said，“My art is the transformed ‘social reality’ of wisdom, and it’s like a shiny mirror that clearly reflects the dirt and ugliness of oneself and everything around them. At the same time, art is also a surgical knife that scrapes the bone to cure the poison, just like a patient who is willing to endure pain to get healed.”

A beautiful, magnificent, glorious, and yet tragic scenery shows up in the work The Red Sun (2022, oil on canvas, 200 x 320 cm, 2 panels (each panel 200 x 160 cm)). The whole piece is divided into two, one half absolute light and one half absolute darkness and death. A magnificent scene on a vast field of red light, with not a single human being in the whole picture, only dead, dense sparrows. The horizon, stretched out by dead bodies of sparrows, meets with light, which indicates a new beginning, a new cycle of hope.

In China there is a saying - Hua Bing (画饼) which could be literally translated as “Drawing a Pancake”, meaning that someone describes a wonderful prospect to you but never does anything to make it come true. In Drawing a Pancake (2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 160 cm), Cao Yu confronts us with such a “realistic” pancake that seems to be just out of the pan, still hot and bubbling with oil. If you say it is fake, it is a real painted cake; if you say it is real, it is indeed just a fake cake. Cao Yu “draws a pancake” for you, when someone is willing to spend real money to buy this so-called "fake cake", then fake become real.

Boss (2022, oil on canvas, 195 x 150 cm) depicts a pig wearing a “tiger skin”, sitting on a chair in a superior gesture with a green plant beside it, “wearing” the same but real“tiger skin” pattern—the tiger orchid. Mr. Pig stuffed his body swollen to the point of explosion into a chair and stepping on the other one whose legs are currently struggling to hold up.

However, the facial orientation of the two is extremely consistent, except that one ear is high and one ear is pulled up. But one’s ears rose high and the other’s ears drooped. Maybe a new boss will be born afterwards. In any case, everything is swallowed up by the dark background.

Every New Year's Eve, people buy pigs and slaughter sheep, and there is a red-hot atmosphere. In the work Life in Fullness (2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 240 cm, 2 panels (each panel 160 x 120 cm)), it seems to have the same kind of atmosphere. On the motorcycle, tied between the "stick" and "brick" is a sow with a "full" body. Beside her stands the same kind of "Bajie", which is the most trustworthy and honest image that Chinese people usually think of. The picture between the two is just divided in two by "8888". Blocking the sow's escape path, is it a group of bystanders of the same kind or the cubs? Passing through the human world, all reality is absurd.

The Peach Blossom Garden is a perfect scenery described in the poems of Tao Yuanming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In this work, underneath the dark clouds, there is a huge mountain of garbage that is "rich in goods". After a blazing fire, a lifetime of sinking and shame is over, and that may be the arrival of the real "Peach Blossom Source".

"Dragon Head · Shanhe Declaration" is Cao Yu's latest large-scale project work. The work is based on the 2020 photograph "Dragon Head" (The title of Cao Yu’s 2020 photograph - Dragon Head - comes from the Chinese word for faucet, 水龙头 shui long tou, which could be literally translated as “water dragon head”. It depicts Cao Yu, clothed in black suit, seated on the faucet of an old concrete sink. Water sprays from between her spread legs directly towards the viewer. Presenting herself as an ambiguous figure, Cao Yu urinates a human “fountain”). If Dragon Head is the artist’s subversion of the limits and boundaries that man innately sets for ourself. Dragon Head · Shanhe Declaration (2023, ancient Chinese-style military flag, embroidery, trident, dimensions variable) is a more majestic stroke on top of it. In "Dragon Head · Shanhe Declaration" (2023, embroidered satin antique battle flag, cast iron trident, leather rope, 346 x 165 cm (flag: 250 x 160 cm)), the artist engraved the photograph "Dragon Head" on a trident battle flag in the style of the Three

Kingdoms period with an ancient cold weapon, and carried the different battle flags on foot through the wilderness of different countries around the world. The project will begin on March 15, 2023 (March 15, 1988 is the date of her birth). She says that the characters in "Dragon Head", like Hua Mulan, are masculine sons and daughters who are not bound by their innate gender. The water in 水龙头 "water dragon head" is a source of wisdom, inspiration, and a white light, anyone could create without gender distinction. Director Ning Dai (winner of the 14th Taiwan Golden Horse Film Award) comments that the water sprays from the faucet will eventually gather and make waves into a torrent that none of us can foresee. In Cao Yu's eyes, the water that jumps over the sink and the so-called "bad" or “disobedient” faucet in people's eyes is the "source" that can form the huge waves and floods in the future.

Cao Yu says that both inhabited and uninhabited places are the battlegrounds of her art and life. It is a fearless declaration, a courageous and majestic statement from Cao Yu to the world not only as an artist but also as an independent person to the world, a way for the individuals to gain power and pursue freedom in the crevices of politic andsociety. A vast universe where she hopes to spill her artistic creativity all over the mountains and rivers, before her material body fades into dust and smoke, just like the title of her marble sculpture “Yeah, I am everywhere”.

She said, “I will defend freedom of thought to the death. Thought is not a unique product of power holders, but rather a right that everyone possesses. It’s just that most people give up and habitually go for “borrowism,” and not knowing they are doing one thing—becoming someone else. The original intention of my creation arose because I have smelled the imperfections, social chronic illness and pain in the depths of life; in today’s world, the majority’s beliefs and cognition are the result of being manipulated by a powerful minority. I refuse to be trapped by the so-called standards created by others. I don’t want my soul being flowed along with the inertia. Therefore, I sharpen my art into a sharp blade, injecting imagination and creativity. It should like a dagger that pierces the bull's-eye and kills with a single blow. It is realistically written with wisdom, a deafening voice. It’s something to lead the audience to fight our bloody way out together, directly attacking the inferior values, inferior aesthetics, and inferior human nature in this era.

“Just take off your high heels and run like a fugitive/prison breaker; An artist always manage to transform a desperate situation into a chance for survival. In fact, we can definitely be Sun Wukong, Monkey King, or Qi Tian Da Sheng in Journey to the West, and Superman in American movies.”

Today, she seems to have done it.

“Therefore, art creation is not my “profession,” and "artist" was not my "title", but a survival instinct to me, it's breathing. Even if the word ‘artist’ didn’t exist in the world, nor in the industry, I’d still do it—I was born to do this.”

关于艺术家
About the Artist

【瑞士展讯】“曹雨：I Was Born To Do This” | 5月11日麦勒画廊瑞士卢森开幕崇真艺客

曹雨（1988 年生于辽宁，毕业于中央美术学院雕塑系，获本科及硕士学位）的创作横跨影像、装置、表演、摄影、雕塑及绘画等诸多媒介。凭借其独特的跨学科实践、诙谐讽刺的表达以及尖锐大胆的艺术语言，成为中国新一代女性艺术家中的领军人物，也是现今亚洲最具影响力的新兴艺术家之一。

她是 AAC 艺术中国·青年艺术家大奖得主（2018）, CCAA艺术家奖提名（2018）、获得艺术8·中国青年艺术家奖提名奖（2017）、获得法国Opline Prize艺术奖提名奖（2019）、并入选中国艺术权力榜（2018）、入选Gen.T亚洲明日先锋榜（2020）。入围Sovereign Asian Art Prize杰出亚洲艺术奖（2023）等。

其作品在：法国巴黎东京宫艺术博物馆；德国沃尔夫斯堡美术馆；奥地利维也纳MAK博物馆；挪威利勒哈默尔美术馆；奥地利萨尔茨堡现代博物馆；丹麦加姆勒斯特兰德国际艺术中心；澳大利亚悉尼Artspace；韩国蔚山美术馆；北京民生美术馆; 德国慕尼黑Martina Tauber Fine Art；德国柏林Diskurs ; 美国纽约Camera Club；北京今日美术馆等海内外重要艺术机构展出。作品被包括香港M+ Collection、瑞士巴塞尔Erlenmeyer基金会，北京寺上美术馆以及中央美术学院美术馆在内的机构收藏。

曹雨用自己的身体推翻边界，清晰而有力地为她自身以及新一代艺术家大胆发声。她的作品挑战了社会规范，用既是本色的、又带有表演性质的行为向当下中国社会的价值与身份问题发问，对当下的相关性别问题作出了新的阐释。在这一过程中，这位拥有自由灵魂与专注精神的艺术家为我们开启了新的可能性。

CAO YU's (b.1988, Liaoning. BFA & MA, Sculpture, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China) work span a diverse range of media that include video, installation , performance, photography, sculpture and painting. With her distinctive interdisciplinary practice, sharp and bold artistic language, she has become the leading figure of Chinese new generation female artists, one of the most influential young artists in China.

She was the winner of Best Young Artist · The 12th AAC Award (2018); named China Art Power 100 (2018); shortlisted for the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA); the French Opline Prize(2019); finalist for the Yi Shu 8 · Chinese Young Artist Award (2017); has been selected into Generation . T Asia’s Leaders of tomorrow (2020); Finalists for The 2023 Sovereign Asian Art Prize; etc.

Her work have been exhibited globally at important museums and institutions including Kunstuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany; Palais-de-Tokyo, Paris, France; Lilehammer Art Museum, Norwegian; MAK Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria; Kunstforeningen Gamle Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark; Konfuzius-Institut Nürnberg-Erlangen, Nuremberg, Germany; Artspace, Sydney, Australia; Ulsan Art museum, South Korea; Minsheng Art Museum,China; Martina Tauber Fine Art, Munich, Germany; Camera Club New York, US; Diskurs, Berlin, Germany; Today Art Museum, Beijing, China; etc. Her work are also in the collections of museums and institutions that include M+ Collection, Hong Kong; Erlenmeyer Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland; Sishang Art Museum, Beijing ; Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, Beijing, etc.

By using her own physical self, Cao Yu pushes boundaries and articulates a bold new voice for her own and succeeding generations. Her work challenges propriety and other social conventions, questions the value and identity of current Chinese society using the way that is not only inherent but also performative, also shedding new light on relevant and timely women’s issues. In the process, the work of this free spirit and focused artist, opens up new possibilities.