Wang Qiang
dal 1/6/2007 al 29/6/2007
Segnalato da
1/6/2007
Wang Qiang
Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai
The exhibition pays tribute to an extraordinary body of work ranging from installation to oil painting, sculpture to performance: the central theme is the use of metaphor as a medium through which to question authority and challenge society's traditional taboos.
A Retrospective 1994-2007
Eastlink Gallery is pleased to present the work of Wang Qiang in his first major retrospective.
Wang Qiang’s work spans a multitude of media and subject matter. The exhibition pays tribute to an extraordinary body of work ranging from installation to oil painting, sculpture to performance and will afford the viewer a rare opportunity to witness the developing work of this highly acclaimed artist. The central theme of Wang Qiang’s work is the use of metaphor as a medium through which to question authority and challenge society’s traditional taboos.
His early work “Currency” (1993-4), is highly derisive, setting out to highlight and challenge the political nature of China’s Renminbi. He does so with a gentle mocking that quietly calls into question the country’s fixation with economic expansion. “No subject” (1997-99) builds on the theme of challenging taboos. Here his dynamic and immediate mode of imaging turns its attention to sex. Traditional Chinese thinking calls for “preserving the principles of nature and eliminating human desire”, Wang Qiang brutally questions this in a series of highly erotic images. Using materials, painting and performance the artist asks the viewer to consider how sex has been covered up in contemporary society, and how clothes, one of civilizations primary markers, have literally and symbolically facilitated this trend. Wang Qiang questions the validity of this cultural trend by visually exposing the female naked body. His latest work “Money” (2006) brings the exhibition full circle. He returns to China’s legal notage, deliberately blurring images of the Renminbi as a visual metaphor for its transforming characteristics.
Wang Qiang was born in Heilongjiang Province in 1963. He trained as a painter at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing and now lives and works in Beijing. He has had solo exhibitions both internationally and at home and has participated in major international exhibitions.
Opening: 2 June – 3 pm
Eastlink Gallery
Moganshan Lu, 50 - Shanghai
Hours: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday to Sunday
Admission free