Dong Wensheng：Box,Stone,Old Photos

2021.12.21-2022.01.16

Introduction

Dong Wensheng is a contemporary artist who utilized photography and experimental short films as his creative medium. His works have mature aesthetic features based on the traditional oriental context. He seldom directly captures the moment of reality, but always pursues the "synchronicity" that is both the present and the past. Meanwhile, he always expresses the free state that is both real and fictional.

This exhibition presents two series created by the artist during his residency. A series continues the typical "Jiangnan taste" and consistent creative methods in Dong Wensheng’s previous works, such as the fascination with gardens and lakes, the deliberate presentation of small objects, the subjective and random painting and dyeing of existing photos or smear. Like the work "Quarrying Stones", where a man walking forward with a rock is taken. This allegorical picture is reminiscent of the artist’s previous works of naked teenagers fighting in the garden and the man with tattoo carrying a boat in Taihu Lake. These photos make people believe that the artist is using a series of images to construct a confused and intricate oriental phantom. It is worth mentioning that some of the works in the exhibition were created by the artist in Shunde, Foshan. Dong Wensheng skillfully incorporated the stones and southern flowers in the Lingnan gardens into his usual material for expressing Chinese traditional cultural genes, like the previous exhibitions. In, an article said: "He is like a stage artist, using these props to build every sacred tower."

Another series comes from the "Purposeful Encounter" during the residency. Dong Wensheng selected a group of old photos from the 1980s which were collected locally and shared the characteristics of the Lingnan region as well as the humanities of the era. The pictures are reproduced after scanning. He believes that the essence of photography is the art of time. Because of the barrier of time that these photos are more fascinating. The more important feature of these photos is that they come from the folk and the daily lives of unknown people. We can still find clues of reality from the background of the photo, but where are the people in the photo now? We know nothing. These photos, taken less than 40 years ago, witnessing the changes of the times. We may be more willing to experience the inexplicable sadness and a touch of loneliness brought to us by these old photos, instead of paying too much attention to the truth and illusion of history. These pictures from the second-hand market have been recombined and presented by the artist, and the meaning of social attributes has been extended infinitely.

artist

Dong Wensheng

Artist

1970 Born in Jiangsu Province, China

Currently works and lives in Changzhou, China

Solo Exhibitions

2015 CONTINUUM (M97 Gallery, Shanghai, China)

2013 Memories in Silver (Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China)

2011 Waves of Fantasy (GaoMagee Gallery, Madrid, Spain)

2009 No World-view for the Face: Solo Exhibition of Dong Wensheng (Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China)

2008 The Hermit’s Prey (Magee Art Gallery,Madrid,Spain)

2007 The Moment of Rock Sinking (Fun Art Space, Beijing, China)

Selected Group Exhibitions

2020
“with/against the flow” (G Museum, Nanjing，China)

As time goes by… New stories from the Garden （Canglang Ting The Surging Wave Pavilion，Suzhou，China）

2019
“180 Years of Photography in China” (MOCA -Yinchuan,China)

2018
“Oriental Peach Valley” Contemporary Chinese Art with Sources of the Traditional Oriental Aesthetics (Bejing 798 Art Zone, Spinnerei Leipzig, Germany)

“Screen Refreshing / Labor”AMNUA Photography Exhibition 2018 (Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing,China)

ZEYYINBURNU INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL (ZFotoFest) （Zeytinburnu Municipality Building,Istanbul）

2017
AMNUA 5th Anniversary Exhibition (Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing,China)

Benevolence of Art (Hive Center for Contemporary Art,Shenzhen，China)

PHOTOSYNTHESIS （M97Gallery,Shanghai，China）

2016
JIMEI &ARLES International photo Festival (Xiamen, China)

Temporary Museum (Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai, China)

“Image Reconstruction” X VI Sea Horizon Painting and Sculpture Exhibition (China Art Museum ,Shanghai, China)

ANO THER LAND SCAPE (Yany Art Museum, Beijing, China)

“HISTORICODE: Scarcity & Supply” The 3rd Nanjing International Art Festival (BJL Museum, Nanjing,China)

Suggestive Wheel: An Era of Metaphors (Boxes Art Space of OCT Harbour,Shenzhen,Ghina)

“A Ride to Combine ” Hive’s Special Exhibition 2016 (Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China)

2015

“ArtChina” (Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China)

“GARDEN SPLENDORS” Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition (Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China)

STATE OF PLAY （White Rabbit Gallery,Sydney,Australia）

NOT ON SITE (AMNUA-- Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts,Nanjing,China)

2014

REFORMATION （White Rabbit Gallery,Sydney,Australia）

PAGODA – Art Exhibition (OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai, China)

2013

The 8th International Ink Art Biennale of Shenzhen （Guan-Shanyue Art Museum,Shenzhen,China）

West Bank Architecture and Contemporary Art Biennale 2013 (Shanghai,China)

2012

LIANZHOU FOTO 2012 (Lianzhou, China)

2011

Bishan Project (Times Museum,Guangzhou,China)

Poster Exhibition (Top Everts,Shanghai,China)

2010

Community of Tastes----Chinese Contemporary Art Since 2000 (Museo de Arte Contemporary, Santiago, Chile)

Community of Tastes----Chinese Contemporary Art Since 2000 (Museo de Arte Contemporary, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Reshaping History—Chinart from 2000 to 2009 (China National Convention Center, Beijing)

AND Writers—Nan Jing Biennale 2010 (Jiang Su Art Museum, Nanjing, China)

Post-Tradition: The enlarged Slice— 4th Duo Lun young artists exhibition (Duo Lun Art Museum, Shanghai, China)

2009

Europalia.China 2009 (Brussels, Belgium)

Pingyao International Photography Festival (Pingyao, China)

Work in Progress: How Do Artists Work? (Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China)

2008

Shadows Chinese independent cinema ( Centre Pompidou-Les Voûtes,Paris，France）

Festival "Image de Ville"（Aix-en-Provence, France）

Time-Lag：The New Force of Chinese Contemporary Art (Magee Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain)

The Dream Interrupted (Fun Art Space, Beijing, China)

"55 Day in Valencia" ( IVAM-- Institut Valencia d'Art Modern,Spain)

Poetic Reality (Tomas y Valiente Art Center, Madrid, Spain)

Insomnia, Photographs Exhibition (BizArt Art Center, Shanghai,China)

2007

Empty (Marella Gallery, Beijing, China)

Filming East Festival (Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford, UK)

Chinese Video Now (John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK)

ROTATION (Qinghe Current Art Center, Nanjing)

Dragon’s Evolution : Chinese Contemporary Photography (China Square, New York, USA)

Strange Encounters：Video of the month #25: China Kompilation (Vienna, Austria)

The 4th China Independent Film Festival (RCM Art Museum, Nanjing, China)

2006

The ThirTeen: Chinese Video Now (P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, MOMA, New York, USA)

Poetic Realism: A Reinterpretation of Jiangnan (RCM Art Museum, Nanjing, China)

Potential Dialogue: The party of Sino–Austria young artists (Nanjing, China; Austria)

2005

Mahjong : Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection (Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland)

Living in Interesting Times: A Decade of New Chinese photography (The Open Museum of Photography, Tel-Hai Industrial Park，Haifa, Israel)

2003

Chinese Independent Films Screenings (Red-Classic Art Museum, Nanjing, China)

2001

The Festival of Photograph in September (Nice, France)

2000

Ordinary-Extraordinary: Contemporary Art Exhibition (Shanghai, China)

1999

Unusuual Way of Writing: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition of Painting & Calligraphy (Nanjing, China)

Home: Contemporary Art Proposal (Shanghai, China)

Intention Correspondences: Chinese Modern Conception Photography Exhibition (Milan, Italy)

1995

The 3rd Annual Exhibition of Chinese Oil Painting (National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China)

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Dong Wensheng：Box,Stone,Old Photos

Introduction

artist

Dong Wensheng

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