上海狮語｜方阳《近处的风景》x 马漓澧 《穿越尼丁森林》双个展｜7月27日开幕
方阳《近处的风景》✖️ 马漓澧 《穿越尼丁森林》
Fang Yang: Nearby Scenery ✖️ Ma Lili: Travelling Through the Niding Forest
上海狮語画廊
Leo Gallery Shanghai
艺术家 Artists｜方阳 Fang Yang、马漓澧 Ma Lili
开幕 Opening｜2024.7.27 4-6PM
展期 Duration｜2024.7.27-9.8
地点 Venue｜上海徐汇区武康路376号武康庭内
Ferguson Lane, 376 Wu Kang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
前言
朴素与神秘，一枚硬币的两面。
方阳《近处的风景》以及马漓澧 《穿越尼丁森林》双个展将于2024年7月27日在狮語画廊（上海空间）开幕。展览特邀ARTnews中文版艺术总监宁文策展，将首次呈现两位艺术家创作于2023年至2024年的新作。
方阳与马漓澧的创作，虽然都与自然和人类有关，但他们俩好像一枚硬币的两面：一边是朴素，一边是神秘；一位深入生活，一位超越生活。双个展让我们可以同时从不同视角去关照我们与自然、与宇宙之间的关系。
方阳 Fang Yang
《近处的风景系列之三棵树》
Nearby Scenery Series - Three Trees, 2023
水泥气泡砖与水彩
Cement Brick and Watercolor
21 x 21 x 23 cm
方阳《近处的风景》
“持续关注生活周边公共环境的变化，是我创作实践的出发点。”
——方阳
方阳的创作根植于当下社会景观，对日常生活与周边环境的持续观察思考是他一直以来的兴趣所在，他借用简洁的形式和触手可及的材料，在限制中寻找相对自由的表达方式。“土地、植物、建筑以及日常物品在我的创作实践中逐渐成为一种精神符号，我用它们记录过往和当下发生的故事，并转化成为作品”。
近年来世界各地频发的生态灾难是自然给人类敲响的警钟。生存发展和生态保护之间的博弈一直是一个复杂的问题，从20世纪60年代末出现的大地艺术（Land art）、到90年代开始形成的生态艺术（Ecology art），再到近些年热议的生态女性主义（Ecofeminism），艺术家们一直在以各种艺术形式表达对自然、对生态的关注。
从概念上说，“生态艺术”包涵自然生态、社会生态和文化生态三组相关的内容和探讨话语。从这个角度去看，方阳“近处的风景”系列雕刻作品亦可以被看作是“生态雕塑”。
一直以来，通过速写和摄影等方式及时记录生活环境变化的习惯，为方阳的创作积累了大量素材。艺术家尝试通过创作记录和表达与他密切相关的公共环境问题，所以经常使用在城市建设过程中产生的废弃材料和现成品，通过排列组合、雕刻、翻模浇筑等方式进行雕塑和装置创作。
展览主题《近处的风景》取自方阳从2022年开始创作的一个新的系列，在近处的风景中，几棵树，一个人，一座房子……作品外表上看似宁静，但内核具有极强的社会批判性和反思性。在目之所及的范围之内，艺术家通过现场收集材料，现场写生雕刻和工作室创作完成的一批“风景雕刻”作品，表达了对当代中国极速城市发展、城市变迁过程中人的生存状态的关注，人与社会之间关系的变化以及人与自然相处模式的变化。
驻足当下，深入生活，我们会看到不一样的风景。
马漓澧 Ma Lili
《基体-红月亮》
Matrix-Red Moon, 2024
布面丙烯
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 160 cm
马漓澧 《穿越尼丁森林》
开启觉知之旅，探索未知深处的灵性与智慧之光。
在英国作家詹姆斯·希尔顿（James Hilton）1933年的小说《消失的地平线》（Lost Horizon）中，香格里拉（Shangri-La）是一个虚构的地名，它更像是一个精神上的归宿，位于昆仑山脉的西方，被群山所包围，神秘而和谐。而在现实世界中，在中国云南香格里拉德钦县，有一片隐秘的原始森林——尼丁原始森林——在藏语中, 尼丁的意思是“心坎上的地方”；尼丁森林不只是物理上的森林，更是精神的森林。
在经历了2020年至2023年的疫情之后，人们更加关注内心与当下，更多走进家人与自然——而在艺术界，从超验艺术、超现实主义再到科技萨满……从2022年第59届威尼斯艺术双年展“梦想之乳”（The Milk of Dreams）开始，一股席卷全球的“灵性主义”浪潮正在强劲地回归。展览以《穿越尼丁森林》为题，从森林到峡谷，从河流到山川，期望一起去穿越物理世界、抵达精神的世界，深深关注生命的真正意义与人在宇宙中最终的灵性归宿。
一直以来，马漓澧在创作上都非常关注“人与自然超越肉体与时空的复杂精神关联”。 本次个展《穿越尼丁森林》中绝大部分作品都创作于2024年。从2023年的《Matrix》系列开始开始，马漓澧开启了她新的创作旅程，让人联想到“神秘学（Esotericism）。在我看来，“西方神秘学”与东方古代智慧（道家、佛家、禅宗思想），有着深刻的内在联系。
如果说2023年之前马漓澧的创作是模糊了虚拟与现实的界限，那么新作中呈现的则是超越现实，关注一种普遍的、内在的灵性维度，打开觉知之眼。
“什么是进步”？“进步”是意味着彻底打破“传统”，还是意味着使古代真理能以新的方式得到领会的一场转变？无论是西方神秘学还是东方灵性，穿越精神的尼丁森林，关注我们的“内在发展”，去探索、去拥抱一种东西方古代智慧相协调的新的灵性的整体世界观。
撰文 / 宁文
FOREWORD
Simplicity and Mystery, the two sides of a coin
The dual exhibition featuring Fang Yang's Nearby Scenery and Ma Lili's Travelling Through the Niding Forest will open on July 27, 2024, at Leo Gallery Shanghai. Curated by Ning Wen, the Art Director of ARTnews China, the exhibition will showcase new works created by the two artists between 2023 and 2024 for the first time.
Although both Fang Yang and Ma Lili’s works relate to nature and humanity, they represent two sides of a coin: one side is simplicity, the other is mystery; one dives into life, while the other transcends it. This dual exhibition allows us to simultaneously explore our relationship with nature and the universe from different perspectives.
方阳 Fang Yang
《近处的风景系列之高架桥》
Nearby Scenery Series - Viaduct, 2024
水泥气泡砖与水彩
Cement Brick and Watercolor
20 x 60 x 25 cm
Fang Yang: Nearby Scenery
Continuously observing the changes in the public environment around me is the starting point of my creative practice. - Fang Yang
Fang Yang's creations are rooted in contemporary social landscapes. His ongoing interest lies in observing and contemplating daily life and the surrounding environment. Using simple forms and readily available materials, he seeks relatively free modes of expression within constraints. "Land, plants, buildings, and everyday objects gradually become spiritual symbols in my creative practice. I use them to record past and present stories, transforming them into artworks."
The frequent ecological disasters worldwide in lately are nature's alarm bells for humanity. The conflict between survival development and ecological protection has always been a complex issue. From the emergence of Land art in the late 1960s to the formation of Ecology art in the 1990s, and the hotly debated Ecofeminism in recent years, artists have been using various forms of art to express their concerns about nature and ecology.
Conceptually, "ecological art" encompasses natural ecology, social ecology, and cultural ecology, addressing related content and discourse of the three topics. From this perspective, Fang Yang's “Nearby Scenery” sculpture series can also be seen as "ecological sculptures."
Fang Yang's habit of promptly recording changes in the living environment through sketching and photography has accumulated a wealth of material for his creations. The artist attempts to document and discuss public environmental issues closely related to him through his works. He often uses discarded materials and ready-made objects generated during urban construction, creating sculptures and installations through arranging, carving, molding, and casting.
The exhibition theme Nearby Scenery is derived from a new series Fang Yang began in 2022. In these nearby sceneries, lie a few trees, a person, a house...The works appear tranquil on the surface but possess strong social critique and reflection at their core. Within the visible range, the artist collects materials on-site, and creates a batch of "landscape sculptures" by sketching on the spot and creating in the studio. These works express concern about the survival state of people amidst the rapid urban development and transition in contemporary China, the changing relationships between people and society, and the evolving modes of interaction between humans and nature.
By pausing in the present, and delving into life, we will see a different landscape.
马漓澧 Ma Lili
《基体-风的形状》
Matrix-The Shape of the Wind, 2024
布面丙烯
Acrylic on canvas
170 x 210 cm
Ma Lili: Travelling Through the Niding Forest
Embark on a journey of awareness, exploring the depths of the unknown and illuminating the light of spirituality and wisdom.
In British author James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon, Shangri-La is a fictional place, more of a spiritual haven, situated west of the Kunlun Mountains, surrounded by peaks, mysterious and harmonious. In the real world, in Deqin County, Shangri-La, Yunnan, China, there lies a hidden primary forest - Niding Primeval Forest. In Tibetan, Niding means "the place of the heart." In this sense, the Niding Forest is not just a physical forest but a spiritual one.
Following the pandemic from 2020 to 2023, people have become more attuned to their inner selves and the present moment, increasingly connecting with family and nature. In the art world, from transcendental art and surrealism to techno-shamanism, a strong wave of “spiritualism” has been making a global comeback since the 59th Venice Art Biennale in 2022, themed The Milk of Dreams. The exhibition, Travelling Through the Niding Forest, spans forests, canyons, rivers, and mountains, aiming to journey through the physical world to reach the spiritual realm, focusing deeply on the true meaning of life and humanity’s ultimate spiritual destination in the universe.
Throughout her artistic career, Ma Lili has focused on the complex spiritual connections between humans and nature that transcend corporeal bodies, time, and space. Most of the works in Traveling Through the Niding Forest were created in 2024. Starting from the 2023 'Matrix' series, Ma Lili embarked on her new creative journey, evoking associations with 'Esotericism.' In my opinion, 'Western esotericism' has a profound intrinsic connection with ancient Eastern wisdom (Taoism, Buddhism, and Zen).
If Ma Lili’s creations before 2023 blurred the boundaries between virtual and reality, her new works transcend reality, focusing on a universal, intrinsic spiritual dimension, opening the eye of awareness. “What is progress?” Does “progress” mean breaking away from “tradition” entirely, or does it signify a transformation that allows ancient truths to be understood in new ways? Whether it is Western Esotericism or Eastern spirituality, Travelling through the spiritual Niding Forest focuses on our “inner development,” exploring and embracing a new spiritual worldview that harmonizes ancient wisdom from both the East and the West.
Text / Ning Wen
关于艺术家 | About the Artists
方阳 Fang Yang
马漓澧 Ma Lili
马漓澧的作品受到人本主义地理学与东方哲学的影响，探索人的感知与自然的交互关系、永恒与瞬间的时空议题，分享去民族化、去地域化、辽阔、无限的内在经验，传递出神圣、静谧、盛大的氛围。作品中的主要元素提取自生活周遭及从社交媒体采集的自然物讯息。她试图借此在后疫情时代国际社会日益充满矛盾、斗争、恐慌的当下发掘人类文化与潜意识中更多共性、连接的部分，用作品传递疗愈的力量。
部分展览： “消失的展览No.4-自然之默”（2023，知美术馆，中国成都）、个人项目《中央公园一秒钟》-“1+x”四川美术学院造型学院学术提名展（2021 四川美术学院美术馆，中国重庆），Good news & Bad news （2020，798艺术中心，中国北京），青衿计划（2017正观美术馆，中国北京），宁波国际当代新青年艺术节邀请展（2017宁波美术馆，中国宁波），第一届艺术媒体提名展青年艺术家特展（2016四川美院美术馆，中国重庆）“花托般盛开：多维的13位艺术家”（2016罗湖美术馆，中国深圳），“凝视“（2015田地艺术中心，中国北京）等。
Ma Lili was born in December 1988 in Chongqing, China. She graduated from the University of the Arts London with a Master's Degree in 2015, and from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) with a Bachelor's Degree in 2012. She graduated from the Middle School affiliated to the CAFA and was guaranteed a place at the CAFA in 2008. She currently lives in Beijing and teaches at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SAFA).
Influenced by humanistic geography and oriental philosophy, Ma Lili's works explore the interaction between human perception and nature, as well as the themes of eternity and the ephemeral in time and space. Her works share a de-nationalized, de-regionalized, vast, and infinite inner experience, conveying an atmosphere of sacredness, tranquility, and grandeur. The main elements in her works are extracted from her surroundings and natural information gathered from social media. Through this, she attempts to discover more commonalities and connections within human culture and the subconscious in an increasingly contradictory, conflict-ridden, and fearful post-pandemic international society, conveying a healing power through her works.
Her selected exhibitions include Disappearing Exhibition No.4-Nature's Silence, Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China (2023); Individual Project One Second in Central Park-1+x Academic Nomination Exhibition of the School of Modelling, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China (2021); Good news & Bad news, 798 Art Centre, Beijing, China (2020), Green Belt Project, Zheng Guan Art Museum, Beijing, China (2017), Ningbo International Contemporary New Youth Art Festival Invitational Exhibition, Ningbo Art Museum, Ningbo, China (2017); The First Art Media Nomination Exhibition of Young Artists, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing, China (2016); Blooming like a Flower Bracket: 13 Artists in Multidimensionality, Luohu Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2016); Gaze, Tian Di Art Centre, Beijing, China (2015), etc.
关于策展人 | About the Curator
宁文 Ning Wen
Curator, columnist for FT.com, and the current Art Director of ARTnews China. She graduated from Beijing Normal University and Goldsmiths, University of London. She has participated in the facilitation and international promotion of many private art institutions in China, including Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Taikang Life Art Collection Department/Taikang Space, and CHAO Art Center. She is also a guest writer for ARTFORUM China, TANC, Wallpaper, Art Collection (Taiwan). Ning Wen served as the publicity director of the 2018 Chengdu-Pompidou: Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence, and the academic director of the Zhi Art Museum from 2020 to 2024. Her focusing areas are: Transcendental Art, Himalayan Art, Conceptual Art, and Social Intervention Art.
即将开幕 Upcoming Exhibitions
香港 Hong Kong