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| Shi Hui, Compedium of Materia Media |
The two artists Xu Jiang and Shi Hui will be exhibiting their work together for the first time: this dialogue also reveals relationships that extend beyond the power of the individual works. The exploration of nature represents the central focus of both artists' oeuvres. The artists' approach and interpretation are different – in the case of Xu Jiang, emphasis is clearly placed on a sociopolitical statement.
The central motif of the show is provided by sunflowers, plants that constantly direct their blossoms towards the sun and which – in the eyes of the artist – have become the symbol of an entire generation: that generation which grew up after the two world wars of the twentieth century and after the Cultural Revolution. In this period it was not only the history of China, but also the lives of individuals that were subjected to far-reaching changes.
Xu Jiang's 'Sunflower Generation' is shaped by a coming to terms with historical upheaval, a release from the past and the necessity of reorientation. With his exhibition, the artist presents an invitation to engage in a discussion of how artistic positions can be redefined in the wake of historical events. By way of a dialogue with artists and visitors, he would like to penetrate to the spiritual core of a shared history, which is based on similar social and artistic experiences.
Xu Jiang was born in 1955 in Fujian, China. He is the rector and a professor at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. On the one hand, his works thematise the cultural context in which they were created and, on the other hand, the dialogue between Western and Eastern culture. His paintings are understood as a form of resistance against contemporary visual culture as well as consumerist culture and, in the digital age, they represent a new development within the Chinese discourse on art.
In contrast, the works of Shi Hui (b.1955), another professor teaching at the Hangzhou art academy, appear much more delicate. The exploration of nature has always been a central aspect of her work. Her sculptures consist of soft, flowing forms; in her installations, she integrates vegetative elements and compiles encyclopedias of flora. She has chosen hand-made papers or fibreglass as materials, and these cause her work to produce a supple impression. These works are not subject to any conceptual idiom; instead, they are forms that have developed out of an original mental attitude. She herself once emphasised: 'In my art, the language of idea is far away from me, what I actually do is just to touch the materials in a state of mind which is easy and peaceful. During the course of my long time engagement in soft sculpture for years, I have developed a kind of sensitivity towards the texture of fibrous materials and a preference for its linear structure.'
In their collaborative exhibition, both artists intentionally establish references to one another and to the concept of 'Geist' (spirit or mind), which was developed in the German philosophy of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.
The most extraordinary aspect of the presentation as a whole is Xu Jiang's monumental sculpture 'It is possible for them to live together' (2011), which he will be placing at the 'Deutsches Eck' – the junction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers – during the exhibition. At 17 × 5 × 6 m, this gigantic field of sunflowers establishes a dialogue with the Prussian imperial monument. Essential support for the exhibition has been provided by China. A joint catalogue (Germ./Engl./Chin.) will be published with texts by Prof. Gao Shiming and Dr Beate Reifenscheid.
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| Shi Hui, Compedium of Materia Medica,2012 ©Shi Hui |
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Das Künstlerehepaar Xu Jiang und Shi Hui
vor Xu Jiangs Skulptur Regeneration, 2012 am
Deutschen Eck ©Helmut Beier |
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| Xu Jiang, Sun Flower Installation ©Helmut Beier |
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Shi Hui, Structure V, dt. Titel: Knoten, 2012
©Helmut Beier |
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| Shi Hui, Fan, 2002 ©Helmut Beier |
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Shi Hui, Structure V, dt. Titel: Knoten, 2012
Blick auf das Kaiserdenkmal ©Helmut Beier
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