Upcoming ｜Shi Zhiying: Stones and Stories
From March 22 to June 16, 2024, Yuz Museum will host a grand solo exhibition of the Chinese artist Shi Zhiying, Stones and Stories. Organized by Yuz Museum in close collaboration with the artist, the curator Dr. Shen Qilan and the architect Wang Qing (from Origin Architecture), this exhibition features around 50 paintings created by Shi Zhiying between 2010 and 2024, aiming to present a cohesive narrative of the artist's practice during this period. The exhibition also explores a new approach to creating an exhibition – gradually taking form through mutual inspiration among the artist, the curator, the designer, and the museum, making it a "generative" exhibition.
Shi Zhiying, Pantheon, 2014
Oil on canvas
200 x 300 cm
Collection of Yuz Foundation
After graduating from Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in oil painting, Shi Zhiying embarked on her career as a professional painter at Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute. Over years of creation, the exploration of the essence and language of painting has always been the focus of her practice. Drawing inspiration from both Eastern and Western art history, she adeptly captures the life-movement of the spirit through the rhythm of things and inner logic of breath emphasized in Chinese painting through the language of oil painting, utilizing color, texture, and brushstrokes. Whether depicting the sea, sand, and grass with monochromatic brushstrokes in her early works, or exploring subjects like stones, figures of Buddha, and landscapes with richer colors in her recent creations, she portrays the form of objects with refined language based on the imitation of nature, expressing the nature of things.
Shi Zhiying, Mars, 2010
Oil on canvas
200 x 600 cm
Courtesy Cc Foundation
For Shi Zhiying, the essence of painting transcends more than imagery; it possesses flesh, touch, and materiality. Like a writer translating what they see and experience into words, her paintings are a subtle "translation" of her touch and perception of the world, as well as a direct expression of her emotions. Infinite brushstrokes construct boundless oceans and stones – carriers and mediums for the stories, that reconnect the self with the world time and time again.
Shi Zhiying, A Bowl of Water & The Temple of Heaven, 2012
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 cm each
Courtesy Mr. Bao Yifeng
Through seven journeys, the exhibition will showcase Shi Zhiying's understanding of lines, shapes, colors, figures, and materiality. She invites viewers into "The Story of Lines", "The Story of Shapes and Colors", "The Story of Weight", "The Story of Nature of Things", "The Glass Ball Game", and "The City of Illusions". To enter the world and aura created by Shi Zhiying, the journey may start from any painting or stone. Between narrative and non-narrative, between reality and illusion, between mind and imagination, each viewer will recognize their own oriental story. The exhibition's design echoes its theme, making up the seventh story. Integrating the artworks' context and the museum's spatial style, Wang Qing designed the circulation as a loop, allowing visitors to explore without a set viewing order. Seats scattered around the central circular space of the main hall, radiating outward like ripples, invite visitors to enter the stories and experience Shi Zhiying's way of painting and the magic of this exhibition.
Shi Zhiying, Gem & Mirror No.1, 2022
Oil on canvas
120 x 90 cm
BY ART MATTERS’s Collection
As the Chinese title suggests, the inspiration for this exhibition stems from the Nouvelles Orientales by French writer Marguerite Yourcenar. In one of the stories written in 1936, a painter immersed himself in his own world of painting, even transcending life and death, and eventually "disappeared into the ocean blue as the sky". Shi Zhiying admires the end of this story – the heaviness of the ending in a sense of the real world achieves a weightless escape through the imaginary ocean depicted by the painter. Inspired by this, during the exhibition's preparation in early 2024, Shi Zhiying completed two small-scale paintings titled Sky Blue Ocean and Sea No.2. These two works continue her contemplation of the interchange of appearance with disappearance in her painting practice, while also echoing the story in an intriguing manner. She revisits themes that she began exploring over a decade ago, seeking new possibilities in painting through continuous self-questioning and experimentation. In the words of the curator Shen Qilan, "This is the most enchanting aspect of the oriental tales, and the art that Shi Zhiying tirelessly pursues: being without dwelling, yet giving myriad thoughts; transcending oneself, like crossing the river with a single reed."
Shi Zhiying, Sea No.2, 2024
Oil on canvas
40 x 30 cm
Courtesy the artist
About the Artist - Shi Zhiying
Born in Shanghai in 1979, she has been working at Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute (SPSI) since her graduation from Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University with a Master's Degree in Oil Painting in 2005. She currently lives and works in Shanghai.
Shi Zhiying has become well known for stark monochromatic paintings of uniform vistas in open ocean water, sand, grass. She deals with objects' state of existence in her painting. Emphasized in her practice is the interchange of appearance with disappearance: the quality and scale of water, rocks, containers, figures of Buddha, and beads are described in painterly strokes. However, the shapes are not definite, but formed by independent lines, brushstrokes, and the paints, conveying an immanent rhythmic logic, stablishing a stable and sensational structure in the process of interacting with the visual experience. The artist demonstrates, via her smooth and insightful paintings, the transience of a being's life, captures the extremely gradual transition that happens in the space between objects, the painting surfaces, and the present experience.
Shi Zhiying's solo exhibitions include: "Bliss", SPSI Art Museum, Shanghai, 2023; "Shi Zhiying", WHITE SPACE, Beijing, 2022; "Shi Zhiying: The City of Illusion", MATTHEW LIU FINE ARTS, Shanghai, 2022; "SHI ZHIYING", Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2017; and etc. Her recent group exhibitions include: "Time Gravity – 2023 Chengdu Biennale", Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu，2023; "Legacies of Exchange", LACMA, Los Angeles, 2021; "The Return of the Guest", Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2019; and etc. Her works are acquired by Power Station of Art, Shanghai; Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Shanghai Art Museum; Chengdu Art Museum; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai; Yuz Foundation, Hong Kong; Shanghai Liuhaisu Museum; Cc Foundation, Shanghai; White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney; Pizzuti Collection; By Art Matters, Hang Zhou; X Museum Beijing; and etc.
About the Curator - Dr.Shen Qilan
Art critic, curator, cultural scholar and writer. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Münster, Germany. Shen Qilan's writing and curating is uniquely poetic and creates a distinctive dialogue between literature, art and philosophy. She was the editorial director of Art World magazine and editor-in-chief of the art department at Insight Media publishing house. She is also an editorial board member of Book Town magazine. She is a guest professor of East China Normal University.
She curated a number of internationally influential exhibitions and forums with domestic and international art institutions. Recent exhibitions include: "Aura of Poetry", "A. R. Penck: Will Sign Become Reality?", "Bauhaus Class", "Eingedunkelt", "China Pride – Contemporary as a Method", "Bright and Beautiful", "Jia Aili: Harsh", "Un Dialogue avec la Sensibilité", "Regenerate", "Die Welt der Wille und Vorstellung", "Paths", "Nothing is wasted in Nature or in Love", "The Forest of Senses", "Wind in the Wild", "Leaves of Dreams". Shen Qilan planned and presided over the international forum "Detour: A Dialogue between Art and Philosophy" for Shanghai Biennale 2018. In the same year, she also curated and presided over the international cultural dialogue series "The Futures". Shen Qilan worked as consultant to international exhibitions such as "Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou 1906-1977" and "The Artist is Present".
In 2020, she is the nominator and curator of the Discovery Award for the Jimei-Arles International Photography Festival. In 2022, she is artistic advisor and curator for the Porsche "Young Chinese Artist of the Year" Award. She is curatorial Mentor for the Young Art 100 Exhibition Masterplan 2022. In 2023 she curated "The Poesie of Illusions", a phenomenal exhibition of video art masterpieces for the Beijing International Film Festival.
Shen Qilan has contributed to columns on many international art media and catalogs for international art institutions, including FT Chinese, Artnet, The Thinker Weekly, Life, Noblesse, T magazine, and Uffizi Museum, Shanghai Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Skira Press in Italy, among other important media and institutions. 2021, Shen Qilan has collaborated with ELLE and produced an influential art audio program "Art Heals Life". 2022, She collaborated with Being Museum and makes an audio program "Write it!". She has been guest editor-in-chief of the international art magazine art now, and co-initiated the influential "Asian Dialogue" cultural project.
About the Architect - Wang Qing
Wang Qing obtained Master Degree of Architecture from University of California at Berkeley, founded Shanghai Origin Architecture Co. Ltd. He was assistant professor of Hong Kong University of Architecture Department. Wang Qing participated in the editing and translating of Thom Mayne's new book The Complex Behavior of Urban Form.
Origin Architecture is a small design firm mainly focusing on architecture design and other multi-fields design. Origin Architecture continuously solves the problem by design and believes that design thinking can optimize and solve some real problems. The artistic and architectural professional education background of the founder helps the office running an architectural practice as well as the extensive art, exhibition and relative others. Origin Architecture was given Architizer A+ Awards Special Award in 2022.
Wang Qing's major works for exhibition stage design include: "Pro-regress" Shanghai Biennale 2019 Exhibition Design; "Simultaneous Eidos" Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017 Exhibition Design; "Utopias-Heterotopias" Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition Design; "Ever-Curious Mickey: The True Original Exhibition World Tour" Exhibition Design; and etc. His other design works include: Don Gallery Interior Design; the renovation of Café and B&B in Chong Ming Island and Qian Shao Wan Contemporary Art Center; the renovation of Rightway Art Center; and etc. In 2021, He co-curetted "Go to Jiangnan" Ancient Chinese Architecture Exhibition.
About Yuz Museum
Yuz Museum Shanghai, officially opened in May of 2014, is a contemporary art museum founded by Mr. Budi Tek, a Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector. Yuz Museum is committed to drawing the world’s attention to Shanghai, advancing the development of contemporary Chinese art, actively engaging in the field of art education, and promoting cultural dialogues between East and West. As a non-profit institution, the museum aims to serve as a leader in exhibiting contemporary Chinese art and to build a preeminent reputation for contemporary art in China.
About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of more than 149,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
About Qatar Museums
Qatar Museums (QM), the nation’s preeminent institution for art and culture, provides authentic and inspiring cultural experiences through a growing network of museums, heritage sites, festivals, public art installations, and programmes. QM preserves and expands the nation’s cultural offerings, sharing art and culture from Qatar, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA) region with the world and enriching the lives of citizens, residents, and visitors.
Under the patronage of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and led by its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QM has made Qatar a vibrant centre for the arts, culture, and education in the Middle East and beyond. QM is integral to the goal of developing an innovative, diverse, and progressive nation, bringing people together to ignite new thinking, spark critical cultural conversations, and amplify the voices of Qatar’s people. Since its founding in 2005, QM has overseen the development of museums and festivals including the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and MIA Park, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Qatar (NMOQ), 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, QM Gallery Al Riwaq, QM Gallery Katara, the Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival, and Design Doha. Future projects include Dadu: Children’s Museum of Qatar, Art Mill Museum, Qatar Auto Museum and the Lusail Museum.
Through its newly created Creative Hub, QM also initiates and supports projects—such as the Fire Station Artist in Residence, the Tasweer Qatar Photo Festival, M7, the creative hub for innovation, fashion and design, and Liwan Design Studios and Labs —that nurture artistic talent and create opportunities to build a strong and sustainable cultural infrastructure.
Animating everything that Qatar Museums does is an authentic connection to Qatar and its heritage, a steadfast commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, and a belief in creating value through invention.
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