Last Wednesday I headed up to the Taopu area to visit some artists' studios and hopefully get some inspiration for this new project I'm hoping to initiate with Randian. Tagging along was Randian's Daniel Ho and new intern Nicolletta and my artist friend Alexander Oleksyn. 
    Our first stop was the Hero Pen Factory, where there is a sizable cluster of artists with studios. We were greeted by Qiu Anxiong and his wife outside his studio. I've known Qiu Laoshi for many years but this was my first time visiting his studio (he's been here for a year and a half). There weren't many new works in his studio as his time in the past couple of years has been taken up with Museum of Unknown activities and exhibitions. Museum is a loose group of artists and related practitioners (musicians, designers, etc.) that organize unorthodox exhibitions in and outside museums. Qiu Laoshi was hoping to bring a show last shown at the Arrow Factory in Beijing to Shanghai. The idea was to set up a lending library of artworks. None of the artworks exhibited would be on sale but anyone can borrow pieces if you leave a personal item behind. We still spent some time in Qiu Laoshi's studio, despite the lack of new works, as none of the others had seen his 2006 video, "New Book of the Mountains & Seas", which he played for us. I've seen it numerous times and it still hasn't lost it impact. 
    We went next door to Zhang Fei's studio, who was working on new sculptures that were intriguing but I would need to see the final result before I can form a solid opinion on them. I do like his technique for creating the solid structure of the pieces. He took colored paper, soaked them, and then crushed them together so they become a substantial mass. We then went to Liao Fei's studio, where we were greeted enthusiastically by his adorable little dog. He was working on several new pieces, including a series where he was investigating light. He paints the same scene at different times of the day, each canvas getting progressively darker. He also had others works that remined me of Mo Yan's work. He currently has work up at MoCA at the +Follow show. 
    The artists then invited us to join them for lunch at the factory canteen. Their studios are located in a working factory and there are still workers in the complex and the canteen is still up and running. The last time I ate at a canteen was in Beijing in 1986. You go up to a window with your own bowl and utensils, order from the selection of food they have and pay with tickets, not cash (Liao Fei was kind enough to supply us with tickets). The food was good, just simple home-style cooking, but as usual, I ordered too much! There is a large trench sink outside where you can wash your bowls and discard leftover food (we guessed this is then fed to pigs).
    We then joined Hangfeng in another building where his studio was. Hangfeng has been away for three months so there wasn't much to see in his studio but we did stop by Maya Kramer and Wu Ding's studio. It was my first time seeing Maya's studio (which she shares with her boyfriend artist Jin Shan) and I was pleasantly surprised. Previous works that she has shown at OV Gallery and Aike Gallery didn't do much for me so it was a treat to see these new works that she's preparing for a solo show in New York this fall. She had molded a feather out of charcoal (beautiful!) and tie dyed traditional xuan paper. Very cool. Wu Ding likewise did not have a lot up but we sat with him for a while because he kept pouring us tea. We had a nice discussion about tea and how he prefers pu'er (which we were drinking) over tie guan yin (which is Daniel's favorite) because tie guan yin has become so popular that the quality has gone down considerably. The more you know...
    We then rushed over to Taopu proper to visit MadeIn Studio, where Alexia had two young artists waiting for us. Before we met them, we got a sneak peak of MadeIn's new work for ArtBasel Hong Kong in May. I was sworn to secrecy so I can't say much and won't post any images. I will say that I gasped when I saw the work and it made me VERY excited, giddy almost, to see the final product. Elsewhere in the studio were canvases with thick white oil paint applied with baker's icing bag. They looked delicious. Here is a close up view of a pink and purple version that is currently up at ShanghArt's H-Space:

On to the artists. First up was Lu Pingyuan, who most recently had a show at the Goethe Open Space. For this show, he hung his entire wardrobe in the space and had two assistants on hand that would constantly wash his clothes in a machine installed in the wall. He's very much a conceptual artist in the vein of a young Xu Zhen (you can see why he works so closely with MadeIn). He's also created works that came with its own container, sort of like a coffin, which acts as both a display and storage unit. 
    Next up was Xia Yunfei, a VERY young artist (born 1989!) who's still learning and exploring. He showed us some performance pieces which were amateurish and naïve but he himself admitted that he is experimenting and figuring out what works for him. His paintings and drawings on the other hand were wonderful. They were dark, primal works that reminded me a bit of Anselm Kiefer. Xia Yunfei himself is quite genial and chipper, very unlike his paintings. Unfortunately I don't have any images on hand, as he was presenting them on Powerpoint, but I think he has a bright future. Our last stop was Ding Li's studio. He's part of the TOF collective and he organizes many exhibitions with them. He's much more established than the young artists we met throughout the day so he might not be ideal for the project (we want to stick with young, unknown artists) but it was still interesting to see the man behind many projects that I'm familiar with. 
    Daniel and I have plans to see more studios but not before we firm our plans and have a clearer objective for our project. I met with Lorenz from ShanghArt Gallery to bounce some ideas off him and he gave some very good advise that I will be following. Sorry I can't be more explicit in what those ideas are but once I have a concrete proposal, Ill be sure to share with everyone.

Those who know me know that I generally do not like openings. You never see the art and you get stuck in the same conversations with the same people at every event. Going to the opening reception for "Some Like it Hot" at the Shanghai Gallery of Art this past weekend was no different. I barely had time to view the artworks because I was too busy "catching up" and making nice with art world folks. The same questions are always directed at me: "So you're still writing?" (Answer: Yes. I'm always writing!) and "Have you been away? I haven't seen you in a long time." (Answer: No, but when have I ever been a big presence at openings?) I know people are just being polite but the amount of small talk at these things is mind numbing. Besides, no one really wants to engage with you (unless they're a good friend) and everyone is always looking for the next person to talk to (I'm guilty of this also!).
    Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I will say that the opening was not all bad, namely because of the work of Indonesian artist Syagini Ratna Wuhan. Her last work shown in Shanghai was for the Bandung Pavilion at the Shanghai Biennale, though I cannot for the life of me remember what the work was. Just goes to show you can never see an exhibition enough times. For "Some Like it Hot", she contributed lovely pencil drawings and an interactive, performance piece that was a "smashing" success with attendees. For Catharsis, she created a wall with a diagram of different issues written on it. Viewers were provided with plates with which they could throw and smash against the wall, aiming for whatever ails them at the moment.

The gallery was filled with the noise of smashing plates, and it was a welcome distraction to all the schmoozing and networking that usually occurs at these events. Some people were shy at first about being on display but that changed with the throwing of their first plate. True to its title, the work seemed genuinely cathartic for some people; one guy ended up smashing over 20 plates. That guy needs this installation in his home. It will be interesting to go back to the exhibition in a week or so and see how much debris has piled up. 
    Elsewhere in the show, I saw pickles in resin (Feng Lin), gold-tipped plaster wings (Wu Di, who also contributed the lovely little collage at the top of this post), a taxidermied peacock and a hilariously accurate installation of a mah-jong game devoid of players (both Li Wei). As I mentioned before, I did not have a chance to experience any of the works as fully as I wanted (aside from Catharsis); perhaps some works will stand out more on second viewing. One artist whose work I am getting increasingly annoyed with is Lu Yang. Her scientifically inclined installations are getting to be a bore and more than that, they don't stir any kind of emotion in me. Her installation consists of videos using infrared technology displayed on oscilloscopes, revealing things about animals and the human body that is otherwise hidden. Her works read well on paper and in fact, she is quite articulate in her assessment of her own work but the physical experience of viewing these works does not match the depth of meaning attached to them. For me at least, cold logic and art are not ideal tango partners. Of course, it matters not what I think. She is a hot artist with a hot career and will see success despite my reservations about her. And she seemed to have found the perfect partner in fellow artist Chen Tianzhuo, who I found out she just starting dating. Chen's crazy, neon installation of religious iconography at MoCA's current show, "Existence", looks like it was born from the same mother as Lu Yang's work.
    This show was the first for the gallery's new director, Josef Ng, formerly of Tang Contemporary, who replaces Mathieu Borysevicz. This is the gallery's fourth director since they opened in 2004; I'll be curious to see how long Josef lasts and what he has in store for the space. I met him briefly but did not have a chance to speak to him in depth. I will say this though; this is the first show in, well, ever where a majority of the artists were of the fairer sex. For this, he deserves big kudos. 
    Later in the week, Daniel, Alexander Oleksyn and I will be going on a big field trip, visiting young artists' studios in the Taopu area in anticipation for a project that I'm hoping to initiate with Randian. I'm reluctant to give further details as this project could quite possibly implode in my face but for now, I am excited to embark on new ventures with good friends and colleagues! Be sure to check back to see what treasures I've unearthed in Taopu.

    Last Thursday I met up with my friends Christina Shmigel and Alexander Oleksyn (both American artists) for a full day of art in far flung places. Christina and I started this pseudo- tradition several years back when we realized there are just some places we would never visit alone and/or without a driver. This was back when art complexes started popping up all over the city: the eastern reaches of Yangpu district, the northern edge of Putuo, Pudong... you get the idea. 
    Our first stop was the Long Museum. I've written about the collection before (look out for my profile on Wang Wei in the upcoming issue of Art Asia Pacific) but it was a lot more fun viewing the works with friends, rather than with someone from the academic department (as I did the first time I went). Such gems like "We are all sharp shooters!", depicting cheerful women diligently cleaning their guns, went unnoticed on my first visit. 
    After a quick lunch in the food court of the World Financial Center (ramen!), we headed to Yangpu to visit Magda Danysz Gallery. Magda moved to this complex a few years back but I was never motivated to venture up here. And for good reason I guess. It was the tail end of their exhibition with Zhang Dali and Gael Davrinche. Why these two artists were paired up was totally lost on me. Zhang Dali has made a name for himself with his political works and public interventions. But here he seemed to have gone off the deep end. This is the first time I've seen his sculptural works and I really wish I had not seen them. I don't even think it's worth describing; I'll just post an image here:    

We also were given a sneak peak at their next show, an exhibition of Italian street art duo Stan Lex. Magda is really milking this street art thing for all its worth. If I see another stencil or graffiti-inspired text, I might have to put a hit on Banksy. I blame him for this current wave of mediocre street artists. 
    We made it back downtown for MoCA's current installment of +Follow, their yearly exhibition of young artists. Not as big as in previous years, this year's show, titled "Existence", features six artists (and one designer). The highlights for me were Gao Mingyan (consistently good), Liao Fei, and Su Chang. Gao had some lovely sketches on hand, something which I've never seen from him. Liao also had beautiful paintings which reminded me of Zhang Enli (never a bad thing). But Su Chang got me again with his architectural miniatures. I am such a sucker for shrunken objects! Most of the pieces were already shown at Don Gallery last year but it's always a pleasure to have them included in a show. I particularly love his façade of a typical Shanghai apartment building. 
    At this point, Alex had to leave us (art exhaustion) so Christina and I soldiered on to one final stop, a brief visit to James Cohan. The show was still being installed but we got the idea. Jessica Lin Cox from their New York gallery curated this one featuring artists from the Lower East Side. There wasn't much of a theme and the works did not relate to the neighborhood at all. Rather, it was a loose gathering of a group of artists that have made a community downtown. It wasn't a particularly dynamic selection of works but I did like Erica Baum's archival prints. This one was particularly lovely:

Christina and I were also blown away by Hilary Harnischfeger's geode-like objects. They look like a crystal had grown a rainbow of tumors. Even more impressive is that some of the growths are actually layers (and I mean LAYERS) of heavy stock colored paper that have been cut away to look like striations of rock. Beautiful!
    I really wanted to be in New York this week so this was a nice alternative. Spring is just around the corner so I expect to see many more new shows in the coming weeks. Check back soon for my take on it all!