COMMUNITY HOSPITAL | WhyWhy Art

work by fellow artists based in Shanghai will be shown in the first whywhy art group exhibition opening this weekend. community hospital is housed in shanghai’s newest art space – a former chinese medical clinic in jing an district.

the show explores, defines and even tempts to “cure” the various matters tackled by participating artists in the work on display within the walls of the former medical facility.

feautured work by artists abby robinson [us], ash hempsall [uk], christian chambenoit [fr], christian de laubadère [fr], christian demaitre [be], daniele mattioli[it], girolamo marri [it], joyce rohrmoser [at], konstantin bayer[de], *llnd [fr], maya kramer [us], monika lin [us], pascale pollier[be], piers secunda [uk], roland darjes [de], susanne junker [de], tom lee petterson [us], vilnis ausinš [lv], wu yandan [cn], zane mellupe [lv].

community hospital runs from 5 september – 10 october, 2015.

work by susanne junker.

work by vilnis ausinš

work by abby robinson.

work by christophe demaitre.

the community hospital concept was created and curated by zane mellupe.

for more, see the whywhyart website.

in kind exchange + the stroke of a pen | ifa gallery | brussels

fellow artist from Shanghai days, sergey balovin brings his talent and energy to brussels this afternoon for an experimental happening presented as part of THE STROKE OF A PEN group exhibition during it’s last week at ifa gallery.

sergey has spent the last few years traveling around the world engrossed in his project, IN KIND EXCHANGE.

in a commitment to sustain all his daily needs while strictly avoiding monetary transactions, he has been able to survive exclusively through goods exchanged with people that are excited to trade tangible, useful things to him for beautiful, customized portraits he makes on site.

sergey was trained classically as a painter in russia before setting out on the path he navigates now, as an artist with no use for a monetary system.

I recommend visiting if you are in Brussels then.

THE STROKE OF A PEN | vernissage in image

thank you so much to everyone that made it to the opening night of THE STROKE OF A PEN this past weekend at ifa gallery and joined to help celebrate the show.

this group exhibition is a collection of multi-disciplinary work and will be running from 21 february – 15 march at ifa gallery, brussels. each work is a separate response to events surrounding the recent charlie hebdo attacks and explores the theme of illustration: it’s power, it’s purposes and it’s limits.

images from the installation and vernissage are below.

baga 1, 2015. kathryn gohmert. pen and ink on paper

baga 1, 2015. pen and ink on paper

dai guangyu, zane mellupe, susanne junker

two works from my baga illustration series.

zane mellupe

zane mellupe, kathryn gohmert

zane mellupe, kathryn gohmert, wu junyong

THE STROKE OF A PEN | ifa gallery [details]

“ifa gallery showcases a group of artists commissioned for the exhibition, THE STROKE OF A PEN, each artist interpreting the title as he or she sees best, whether figuratively or with more violent overtones.

christophe demaître melts photography techniques and ink with sensuality. zane mellupe explores the importance of line in the landscape with her marble sculpture. christopher paul gill’s collages underline the necessity of freedom of expression, as does susanne junker with her feminist-themed photographs.

kathryn gohmert’s drawings are the expression of the underestimated carnage that took place in baga, nigeria, on the same date of the charlie hebdo attacks. wu junyong and dai guangyu concentrate on the issue of ink in contemporary chinese culture. alexandre ouairy proposes in “blank project” a series of 100 silk-screen prints on art paper, all numbered and signed. the contract signed during their acquisition defines the artist’s moral right toward his artwork.”

more about the stroke of a pen exhibition.

more about ifa gallery.

THE STROKE OF A PEN | ifa gallery | BRUSSELS

i’m excited to announce that some of my recent work - produced during my residency in shanghai last month - will be part of ifa gallery‘s upcoming group exhibition, the stroke of a pen, with work by other talented artists: dai guangyu, christophe demaitre, christopher gill, susanne junker, zane mellupe, alexandre ouairy and wu junyong.

the exhibition runs from 21 february – 15 march, 2015, and you are also very warmly invited to the vernissage on friday, 20 feb, from 5 – 9 pm if you are in the brussels area then.

more about the stroke of a pen group exhbiition.

696 weihai lu | in remembrance

fellow artists and old friends, susanne junker (founder of stageBACK project space), barbara anna hussar and zwolf schnifis are giving a talk at the bavarian rivieratonight – doing their part to keep 696 immortal by focusing their discussion on this special community, formerly located in an abandoned gun factory in shanghai’s busy city center.

to touch on the good memories that still abound for so many people, i’m including below a few images and highlights from an article “shape of the city,” [originally published in 2011] which i discovered today while perusing the talk’s itinerary [thanks to barbara anna husar].

“initially, one may mistake the weihai lu 696 artists community for a government-sanctioned ‘creative cluster,’ like m50, red town [shanghai sculpture space], tianzifang, or beijing’s 798 arts district… what these creative clusters lack, however, is the real sense of danger, experimentation, and freedom that is still present at artist communities such as weihai lu, not to mention the lower rents that allow working artists to afford studio space in the center of the city.”

well put.

artists were evacuated from the area by, ahem, the you-know-what around 3 years ago … about the time this article was written. it is still touching though to see this place referenced fondly by people that used to work in its much-loved walls, as in the case of the former 696 artists speaking in bavaria this evening.

this space, now vacated for some time, still remains an iconic testament for me to both the transformative power of creativity and its ability to unite and inspire communities that choose to work together. the 80 something foreign and local artists that used to make up this community are now scattered all over the city/country/world, each making their work somewhere else now. it was special, but too good to last it seems.

missed but not forgotten: RIP, 696.

secret vii footage | ICS

so thanks to the team at ICS, we now have a copy of the footage aired a few weeks ago on shanghai’s largest local network which featured a great interview of all the artists of the secret vii.

this last exhibition, THE ESSENCE OF RANDOM, is to be our last guerilla pop up exhibition for some time. and just in time, as it looks as if the secret vii aren’t so secret anymore.

see the inteview footage on youtube here [mainlanders, we’ll need our vpns as usual].

secret vii | THE ESSENCE OF RANDOM

 
secret vii did its last pop-up exhibition as a group this last week at shanghai art space. some photos taken by susanne junker from the night are here.

the ICS crew were there conducting interviews which are planned to air on june 15, 8:30 pm.

see more information on stageBACK’s website here.  

artists: make it happen in shanghai | epws discussion panel

 
i’m very happy to be included on the epws discussion panel this month for ARTISTS: HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN IN SHANGHAI, along with fellow creatives susanne junker, rachel marsden, and lisa juen.

rsvp to info@epws.org if you would like to join the evening on 22 may.

LOST AND FOUND | Time Out Shanghai

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time out shanghai‘s article on the LOST AND FOUND exhibition running at stageBACK gallery NOW.

read the full article online here.

LOST AND FOUND vernissage

URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI

what a night to remember: thank you to all who came to the opening of LOST AND FOUND 轮回, stageBACK gallery’s first exhibition opening at its new M50 location.

here are some of the photos below – taken by xepo w.s. , my fellow collaborator on the project URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI. The multi media work is installted in this exhibition which runs until August 31.

More about URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI can be found here.

ARTS Roundup: 3 to See | Smart Shanghai

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we made the list: LOST AND FOUND was just featured on this month’s 3 to see list of art exhibitions in smart shanghai.

URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI

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URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI are seven filmed painting performances spanish artist, xepo w.s., and i assembled last fall around the time of the World Expo.

The finished multi media work is now being installed/assembled/constructed/deconstructed/battled/born at stageback gallery’s new location in m50 as we speak. the LOST AND FOUND group exhibition opens dramatically this saturday, 9 july, within the space it now shares with Eastlink Gallery. here are some images from the collected footage of URBANVIDEOSCAPESHANGHAI.

join us for the vernissage of LOST AND FOUND on 9 july from 7 – 10 pm and celebrate stageback’s first of many exhibitions to come in its new and much bigger m50 home. more details to come soon.