Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY
Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
November 30, 2013 to February 13, 2014“IN THE VICINITY” comes from the poem by Wang Bo “A bosom friend afar brings distant land near”, a metaphor of idealized cosmopolitanism as an outcome of the modernist movement in China since hundreds of years ago, as well as a goal of keeping up with the western world. China has become the melting pot of all sorts of politics and Ideologies. Different notions coexist and mingle, but can't get along all the time.
Exhibition view of Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
“IN THE VICINITY” comes from the poem by Wang Bo “A bosom friend afar brings distant land near”, a metaphor of idealized cosmopolitanism as an outcome of the modernist movement in China since hundreds of years ago, as well as a goal of keeping up with the western world. China has become the melting pot of all sorts of politics and Ideologies. Different notions coexist and mingle, but can't get along all the time.
This is the motive for creating the works to be presented in this exhibition, the cosmopolitanism in Chinese modernist movement, in another word, a movement of being westernized. Picking up this theme also relates to the venue LEO XU PROEJCTS, located at the previous French concession in Shanghai, the city of Modernist origin and pioneer in China. Fragments of the architectures in the most crucial series Neighbour's Window depict the HSBC building of the semi-colonist period in shanghai and the Sino-Soviet Friendship building (now Shanghai exhibition center)during the early time of socialism. They each stand for capitalism and socialism, which both have had substantial influence in China. The old used window frames with the paintings behind glass generate an illusion as if watching in the vicinity. It connects individual life with the grand historical narrative, bringing in personal memories into the history of this city.
Li Qing，Neighbour's Window · St. Petersburg Style
wood, glass, metal, oil color 148 x 104 x 16 cm 2013
Collected by Long Museum, Shanghai
Li Qing，Neighbour's Window · London Style ＃1
wood, glass, metal, oil color 148 x 103 x 7 cm 2013
Exhibition view of Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
Li Qing，The Black Square on A Blackboard
mixed media 52 x 60 x 3.5 cm 2013
The Black square on a Black board applies the Modernist gestures, combining the futurist drawing and ruler elements often seen in Malevich’s (Kasimier Severinovich Malevich 1878-1935) Suprematism paintings, but pointing to the past in content. The photo beneath the ruler is of a family standing in front of the Sino-Soviet Friendship building. The text next to it indicates that the name St. Petersburg had been changing along with the political upheaval in the past century, whilst Shanghai has never changed its name, which also had gone through many things.
Exhibition view of Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
Li Qing，Manuscript on Window
wood, glass, metal, oil color 66 x 114 x 10.5 cm 2013
The text on the work Manuscript on Window is adapted from two poems by the Russian poet O.E.Mandels-tam. It’s used to be about his memory of St.Petersburg. By modifying some phrases, it turns out to depict the geology and culture of Shanghai.
Li Qing，Pine Trees on Yellow Mountain
mixed media dimension variable 2013
The wall paper comes from the tapestry work Pine Trees on Yellow Mountain. Tapestry, as a form of trendy accessary in the early time of People’s Republic of China, symbolizes the aesthetics of socialism and collectivism. The yellow mountain pine bears a strong optimistic tone of revolutionists. The “Guest-Greeting Pine” also connotes the ideology of cosmopolitanism. By converting the back of tapestry into wall paper, I want to transform the socialist image to the petit-bourgeois counterpart of capitalism. It becomes a hybrid of the socialist aesthetics and the capitalist replica.
Exhibition view of Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
Li Qing，Sweet Statue · Pushkin in Shanghai
video 20'53'' 2013
Li Qing，Poets, Party and Me
mixed media dimension variable 2013
The painting on the second floor titled Poets, Party and Me and the video work Sweet Statue·Pushkin in Shanghai share the same theme---the Pushkin statue standing in the neighborhood of LEO XU PROJECTS. It embodies the Romanticism and revolutions of former Soviet Union time. As the painting shows, next to the Pushkin statue is a bar called “The Camel”, which appears in the Shanghai based artist Zhou Tiehai’s works, a symbol of pop culture and consumerism. This amusing contrast brings together the two different cultures. In the video Sweet Statue·Pushkin in Shanghai, the Pushkin statue covered with chocolate syrup tells the phenomenon that the tacky consumerist culture has invaded in the spiritual realm of Romanticism. The latter one could only be recalled in nostalgia.
Exhibition view of Li Qing: IN THE VICINITY, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai
Li Qing，Neighbour' s Window · Moscow Style
wood, glass, metal, oil color 148 x 103 x 7.5 cm 2013
Li Qing，Neighbour' s Window · London Style #2
wood, glass, etal, oil color 151 x 100 x 13.5 cm 2013
The unfinished Modernism, the feel of anxiety in westernized culture, memory of revolutionary history and class conflicts remain a profound impact on China today. Through the distinct yet paralleled relations of images and their complex denotation, the works on view open up a dialogue between history and the present as well as between nostalgia and the future. It is also an incarnation of artist’s pursuit of concept the visual form is politics.
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