Li Jun
dal 17/1/2008 al 14/2/2008
Segnalato da
17/1/2008
Li Jun
m97 Gallery, Shanghai
Trapped
m97 Gallery is pleased to present "Trapped", a solo photography exhibition of large
color portraits by Chengdu-based photographer Li Jun.
Li Jun's new "Trapped 2" color photographs are an extension from his first body of
black-and-white portraits ("Trapped"), where the photographer documented the
isolation and aspirations of amateur Sichuan Opera performers, often with characters
in full dress exiting backstage, bringing a fleeting sense of emotion to the
photographer's works and the lives of his subjects. Li Jun's "Trapped 2" color
photographs further explores the sentiment and isolation of the individual trapped
within the many layers of society and the human condition. Unlike other approaches
to portraiture, Li Jun's photographs do not portray the expression of the face, but
focus on the body language of his subjects to bring the viewer a more estranged
sense of physical, emotional or psychological isolation and entrapment.
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Deliberately facing away from the camera, the subjects seem to be rejecting the
connection with the artist and the outside world, and in turn resisting the viewer,
giving the photographs a guarded sense of human sorrow, loss, shame, frustration or
anger. As the artist says: "I hope that these color photographs are closer to the
various layers of reality than my previous black-and-white work. The photographs
still maintain their physical meaning - bunched up, stuck together, and sturdy, but
with a more fragile and wounded inner core. "
Born in Chongqing (China), Li Jun first studied in the College of Literature and
Journalism of Chongqing Normal University, then turned his attention to photography.
He also worked in the photography department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He
now lives and works in Chengdu (China).
m97 Gallery
No. 97 Moganshan Road 2F - Shanghai
Tues-Sun 10:30 am - 6:30 pm
Free admission