Upcoming | Half-Open Door
During the four months from last December to this March, we revisited the artists from the previous exhibition “THere" in an attempt to recollect the changes in their practice and life in Shanghai, especially during the two years of the pandemic. Some artists have located at new studios to continue their work; some artists have left Shanghai to pursue their careers around the world; some artists have started to participate in various exhibitions. With such a background, we shifted our focus from the artists' struggles for survival to their art practice itself. Therefore, we have expanded the range of artists we visited and invited four of them: Wong Kai Wai, Yijia Yang, Wei Zhang, and Min Zhao to present the group exhibition “Half-Open Door”. “Half Open Door” is based on a poem by Swedish Poet Tomas Gösta Tranströmer, “Each man is a half-open door, leading to a room for everyone. It was proposed by artist Wei Zhang. We find it very apt, as it perfectly symbolizes the state of the four artists. Each artist is a half-opened door inviting people to enter their world.
Wong Kai Wai is a photographer who grew up in Hong Kong and came to Shanghai alone after completing his photography study in the United States. As a millennial generation, from Hong Kong to the United States and finally, to Shanghai, the different living rhythms of the region and the different characteristics of the city are not reflected in his works. Instead, in his works, there are the trivial times and mundane routines of everyday life. Waiting for something to happen naturally is his emphasis on his working methods. In today's world, everyone is asked to create benefits and values every second. Waiting is undoubtedly extremely expensive and luxurious. In contrast, only when you slow down and wait with all your heart can life provides you with very different scenery. In Wong's photographs, you can't see complicated photographic techniques or intentional subjects. He needs a lot of time to wait for the slow change of a thing. These little things in daily life, a pot of flowers, a fish tank, one day, would suddenly start to “glow” in his eyes. Therefore, slowing down to face life is not a simple strategy or value-based choice. It is a state of confronting life and is an extremely difficult thing to do.
SWINGkeep it unfinished
Yijia Yang has always given off a sense of closeness to you just like a girl who lives next door. This is because her paintings often contain elements that seem particularly sweet and unreal: trees with rabbit ears, translucent cats, and purple skies. These images are organized and placed in a non-realistic context; together with the colors with high transparency. The images become fantastical while being real at the same time. Painting dreams have been Yang's main art practice since her return from the UK. Dreams themselves are irrational, illogical brain activities. This is why, only by giving up the "systematic knowledge”, the rational judgment and evaluation of interpreting paintings; you can feel more and sense more from her artworks. On this basis, starting from the work 《"Hi, There!"》, the art practice of turning dreams into paintings is gradually replaced by the spatial potential of painting itself. "A painting that is created in order to create a space". Even though the elements of cats, plants, etc. in the picture remain the same, their duties and functions are expanded to broader realms.
CONFRONTATIONStaying outside, coming from within
Min Zhao loves hiking. She often hikes alone in nature for five or six days only with her backpack. She has covered almost all the southern coastline of England. To love nature is something from human instincts. In Zhao's eyes, nature is first and foremost presented through texture. The rough, matte texture effects in her paintings correspond to her feelings within nature. Min Zhao's undergraduate and graduate studies were both completed in England. Having studied in a different cultural context, her work is often considered by her peers to have an oriental touch. This also triggered an exploration of her own inner voice. From the confrontation at first, she began to seriously study and research Chinese painting and Eastern philosophy. A new style of fusion gradually emerges in her work. She steps into nature to experience the extreme weather while experimenting with various materials on the canvas to understand, and to integrate the expression of culture.
NARRATION gradually absorb, gradually digest
Wei Zhang’s "Memories about Catching Snakes" describes a childhood experience. In the village of the south, the snake-catching scenes that often happened became his most long-lasting childhood memories. The instantaneous cut-open head, the skillful skinning process, and the bright-white flesh of the snake are realistic visual memories transforming to a kind of simplification, an abstraction, a silhouette once they become the past. The more one attempts to approach the reality of the time, the more abstract it becomes, and the more it forms into another independent thing. While being deeply touched by Zhang's story. I suddenly realized that the traditional function of painting as a narrative was reactivated in his artworks. Among the art environment where art mediums are constantly expanding, avant-garde concepts are pursued, and innovative format is constantly being introduced. The painting’s traditional function of documenting still romantically continues in an individual.
Wei Zhang
Memories about catching snakes 5
110x150cm
2020
Acrylic on board
© 2020 Wei Zhang
2022.3.19. -4.24.
Wong Kai wai, Yijia Yang, Min Zhao, Wei Zhang
Due to the epidemic, the exhibition opening originally scheduled on March 19th will be held at a selected time. Please stay tuned.
Address
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Wong Kai wai
Education2014-2018 BAF Photography, Academy of Art University, SanFrancisco2013-2014 Diploma of Arts & Creative Industries, Curtin College, Perth, Australia
Solo Exhibitions2019 Speechless, SPACE PLACE Art Gallery, Nigni Tagil, Russia2018 Boredom, 625 Sutter gallery, San Francisco
Participated exhibitions2021 The Village of Nowhere, Three Shadows Photography Center, Beijing2021 集散地 III ：未答之问, AM Art Space, Shanghai2019 Everything I Ever Learnt, Cambridge University, Cambridge2018 A Piece of Red Cloth, 688 Sutter Gallery, San Francisco2018 Group Exhibition, 79 New Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco2018 Patterns, The Photographic Angle, Byron House, London2018, 2017, 2015 Academy of Art Spring Show2015 Fairmont’s Gallery of Art, SanFrancisco
Yijia Yang
Education
MA Oil Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK.Undergraduate studies at Chelsea College, University of the Arts London, London, UK.Solo Exhibition
2021 Glow No.3 Personal project@ A4 Artist Residence Centre，Chengdu2014 My Conversation with Ki San Solo Show @ Gallery 17, Kyoto Seika University, KyotoGroup Exhibition
2020 Girls’ Gaze Group show@ Pearlona Common Room，M50, ShanghaiTHere Group show@ Studio Gallery，ShanghaiSuperdry Group Show@ Meichu Studio, ShanghaiHow Many Hours Do I Have to Wait/Waste Till the Sunset Tomorrow? Group Exhibition@ Xinqiao Art Complex, Shanghai2019 ASYAAF 2019 Group Show@ Gallery LVS, Seoul, Korea2018 New Horizons-Young Talents Exhibition Group Show @ Coast Gallery, Shenzhen2018 Slade School of Fine Art Degree Show Group Show @ Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK2017 24hr Marathron Gallery Group Show @ Flip Pop Gallery, Shanghai2017 Future Echoes Group Show @Refugee’s Museum, Thessaloniki, Greece2017 Ge:Build Group Show @ 5th Base Gallery, London, UK2017 Faith Group Show @ Austin Forum, London, UK2017 Progress : Regress Group Show @ Crypt Gallery, London,UK2016 Let the Dust Settle Group Show @ Crypt Gallery, London,UK2016 Chelsea College of Art Degree Show Group Show @ Chelsea College of Art&Design, London, UK2015 White Spirits Group Show @ Safe House 1, London2014 Wanderer Group Show @ Venue(London, Cambridge, Brighton)Min Zhao
Education 2016 - 2018 MA Fine Art (Distinction), Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK.2012 - 2016 BA (Horns) Fine Art (Distinction), Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK. 2011 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Merit), CSM, UAL, UK.
Exhibitions 2020 Point of View 20, Randan Stables Gallery, UK. 2019 Point of View 19, Randan Stables Gallery, UK. 2018Graduate Art Prize, ARTIQ, London, UK. Liberty Art Prize, Liberty Fenchurch Building, London, UK. Graduate Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK. 2017 Open Studio, Griffin Gallery, London, UK.Faith, Austin Forum, London, UK. 2016 ‘ 3 for 2 ’, Hundred Years Gallery, London, UK.Undergraduate Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK. 2014 Print Fair, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK. 2013 Interim Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK.
Artist Residencies 2019 Randan Stables Gallery, UK.2018 Sidney Nolan Graduate Residency, Sidney Nolan Trust, Wales, UK.2017 The Fine Art Collective Residency, Griffin Gallery, ColArt, London, UK.
Award 2018 Shortlisted, Liberty Art Award, New Platform Art, London, UK.Shortlisted, Graduate Art Prize, ARTIQ, London, UK.2015 Awardee, Betty Malcolm Scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK.
Wei Zhang
Exhibitions2021.4 10th Anniversary Tour Exhibition of John Moores Painting Prize(China), Chongqing, Yantai, Nanjing 2021.3 Spring Fever@Platform China, Beijing2020.12 John Moores Painting Prize(China) Exhibition@Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai2019.6 New Star Art Force Exhibition Of China@Art Museum of Guanshanyang, Wuhan2019.5 Youth Light: Art Greatwall@TEDA Creativity, Tianjin 2018.12 Kongque exhibition@Najia Media Company, Beijing2018.11 Mei exhibition@Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai2018.10 Intuitive Consciousness：The Fundamental Force of Painting@Times Art Museum, Beijing2017.3 ELITE YOUNG Artists Program@Right View Museum, Beijing
Studio Gallery was established in Shanghai in early 2016. Currently operating two physical spaces. The gallery space focuses on the presentation and promotion of artists' long-term practice; the studio space serves as the academic engine of the gallery space, focusing on non-profit art research programs and documentation. At the present, the international artist residency project is one of its main programs.
Studio Gallery is not a gallery space + studio space in the simple sense; rather, it is a reconstruction of the mechanism of art production and consumption. Through in-depth observation of artists' working process, it explores the true motives of their art practice; and strives to assist artists in transforming the values generated from their practice into consensus.
Since its establishment, Studio Gallery has not only held abundant professional exhibitions but also initiated several topical art projects: "Artist Talk" based on the documenting of artists' working process; "Open Studio" based on the reviewing of artists' working experience in their art residency; “Open Critique" and "Critique Room" based on the opinion exchange of artists' actual works as well as criticism.
No.888 Changle Rd,1st Floor,Jingan Dist,Shanghai
周二至周日，10:30 -18:00
Tue-Sun (Closed on Mon) ,10:30 am-18:00 pm
RM.101,NO.58,Lane350 JiangZhi Rd,Minhang Dist,Shanghai
周二至周日，13:00 -18:00 （需提前预约）
Tue-Sun 13:00 -18:00 ( visit by appointment)