【SPURS 新展】计洲：忍冬

SPURS 画廊隆重推出艺术家计洲个展——“忍冬”。此次展览将于2021年8月21日正式开幕，在Gallery I呈现艺术家全新创作的摄影系列和灯箱装置。

“忍冬”延续了计洲上一次个展“虚·构”（2019）中摄影系列《公园》（2019）、《温室》（2017—19）、灯箱装置《虚构》（2019）对植物的关注。不过，恰如标题所提示的那样，这一次，艺术家将焦点从人工干预过的自然环境转移到一种具体的自然植物——忍冬。

忍冬，也叫金银花，因叶片经冬不凋而得名忍冬。在疫情肆虐的寒冬，计洲将目光落到这一种植物的原因不言而喻。同时，一旦开始留心，艺术家很快发现，忍冬纹作为一种经久不衰的纹饰仍然广泛存在于我们的日常生活，同其原型忍冬一样有着极其顽强的生命力。可以说，现代摄影与传统图案之间的张力，是忍冬这一主题令他越发着迷的地方。随着工作的推进，忍冬纹随佛教自西天传入、在古代中国落地生根、之后又被继续传播出去的历史，以及忍冬纹在佛教中与生死轮回的联系等等丰富层次也逐渐显露出来。

“忍冬”中的摄影作品都是在工作室内拍摄的，一些是以艺术微喷技术输出的，另一些则是以银盐工艺手工制作的。对于计洲来说，在暗房里冲洗放大照片是一种实验，偶然的因素由此被引入最终的图像。而将鲜花从花卉市场带回工作室拍摄、看着它们从盛开走向衰败、再去挑选新的一批鲜花……这样的创作周期则刚好印证了忍冬纹隐含的轮回意味。

浑然一体的空间，缠绕的忍冬，此次展览使人不由得联想起世纪之交新艺术运动下诞生的总体艺术。计洲坦陈，自己确实深受几乎同一时期工艺美术运动旗手威廉·莫里斯影响。灯箱装置《忍冬》（2021）则多少有些抽象表现主义画家杰克逊·波洛克的味道。从希腊建筑檐部、魏晋南北朝佛具到威廉·莫里斯纺织品、杰克逊·波洛克绘画，乃至计洲的摄影作品和灯箱装置，“忍冬”确实如这两个汉字暗示的那般有着令人动容的适应能力，一直流转，生生不息。

展览将持续至9月19日。

计洲：忍冬
2021年8月21日至9月19日SPURS Gallery I  | 北京朝阳区酒仙桥路二号院798艺术区D-06

计洲，《八天堂》，2021，艺术微喷，UV打印，150 x 150 cm （不含框），170 x 170 cm （含框） | Ji Zhou, Hasht Bihisht , 2021, Giclee print，UV print, 150 x 150cm (without frame), 170 x 170 cm (with frame)

SPURS Gallery is pleased to present Ji Zhou's new solo exhibition "Metempsychosis". The exhibition opens on August 21, 2021, showing the artist's most recent photographs and light-box installations at Gallery I.

Like the earlier exhibition "Fiction" which presented series Park (2019) and Greenhouse (2017-2019), as well as installation work Fiction (2019), "Metempsychosis" demonstrates Ji's perpetual interest in plants. Instead of dealing with the relationship between artificiality and nature, this time, the artist focuses on a particular type of plant— honeysuckle.

Honeysuckle is called "Ren Dong" (忍冬, which basically means "to endure the winter") in China. The name suggests that it is an evergreen plant, which retains its leaves through the winter. It is probably fair to say that no additional explanations are needed to answer why Ji was attracted to such kind of a plant in a pandemic winter. Moreover, he started to notice honeysuckle patterns in his daily life, realizing that the motif has as incredible a life span as the plant. The tension between modern photography and traditional patterns fascinates the artist also, making him appreciating the topic even more. Different dimensions were recognized. The honeysuckle pattern entered ancient China alongside Buddhism, developed increasing popularity, and was further spread to foreign areas. And it was intertwined with the Buddhist idea of metempsychosis thus the title.

Every photograph showed here was taken in Ji's studio. The artist had some of them giclee printed while others were salt prints created by himself. He considers the darkroom a lab for experiments where the air of chance is introduced to the final image. During the process, Ji bought flowers from markets, took photographs of them, watched them withering, and bought new ones. The sense of metempsychosis was obvious.

With its works arranged in harmony and its topic being honeysuckle, the exhibition reminds one of "Gesamtkunstwerk" or total art, which emerged in the Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the century. Ji once talked about his admiration for William Morris, the leader of the Art and Crafts movement. Meanwhile, the light-box installation Metempsychosis (2021) has an air of the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. Honeysuckle flourished on the friezes of Greek temples, on the Buddist objects in ancient China, in William Morris's designs, and Jackson Pollock's paintings. Today, it continues to flourish in Ji's photographs and light-box installations, proving once again its moving adaptability, which its Chinese name suggests.

The exhibition will be on view until September 19.

Ji Zhou: MetempsychosisDuration: August 21 – September 19, 2021  SPURS Gallery I | 798 Art District D-06, Jiuxianqiao Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing

计洲，《交错的树叶》，2021，彩色银盐手工放大，40 x 32 cm | Ji Zhou，Overlapping Leaves, 2021, Salt print, 40 x 32 cm

计洲过往回顾阅读：

‍关于艺术家

计洲，1970年生于北京，1994年毕业于中央美术学院版画系，2005年毕业于法国巴黎索邦第一大学获艺术硕士学位。现生活工作于北京。

在这个受高新技术推动而不断演变却也渐趋混沌的时代，学习过多年绘画的计洲，最终选择以摄影为作品的主要呈现方式，表达他对当代社会特别是真实与虚构等二元概念之间的关系的沉思。譬如，计洲的上一次个展“虚·构”（2019）展示了《公园》（2019）和《温室》（2017—19）两个系列的作品，其中每一幅都由拍摄于不同时间、同一地点的碎片拼贴而成。照片成为“材料”，被拆解、重组，形成基于真实的幻象，体现着同人工干预过的“自然”公园、温室一样似是而非的模糊状态。与之一起展出的《虚·构》（2019）则在打印着风景的墙纸上安装灯箱，邀请观众去发现只有从特定角度才能看到的图像，反思自己的观看行为。

Born in 1970 in Beijing, China, Ji Zhou graduated from the printmaking department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 1994, and later received an MFA from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris in 2005. He currently lives and works in Beijing, China.
As the world is increasingly fully developed yet chaotic thanks to the constantly renewed technologies, though having majored in graphic arts for years, Ji Zhou uses photography to convey his mediation on the relationship between binary concepts, particularly reality and illusion. In his earlier solo exhibition "Fiction" (2019), Ji Zhou shared his new series Park (2019) and Greenhouse (2017-19). The collages consisted of fragments Ji Zhou took at certain places throughout the day. Photos merged to a reality-based illusion suggesting the sense of ambiguity of the scenes -- parks and greenhouses were simultaneously artificial and natural. In Fiction (2019), Ji Zhou installed lens onto wallpaper printed with landscapes, inviting the audience to explore images that could only be seen from certain angles, encouraging them to think about the way they saw what they saw.

SPURS 即将展出

法利·阿吉拉尔：纸老虎

2021.8.21 - 9.19

SPURS画廊（Gallery II）| 北京朝阳区酒仙桥路二号院798艺术区D-06

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