The Haudenschild Collection was the inspiration for the exhibition City Lights: Shanghai – Los Angeles which was on view from November 7 – December 17, 2006 at the University Art Gallery, CSULB. The exhibition was organized by Yeonsoo Chee and examined contemporary life in Shanghai and Los Angeles.

November 7 – December 17, 2006

University Art Gallery, California State University, Long Beach

City Lights: Shanghai – Los Angeles

Lui Wei, Yang Fudong, Song Tao, and Xiang Liqing

October 21, 2006 – January 7, 2007

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego

Personal Views: Regarding Private Collections in San Diego

Chen Shaoxiong, Shi Yong, Song Tao, and Yang Yong

STATION V: BEIJING, CHINA

“Zooming into Focus is the first retrospective show of Chinese contemporary photography and video ever held at the National Art Museum, Beijing. It reveals the changes in social notions and technology in Chinese contemporary art from a different angle. The exhibition showcases the most outstanding and symbolic works from the late 1990s and 2000s which directly reflect the changing cultural and social environment and values of the Chinese people in a booming economy”. -Feng Yuan, Director of the National Art Museum, of China, Beijing

China’s National Art Museum is currently hosting what some are calling ‘its best exhibit ever.’ It’s a stronghold of landmark artworks from the breakout period of the early 90s, and this is a ‘once in Beijing’ opportunity to see them all in one place. Go at once to the art museum, but make it before the 20th of November, when the show ends and art fans sadly walk back to the distant 798-Dashanzi district. – Published in That’s Beijing

The National Art Museum of China presented the exhibition Zooming Into Focus: Contemporary Chinese Photography From the Haudenschild Collection. The exhibition highlighted the remarkable photography and videography works currently being created in China. The swift transformation of Chinese culture is reflected in the work of each of the participating artists, who comment on contemporary Chinese urban life with intelligence, wit, apprehension and nostalgia.

Noted American art collectors Eloisa and Chris Haudenschild have created one of the most important collections of contemporary Chinese art in the world. Focusing on the work of experimental artists from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, the collection makes groundbreaking contributions to the field of international contemporary art. The National Art Museum of China, which is China’s national museum for the visual arts, focuses on collecting, studying and exhibiting China’s modern and contemporary works of fine art based on people’s daily life.

Shi Yong, one of the participating artists has his own opinion about getting some local exposure, “I feel very lucky that we can do this exhibition in our home country today. Actually many Chinese artists care more about domestic exhibitions then overseas ones.” – Published by the Siemens Art Program for Culture Times Beijing

ExhibitionNovember 5 – 20, 2005, National Museum of China, Beijing, China

Organized by Laura Zhou and Zooming into Focus catalog and installation design at the National Museum of China, Beijing by Shi Yong.

About Laura Zhou

Laura Zhou is co-director and co-founder of ShanghART in Shanghai, China. The gallery was initiated in 1996 and it has since grown to become one of China’s most influential contemporary art institutions. ShanghART has established itself as a leading gallery representing established figures whilst continuing to support the work of innovative younger artists. As a gallery, producer, supporter, and point of reference ShanghART contributes as a vital resource to the development of contemporary Chinese art. Being recognized for its importance ShanghART became the initial gallery from China participating in major international art fairs like Art Basel and Fiac, Paris. Since its inauguration the gallery has established more than 70 exhibitions, and it enjoys the great respect of being among the 75 international galleries selected in Thames & Hudson publication international Art Galleries that features 75 of the most acclaimed galleries from post-war to post-millennium (2005). ShanghART represents over 40 of China most talented artists working with different media ranging from painting and sculpture to video art and performance.Today ShanghART works out of three spaces in Shanghai (Moganshan Rd and Huaihai Rd )and one space in Beijing (Cao Changdi).

About Shi Yong

Shi Yong’s work embraces modernization and the ideology of consumerism as the basis for self-imagination and creation. He has produced a series of photo-based works around the concept of the ideal Shanghai citizen. It is an ongoing multifaceted project that explores images of consumption, commodity and the development of the culture industry. One series, entitled “Made in China – Welcome to China” (1999), consists of hand-painted plaster models of a young businessman in a Mao suit, sunglasses, briefcase and waving. The image of the ideal citizen used for the statue was the outcome of an Internet project through which Shi Yong asked volunteers to vote for the ideal way of looking. The individual now transforms the identity of his or her self by following the logic of commodity market surveys. It is a composite image that Shi Yong has repeatedly used in other pieces such as “Longing For” (2000) and “You Cannot Clone It, But You Can Buy It” (2001). The iconic figure is morphed through the agency of the marketplace.

Recently, Shi Yong has focused his attention on large-scale installations and architectural models imbued with an absurd twist of humor. Most notably, his mixed media installation “Flying Q” is of a UFO built with the purpose of opening up the sky. The flying object comes with no additional explanation, but might be recognized as just another signature vision of and interventions into the imaginary world of Shi Yong. His subversive approach pokes fun at architecture based on rules and pre-established schemas. Shi Yong fabricates a colorful and ironic architectural structure that is at once a parody of serious design and its synthesis. In short, his work is an amalgam of Shanghai’s eclectic ‘anything goes’ attitude towards the built environment.

Shi Yong was born in Shanghai in 1963. He graduated from Light Industrial School, Fine Art Department. He resides and works in Shanghai. Shi Yong has exhibited widely since the early 1990’s. Recent shows include Follow Me!, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, 2005), Second Guangzhou Triennale, Guangsong Museum of Art (2005), Zooming into Focus, China National Art Museum (Beijing, 2005), Felicidad Indecible, Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art (Mexico, 2005), The Heaven, The World, ShanghART & H-Space (Shanghai, 2004), Shanghai Biennale (2002), Bienal de Sao Paulo (2002) and Bienal de Maia (1999). (ShanghART; Shanghai, China)

STATION IV: SINGAPORE

“As the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore is committed to showcasing significant trends, as well as the best examples of contemporary art practice, Zooming into Focus was an ideal exhibition for us to organize at the gallery. Not only does it highlight a major trend among contemporary Chinese artists towards the use of video and photography, many of the artists in the exhibition are also internationally renowned, thereby providing audiences in Singapore a rare opportunity to see their works…This exhibition, a major exhibition of contemporary Chinese photography and video, was the first of its kind for Singapore.

This is an important exhibition for highlighting and raising the level of discourse of photography and video in Singapore. Photography and video are still, as yet, relatively new mediums in art practice here. It was therefore useful for artists and the public to see how widely used these media are and also the interesting and innovative ways in which Chinese artists are using them.” -Eugene Tan, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore

Exhibition
August 11 – September 11, 2005, Institute of Contemporary Art, Earl Lu Gallery LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

Organized by Eugene Tan.

About Eugene Tan

Eugene Tan is an art historian, critic and curator. Born in Singapore in 1972, he received a BSc in Economics and Politics from Queen Mary College, London and a MA (Distinction) in Post-War and Contemporary Art from the Sotheby’s Institute, London. He also holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Manchester. Among exhibitions he has curated include Video Invitational at f a Projects, London in 2003, The Last Laugh: Humour and Contemporary Video Art, Painting as Process: Re-evaluating Painting and Jason Salavon: Brainstem Still Life at the Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore in 2004. He is also the curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale 2005 and the co-curator of the 1st Singapore Biennale 2006. He has written extensively for many exhibition catalogues as well as publications such as Art Review, Contemporary, Contemporary Visual Arts and Modern Painters. He has been a member of AICA (Association International des Critiques d’ Art) since 1999. He has also been invited to lecture and participate in panel discussions, on various aspects of contemporary art, in Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and United Kingdom. He is currently the director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts.

July 2 – September 4, 2005

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Follow Me! Contemporary Chinese Art at the Threshold of the Millennium

Shi Yong