2012

10+ Architect Space, Hong Kong, 2012

E (merge): two spiritualities, China Art Projects / Niagara Galleries @ Space Station Gallery, Beijing China 25 June – 7 July 2011

E(merge):two spiritualities, China Art Projects / Niagara Galleries @ Drill Hall, ANU Canberra Australia 5 July – 12 August 2012

Artists: Angelina Pwerle, Hu Qinwu

Two painters – one a Chinese male, the other an Indigenous Australian female. The painting styles and technical processes are superficially similar, but the tradition and personal histories of each are radically different. For each artist, the process of working is critical to the end result – the subconscious state of allowing the Dreaming (Pwerle) or the Kong (the Buddhist idea of empty space) to emerge and reveal the infinite (space, time), the order and chaos of the universe, the continuity of life and the connectedness between past, present and future. Hu Qinwu and Angelina Pwerle are worlds apart geographically, socially and culturally … apparently. Hu Qinwu was born in China during the time of the Cultural Revolution – a period of social upheaval but a mere ‘blip’ on the radar of the history of China. Angelina Pwerle was born into a society undergoing massive traumatic change following the arrival of European ‘invaders’ and the resultant challenge to the social structure, beliefs and traditions of a culture that had existed for thousands of years. Angelina Pwerle and Hu Qinwu’s art practices ‘merge’ through the visual impression created by similarities in their technical format –repeated overlayering of ‘dots’ covering the entire picture plane with subtle tonal variations and monochromatic colour. The mark-making is immersive, the states of being are almost transcendental, the sense of ‘control’ and letting go of control to allow the intrinsic and intuitive to determine the form are common to each. Abstraction conveys a totality of the visual world and the psychic/spiritual domains which is inherent in the act of creation.

Reg Newett, Curator, Beijing June 2011

found/LOST Osage Studio Space, Beijing 2012

Artists: Wang Zhiyuan, Anne Graham, Wu Daxin, Tony Scott, Liu Zhuoquan, Tony Bond, , Huang Xu, Janet Laurence, Guan Wei, Jayne Dyer

A cabinet of curiosities was a Renaissance period encyclopedic collection of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. Modern terminology would categorise the objects included as belonging to natural history (sometimes faked), geology, ethnography, archeology, religious or historical relics, works of art and antiquities. The Kunstkammer was regarded as a microcosm or theatre of the world, and a memory theatre.

The exhibition, found/LOST, includes various artists whose conceptual practices, as a whole, address elements of discovery, loss and making meaning – materially, psychologically, socially and culturally. The artists draw on their experiences from their native countries as well as the ‘other’ – Australia and China – in presenting a Kunstkammer in traditional museum form of display. The exhibition is to be a continuation of the Year of Australian Culture in China (Imagine Australia) as part of a series of events organized and managed by China Art Projects.

Sifting/TIME Chinese Museum, Melbourne 2 April – 20 May, 2012

Artists: Anne Graham, Geoff Hogg, Tony Scott, Guan Wei, Huang Xu, Liu Zhuoquan

Sifting Time brings 6 together contemporary artists from China and Australia. Through painting, photography and installation each practitioner plays with ideas of cultural transformation and tradition. Through their diverse artistic practices, they reflect on the ways that culture is either preserved or remodeled in contemporary guise or forgotten and discarded with the passing of time.

Damian Smith Melbourne, May 2012