Five Shanghai Germans (Group Show)

Dear stage候台BACK friends,

We are pleased to invite you for the opening reception ( 开幕接待 ) of Five Shanghai Germans -Group Show

Date: May 16 2009.

Time: 6pm - 10 pm at stage候台BACK Gallery.

We hope to see you.

Susanne Junker & Amandy Chien

Five Shanghai Germans

Alexander Brandt, Roland Geissel, Susanne Junker, Rolf A. Kluenter and Lothar Spree

Group Show

May 16 – June 26 2009 / 2009年5月16日至6月26日

Opening reception: May 16 2009. 6pm - 10 pm at stage候台BACK Gallery.

开幕接待: 2009年5月16日 18：00 - 22: 00 stage候台BACK艺术画廊

TiMELINE:May 16 – June 26 2009 / 2009年5月16日至6月26日

stage候台BACK Shanghai is delighted to present‘Five Shanghai Germans’, a group show of recent works by Alexander Brandt, Roland Geissel, Susanne Junker, Rolf A. Kluenter and Lothar Spree.
The exhibition offers a look through the eyes of 5 German artists who have been living and working in Shanghai during the past 3 – 10 years. Shanghai, the trend-setting metropolis with a capitalistically characterized dynamic, has been challenging their artistic practices and exploration into new or different ways of expression.
The show is curated by Ke Luo Fu, Shanghai
‘Five Shanghai Germans’ will be exhibited at Bridge Gallery, 798, Beijing in November-December 2009, at K GALLERY, Chengdu in the first half of 2010 and at TEAPOT, Cologne in the first half of 2011.
The Catalog is edited by Ke Luo Fu and published by stage候台BACK and Ke Luo Fu, in cooperation with timezone 8, soft cover, 88 pages, color plates

stage候台BACK荣幸呈现“上海五德”联展，届时五位德国艺术家 飞苹果(Alexander Brandt)，葛若朗（Roland Geissel），云筱苏 (Susanne Junker)， 柯罗夫 (Rolf A. Kluenter)和 洛塔 斯普瑞(Lothar Spree) 将联合展出其最新艺术作品。
“上海五德”通过五位长居上海的德国艺术家的独特视角，展现他们在过去3-10年间与上海这座独特城市交融迸发的艺术作品。上海一向以“小资”著称，这座大都市如今正以其独特的活力走向现代潮流的最前端，这强烈撞击着艺术家们的艺术创作，激发他们探索各种新的艺术表达方式
艺术联展由科罗夫策展。
“上海五德”将于2009年12月在北京798桥舍画廊做第一次联展，接下来将于2010上半年和2011年上半年分别在四川成都K GALLERY和德国科隆Teapot艺术廊做巡回联展。
艺术画册由柯罗夫编辑， stage候台BACK 和柯罗夫联合发行，软封，88页，彩板

More link:

facebook

cityweekend

synotrip

urbanotomy

shmag

china-daily

shanghaistuff

For further information contact:

Amandy Chien (Mandy)
cell: 135-01717-590
email: stageback696@gmail.com

P R E S S R E L E A S E

stage候台BACK 696 Weihai Shanghai is delighted to present ‘Five Shanghai Germans’, a group show of recent works by Alexander Brandt, Roland Geissel, Susanne Junker, Rolf A. Kluenter and Lothar Spree.

The exhibition offers a look through the eyes of 5 German artists who have been living and working in Shanghai during the past 3 – 10 years. Shanghai, the trend-setting metropolis with a capitalistically characterized dynamic, has been challenging their artistic practices and exploration into new or different ways of expression.
Alexander Brandt states in the context of his ‘ephemeral structures’, 4 times photography in c-print:: From a personal, purely esthetic point of view, most of Shanghai's new high rising buildings are visually more interesting during their construction phase than after their completion. This state is temporary; in a month's time, what was captured in the image doesn't exist anymore. At the same time, because Shanghai's construction sites are omnipresent, the presence of these ephemeral structures also has something permanent.”

Roland Geissel’s work “melusine – xujing’ includes photography and an object. ‘A Spatial Drawing is the interior of a Melusine’...... a series begun in 1997. Melusine is the collective title of all worksbelonging to a group whose design always follows the same basic principles, leadinghowever to a unique result each time. The Melusines are corporealobjects, occupying the borderlands between painting and sculpture.

.... the Spatial Drawings are site-specific and have so
far been temporary, documentation is necessary. However the photos Roland Geissel
takes, on 5x4” film, using a large-format camera, transcend the purely documentary
function and assume the nature of works themselves.

The photographs do not only succeed in translating the space via perspective onto the two-dimensional plane of film, much more than this they lead to an alteration in our perception. Our spatial perception as a whole shifts towards the visualization of flatter, graphic formations seen in the background, and optical effects are created which evoke a space other than the real one; new, unreal spaces are created. [johannes kögler－“journeys into space - roland geissel’s spatial drawings”, exhibition catalog, 2007]

Susanne Junker presents her photographic series “ - - - id - - -identity- - -
- work in progress”. R A Suri writes about her work: “Essentially, the photographic work of Susanne Junker is cathartic, humorous and violent in effect. Her trajectory is one wherein the role of subject/object, identity and transfiguration of medium revolve, intertwine and are re-cast in a conscious manner. Unfortunately, while the pivotal device of oscillating to and from established or fixed visual iconography-which she has sought to challenge- of women, embodying the same formal vocabulary in her staged self-portraiture, one might evaluate that rather than a rupture with the perversion and vulgarity of the portrayal or women by mass-media and the "victimization" of the fashion world in real terms on both the physical and psychological landscape of women, conversely, her work is somewhere testament to the legacy of that sphere upon contemporary photographic art. [R. A. Suri “Globales Geiles Gesicht”, guest contribution / essay / KUNST BLOG / (http://kunst-blog.com/2009/03/leerer_eintrag.php)

Rolf A. Kluenter’s mix media installation ‘st.st.not.that.not.this.six steps registration overkill’ shows canvases, a stencil, rubberstamps, a 2 minute video, a photo and text. Ilse Schache comments: “…the nature of self, the nature of the environment in which we find ourselves, and the relationship between them. The central theme of these works is not to capture some kind of abstract reality, life, as it 'is', but instead to explore the processes of creation and the creative process in and of itself. Kluenter is captivated by the verb 'to transpire', to cause something to happen, to go beyond, to cross something, to inspire. The purpose of his work is to demonstrate or to cause some kind of tension, since this, in his mind, will cause something to transpire. Kluenter is interested by the idea that beyond memory, there is something more, something non-material but nevertheless, very real. It is this 'beyond-ness' of things that his work is trying to expose. As something happens, or transpires, it passes into our memory, where this process of creation keeps developing. Nothing is finite and nothing has an end; one event is transformed and so leads on to something else.” [Ilse Schache “rolf a. kluenter – recent works, 2009]
Lothar Spree makes a very distinct statement in the context of his 2 simultaneously running films, title: ‘ shanghai passage voyage / dissolve’: “understanding media as a tool of exploration - zooming out the panoramic views of satellites and into microscopic close-ups of the psyche of people // although a filmmaker at heart, media art has become my main interest in the context of chinese art education // shanghai is a maze of media art reflections // here the two terms ‘media’ and ‘art’ carry both a certain acute urgency – they are terms of our times that signify essential demands and developments for global society/ visible in the cityscape of shanghai // under the term media we see our world transferring itself increasingly into the visualizing media/ not only because of the intensification of global communication and exchange -- more so because of the great virtualization of our life // formative events are not anymore happening in real life but in media only/ and more and more of human life takes place in the realm of virtuality // to work -- and live --

in the field of media/ especially in shanghai/ means dealing with the issues of humanity/ society and the ‘essence of life’ -- finding/defining/refining rules of changing reality before the media world forgets its humanity // art provokes the new and evokes the old/ reminding of the essence of the strife for progress // art is breaking the rules in order to liberate/ and challenging in order to define a next necessary step // making and braking the rules - art is the realization of both these impossible attempts // understanding media as a tool of exploration - to move out to the panoramic views of satellites and to return to microscopic close-ups of the psyche of people.”

The show is curated by Ke Luo Fu, Shanghai

‘Five Shanghai Germans’ will be exhibited at Brige Gallery, 798, Beijing in November-December 2009, at K GALLERY, Chengdu in the first half of 2010 and at TEAPOT, Cologne in the first half of 2011.
Catalog, published and edited by Ke Luo Fu & stageBACK, Shanghai, soft cover, 88 pages, color plates

Weihai 696 Event official presser “696艺术联欢会 新闻通告”

Here is the official announcement of the Weihai Road 696 Art Studios event:

Intervention #3 @ Shanghai Art Studios, Weihai Road 696

Happy Together- 25 artists present multi disciplinary works for two day event

Date: April 18-19, 1pm to 8pm daily

In the Summer of 2006 a small artists colony took over the abandoned premises of an old opium den, later turned into a factory, in downtown Shanghai. Now around 40 diverse practioners have built functioning workshops in the building. 696 Weihai Road has a very diverse mix of inhabitants, including painters, sculptors, dancers, singers, bands, film directors, photographers , actors, arts activists, journalists, fashion designers, professional travelers, an underwear designer, child arts specialists, a wedding photography team, a foreign martial arts master, an animation company, an outdoor clothing and gear shop, architects, and also a few experimental gallery spaces.
As the downtown location of the building is in Shanghai’s ‘golden area,’ just a few minutes away from the city’s top malls and hotels, developers have long been threatening to take over the building. The tenants have been keeping up a three year campaign to maintain Weihai 696’s function as a creative space, through individual and group actions. To celebrate the fact that the building has not yet been torn down or converted into a commercial development the building hosts an annual open door event, to showcase work, allow performers to show their work in public in a relaxed setting to friends and visitors, and this year should also see some documentary work and other experimental pieces. Due to the anarchic nature of the setting and the work in progress, and for other obvious reasons, not all can yet be revealed!
Currently around 25 of the workshops will present open doors, installations and around 5 musical performers have been slated in to play at various venues within the complex. A map will be provided to guests, and signs relating to the various events will be posted by the main gate, or chalked on the walls.
Refreshments should be provided at various locations throughout the events, and there are also numerous 24 hour stores nearby where visitors can purchase snacks and beverages.
For anyone wishing for further details in English please keep an eye on the site www.shanghaieye.net

696艺术联欢会 新闻通告

2006年夏天，威海路的一片不起眼的弄堂厂房里，搬来了第一位和艺术工作有关的住户，后来陆续地很多来自世界各地的艺术工作者迁徙了进来，慢慢形 成了一个有意思的小村落，这片旧日厂房在这群创作者的精心改建和安排下，变成了这个中国最商业的都市里，少有的一个乌托邦。他们友好相处，相互鼓励。在这 个温暖的小环境里，在每个小方格子里，都有一个有关艺术的梦想在茁壮生长着，无论是来自什么国家，无论从事什么专业，他们都在这里找到了自由发展的乐土。

如果要列一个单子，那这单子上一定包含了所有能让人类感受到快乐的工作；能让人更接近幸福的生活方式：画家，雕塑家，舞蹈者，歌手，乐队，电影导 演，摄影师，话剧演员，艺术活动家，记者，画廊业者，服装设计师，职业旅行家，内衣设计师，婚纱摄影小组，外国武术大师等等，当然还有一些行踪诡秘的至今 没有暴露身份的神秘主义者。

不可思议的事情里往往也有平淡无奇的一面，生活因此才有趣。
这片地方的名字和它的门牌一样未加任何修辞：威海路696号，或者叫696。

因为地处上海最中心的寸金之地，696在都市商业大厦的阴影下，如同在走廊里四处游荡的那只著名的黑色野猫，从来不知道昨晚住的纸板箱，明天是否还 在原地。从第一天入住起，每个人都被告知了随时会被拆迁的命运。所有的梦想家最初是带着一丝惴惴不安地生活在这里，直到渐渐变得习惯于这样的命运，直到有 一天他们突然想起来，他们已经在这里不可思议地驻扎了三个年头了。这些年里，很多人因为很多不同的原因，搬来这里或者离开了这里。有时是陌生人因为靠近成 为了朋友，有时是朋友因分离而相忘于江湖，他们渐渐习惯了认识新面孔，忘却旧邻居，各自躲在自己的工作空间里很少聚会。但是他们还是习惯每年的某几天，把 门都打开，因为这已经成为了这短短三年里，696里唯一确定了不会改变的事情。

2009年开门的日子是4月18日- 4月19日。

那两天里所有的门都是敞开的，有多少性格各异的主人，就会有多少不同的待客方式。在联欢的日子里，喜欢喝酒聊天交朋友的人一定可以在这里找到你的知 己，欢迎购物的人可以在某些空间里，发现一些艺术家有趣的手工活儿，有纪念意义的小玩意儿；喜欢板着脸一句话也不说四处游荡的人，也可以在这里假装严肃很 久，因为有足够的地儿够你神游。

总之，愈是大家容易不开心的危机日子里，愈是不知道明年自家在哪儿的际遇，却愈是让这些家伙懂得了及时行乐的必要。所以，大家凑一起玩玩儿吧！

来吧！笑一笑！

@ stage候台BACK SOON!

For Immediate release / 可直接发表

Sylvie Tillmann
candyfloss overboard

Photographs / 摄影
February 28 – April 6 2009 / 2009年2月28日至4月6日
Opening reception: February 28 2009. 6pm - 10 pm at stage候台BACK Gallery.


开幕接待 2009年2月28日 18：00 - 22: 00 stage候台BACK艺术画廊


stage 候台BACK Gallery and TEAPOT Gallery (Cologne/Germany) are pleased to announce their collaboration on an exhibition of new works by Sylvie Tillmann. The exhibition will run from the 28th of February through the 6th of April 2009 at stage候台BACK Gallery, located at Room 301, 3F, Building 11, 696 Weihai Lu near Shaanxi Lu, Shanghai China.

Sylvie Tillmann whose interests are both in the understanding of the body as a projection surface as well as the meaning of the expression of her thoughts while using the bodies as the conveyor of the soul. Both aspects concentrate themselves on the fact, that there is only a frightening little space for our commonly held beliefs of beauty. In her photographs we see humans who do not identify themselves with these paradigms. Unadorned and combined with eccentric accessories, they lead the viewer towards the fact that the boundaries of the aesthetics have room for expansion. Candyfloss overboard is Tillmanns first exhibithion on Mainland China. She lives and works in Cologne / Germany.
For this occasion an exhibition catalogue will be published by stage候台BACK Gallery Shanghai and TEAPOT Gallery (Cologne/Germany)

stage 候台BACK 艺术画廊与德国科隆TEAPOT艺术馆荣幸发布将合作举办德国艺术家Sylvie Tillmann新摄影作品展.该作品展将于2009年2月28日盛大开幕,持续至4月6日,展出地点为中国上海市威海路696号3楼310stage候 台BACK 艺术画廊.
艺术家Sylvie Tillmann将人体理解为一个表面,一个投射的表层，又试图通过身体这个灵魂载体去解读其背后传达的思想内涵。
Sylvie Tillmann艺术表达中的这两个维度集中体现的一个事实就是,人们所普遍持有的对美的信仰只局限在一个令人吃惊的狭小空间之中.在她的作品中,我们看 到的人物并未认同这些传统范式,他们或不加任何修饰,或配以各种古怪的装饰物,让人们感受到原来美学的界限可以这样被延展. Candyfloss overboard(棉花糖越界)是Tillmanns在中国大陆的首次作品展, 艺术家现居住于德国科隆。
艺术展作品目录将由stage候台BACK 艺术画廊 与TEAPOT艺术馆(德国科隆)联合发布

The catalogue will be launched at the opening reception on February 28, 2009.

stage候台BACK Gallery is happy to announce the "candyfloss overboard" after party will be held y TARA 57, starting at 11pm on February 28 2009.
TARA 57 2/F, 57 Fuxing Xi Lu, Xuhui near Yongfu Lu, Metro Line 1 Changshu Lu Station 复兴西路57号2楼 近永福路,地铁1号线常熟路站 6431-7027

Limbo Grid - press release

Limbo Grid film stills

"Limbo Grid"过渡状态

film and installation

摄像与布景

In his installation Limbo Grid, Rolf A. Kluenter sets a film projection, which documents a variety of nightshift scenes at central Shanghai's construction sites, against a net-like structure made of the fragile blackened Nepalese handmade paper that hangs down from the ceiling and divides the space into two rooms.

Rolf A. Kluenter在"过渡状态"的布景中设置了幻灯片，幻灯片中记录着上海市中心变换多样的工地夜班场景; 尼泊尔手工制作的黑色脆纸构建成的网状结构，由天花板垂落下来的， 将空间分隔成两个房间。

The space of stage候台BACK at 696 Weihai Road invites the visitor to walk through the installation, watching the film, feeling the structure and experiencing the blackness. This might be Kluenter's intended process, which inextricably interweaves transparency and denseness; fragility and strength.

展览地点位于威海路696号， stage候台BACK 诚邀来访者步入整个布景，观看摄影/影片，亲身感受建筑结构，体验黑暗状态。这或许就是艺术家Kluenter的创作本意所在 ：无法摆脱地交织着透明与稠密，脆弱与坚强。

A Limbo is a space that is between two places. It is a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date. Spiritually and in scholastic theology, limbo is an extramundane region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await their judgment.

Limbo 意为两处中间的位置，常被理解为被漠视的处所或状态。 当事物或人结束，被搁置，遗忘，或者过时， 这里便是他们的归宿。从精神层面上以学术的理论探究， Limbo 是超越现实世界的地带，各种灵魂将在这里等待着对他们的最终宣判。

With the exhibition Limbo Grid, stage候台BACK proudly announces the soft opening of the future collaboration between stage候台BACK Shanghai 696 and TEAPOT Gallery, from Cologne in Germany. stage候台BACK自豪地宣布LIMBO GRID展览将成为上海 stage候台BACK 与德国科隆的 TEAPOT Gallery 之间未来协作的软开幕。

Rolf A. Kluenter, Limbo Grid, mixed media + film, 2008 A site-specific installation created for stage候台BACK, Shanghai, October 30 – December 7, 2008

Limbo Grid provides an insight into Kluenter’s cosmology and his observation of urbanity as an awe-inspiring reality. These aspects of Kluenter’s aesthetics might bear strong reminiscences of scenes and atmospheres of 19th century Romanticism. In contrast, however, his recourses and references rather relate to the “Darkness” of a mega-urban scenario than to the “Mighty of Nature”.

In his installation, a multi-layered net-like structure metaphorically plays the central role. The net-like structure is made of fragile blackened Nepalese handmade paper. It hangs down from the ceiling and divides the space into two rooms. As a contra-point to the dominant black paper-structure, a film projection is set on the opposite wall. The short film is based on a variety of nightshift scenes which Kluenter filmed during the past years at one of central Shanghai’s many construction sites. The film music is composed of several commonly known sound-fragments that Kluenter has re-arranged and re-mixed to enhance the scenes of the film.

Tiny objects that are attached to the lower and upper ends of the blackened paper grid further alienate the work. A very small staircase made of Lego-toys comes forth from the lower end and reaches to the ground where small plastic toy-puppets stand to welcome the descendants. A welcome banner reads: “Welcome back from Limbo. Welcome to our brave new world”. From the upper end of the paper-grid, joined plastic drinking straws emerge and extend into space as a loop. Attached to the plastic drinking straw structure, black scrolls are hanging down on which a variety of statements are written that relate to the term “heaven”. During the exhibition period until December 7, Kluenter will be adding one statement on “heaven” on each day.

Since the installation and film figuratively evoke a state of non-resolution and uncertainty, the connotation of a “Limbo”, a term that has been frequently used in literature, becomes obvious. Limbo is a place or state of oblivion to which persons or things are regarded as being relegated when cast aside, forgotten, past, or out of date. Spiritually and in scholastic theology, limbo is an extramundane region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await their judgment.

Blackened Nepalese paper has been the primary ground and substance of Rolf A. Kluenter’s work for the past years. Blackness essentially suggests the absence of a source of light and the notion of void. Its nature evokes the limits of the visible. The hand-made structures of the blackened Nepalese net-like paper object show an excessive load of irregularities.
Like an ongoing experiment, Kluenter’s approach is to display his works in series as ever so many declinations of basic emotional positions. Life and art are situated between cultures, crossing borders, intersecting at cross-cultural pathways: process of change, fluctuation and spatial-geographic traceless-ness, interdisciplinary paradoxes, wordless and non-conceptual messages simulating unlimited virtual variety.

Geiles Globales Gesicht - Susanne Junker - Soloshow - September 8 - 28 2008 " 個人表演 "

An essentially untranslatable term, “Geiles”, either grand or aroused by desire, has been coined by Susanne Junker for her most recent photographic series. 12 images of the artist transformed after painstaking applications of facial paint confront spectators with a work constituent of anonymity, cultural associations & iconography as well as silent protest. In the traditions of Chinese Opera, female characters were exclusively portrayed by male performers, the masks and painted visage irrefutably linked to dramatic personae, and narrative discourse predictable and unwavering. With “Geiles Globales Gesicht” (Grand Global Masks), a seductive counterpoint is given: the performer is one female, the symbolic reference of the masks sabotaged, rendered “perverse”, and visual reference one of auto-portraiture. For those familiar with Susanne Junker, this versatile artist/conceptual photographer is not adverse to challenging either gender portrayal, sexual iconography or to employ role-reversal as a means of visual subterfuge. The use of the masked figures is a conscious attempt to address specific social constraints and paradoxical elements in the visual vocabulary of the people of the PRC, the voyeurism of the nations’ expatriate audience and community. The faces are silent, the facial details entirely submerged in centuries old practice of multiple layers of grease paint, mouths obscured, and save for one image, reminiscent of the European Harlequin (yet, derived from a traditional character of Chinese Opera), reflect upon the inherent associations of the art form and its transformation. The “Harlequin” poses an interesting jest, as the character itself plays against cultural monogamy and symbol: an image shared by radically different cultural histories and traditions ridicules us with a sad air as part of the exhibition.

In contemplation of the use of the mask not only as a cultural icon or metaphorical device for whatever proposed allegory, we need to recall the significance and conscious/unconscious associations in our collective visual experience. A central vehicle for dramatic anonymity, as well as character portrayal, the mask today symbolizes what aspect of our society? The stage of today, inundated with virtual and artificially manipulable digital sequencing and projections has near abandoned the craft of the mask, yet their appearance is evocative nonetheless.
This work well reflects Barthes associative logic of the photographic moment with that of “death”. Times passage demands the re-analysis of form & & psychological association, history reminds of our changing perceptions of what constitutes cultural symbols & technological advent and innovation now demands we challenge aspects of our cultural heritage. Fascination and voyeurism are doubtlessly aspects of the human condition which have been amplified, and the artist transfixes the stage in mute protest. For Barthes, this suggests that photography creates the conditions for a profound loss of meaning, an absence in which referentiality is removed although we still understand what we see.

In contrast, Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theories on photography explain a moment of perception which exceeds the normal boundaries of the everyday. This excess is at one and the same time an encounter with the self and with history. It moves the activity of viewing from a transparent relationship of meaning and expression to a level in which meaning seems to be there without the presence of subjectivity. It is as if the photograph brings out the unconscious, is also a representation of the unconscious and at the same time denies all of these relations of meaning. Junker has undoubtedly redoubled the examination of these two contrastive theories, the loss of meaning is observed, in a relational sense, yet, by the incorporation of more sublime elements rather than a clearly defined "studium" and "punctum", she delivers a visual experience which is highly evocative, more akin to a Lacanian analysis of the medium.To graft the mask from the dramatic arts and make it a central component of conceptual photography, to transform the characters associated with each specific folkloric character (in this case those immediately recognizable from either Jinju or Kunju Opera) as an extension of an artist's adopted psyche- a precarious venture which Susanne Junker has attempted in multiple previous experiments- is no small task. A new representation of an object already categorical & representational, embodiments of narrative fictions to be performed onstage and now suspended in a silent two-dimensional vortex, specters of themselves cast upon the visage of the artist at work in an indivisible act of auto-portraiture, leads to an annihilation of the former and enlivening to the latter. In her work, the artist has afforded new life, and in doing, contrast socio-cultural parallels with her own personal inclinations to provoke the unthinking mechanisms and latency of our image ridden society. Ours is a visual culture, her attempts reminds us that we need constantly analyze and re-analyze the immediacy of our visual environment, and equally, that this auto-reflex has become a part of our post-industrial, ultra-technological society...we are made dependent on the same devices which we have created towards an actual liberalization from the past and former bastions of cultural and societal "advance", now, defunct. While the sincerity of the artist is undoubtable, her personal situational "flux", (from her former series attempting to transgress the field of vision from her experience as a model to that of photographer, from a past of the fashion industry to that of conceptual or fine art...) has led to a body of work which signals diversity and boldness. The current series, while aesthetically and technically more mature leaves one with a sense of greater coherency than several of the series of experiments by the artist of past years, yet the depth of examination is somewhat lacking. While having consciously decided on 12 faces/masks and there presentation is remarkable, within the sphere of cultural reference & social commentary, there remains an understatement in content & manner. Would it not be in order to cross-reference the function of the mask and its use in photography ? A similar re-examination of those faces of antiquity well known and understood in the Italian traditions of Dell'Arte, the Medieval traditions of the Mime and later comic characters of the popular drama's and repertoires of North American film, television and theatre may have a direct trans-cultural impact for the audiences of Chinese origin? For a similar lack of full comprehension and a similar field of misinterpretation exists in visual translations from the Occidental to Oriental vocabulary. We may anticipate an extenuation of the Geiles Globales Gesicht in new applications of form and content in the near future with an emphasis on the Global. To bridge the representational is perhaps to command or control the representational, and while the Geiles Globales Gesicht manifests as a travesty of the transformations behind a medium from one iconographic reference (whether contemporary or traditional) and to another symbolism a minor note of detraction exists in her derisive mirror of the sublime and the crass. It is one where the most neglected audience is denied a role of similar contrastive analysis as the artist, while in a full enthusiasm and passion towards the act of auto-portraiture and individual transformations of the representative icon, has overlooked the importance of the signifier of the "Other" beyond the Euro-Centric errors of both the past and present, and has forgotten the importance Sino-Centric errors of the interpretation of cultural symbols in balance. Nonetheless, a stark commentary is inherent in the message itself & as an emergent series, proves to be confrontational and engaging.
R A Suri

After a long summer break we got ready for the Shanghai "art month" September that featured 2 art fairs, the Shanghai Biennale and about 80 gallery openings in one week. Jam! I hung my newest series "Geiles Globales Gesicht". Take a look on the piece I done, you can find it here.

等到很長的暑假我們準備趕上上海 “藝術月” 9月兩個藝術務，Shanghai Biennale 還有80多哥艺术家的开幕式在同一周. Jam! 我吧我的最新的个作品瓜 " Geiles Globales Gesicht". 情到这里看 GoSee