Artist: Zhang Peili

1957 - Born in Hangzhou, China
1984 - BA from the Oil Painting Department at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China
Lives and works in Hangzhou, China

Known as the "father of Chinese video art," Zhang Peili was part of the contemporary art scene in China since the 1980s.

According to UNESCO, Zhang Peili's "early works dealt with the nature of personal experience, irrational feelings and resistance to psychological and social pressures. In the years that followed he embarked on an international career with openly critical videos."

Eating

1997
Three-channel video and sound installation


Last Words
2003
Video Stills

Last Words is a 15-minute continuous loop of spliced footage from Chinese propaganda films of the 1950s and 1960s.

"One bit of a young fellow taking a gun to his head, grinning all the time, is particularly chilling. Zhang seems to imply that the death wish that characterized the world’s oldest civilization for so long, at the cost of 750,000,000 lives, still lies close beneath the skin, and that he, a man of 50, will not forget or let you forget." - Charlie Finch for artnet Magazine.

Event: Zhang Peili at The Tilton Gallery

There is an exibition of photographs and videos by artist Zhang Peili at the Tilton Gallery, on view until February 16, 2008.

Happiness
2006
Video Stills

This is the second show of Zhang Peili's work at the Tilton Gallery. Read about the first exhibition in this New York Times review.

The Jack Tilton Gallery is located at 8 East 76th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues.

New Coffeetable Book

Artists in China: Inside the Contemporary Studio by Philip Tanari
ISBN: 9780500238400

"Showing spaces linked to more than fifty artists working in China today, and with more than 500 powerful photographs, this sumptuous, large-format book brilliantly captures the eclectic and exciting atmosphere that prevails in the Chinese art world today." - Amazon

Read a review from the Financial Times.

Event: Shi Guorui at Chinese Contemporary

San Francisco
2007
Silver Gelatin Print

Uncanny Perceptions, an exhibition of camera obscura photographs by artist Shi Guorui at Chinese Contemporary, showcases newer works depicting the cities Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco.

Chinese Contemporary is located at 535 West 24th Street.

The exhibition runs until February 28, 2008.

Event: Still Life

Opening today! Check out Still Life by filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke at the IFC Center.


Jia Zhangke's new film Still Life takes place in the village of Fengjie, a town destroyed during the creation of the Three Gorges Dam. The film highlights those displaced by the construction, telling the story of a miner who returns to the town to search for his ex-wife, and a nurse who comes back to find her husband. For more information, read this review.


“I entered this condemned city [Fengjie] with my camera and I witnessed demolitions and explosions. In the roaring noise and fluttering dust, I gradually felt that life really could blossom in brilliant colours even in a place with such desperation.” – Jia Zhang-ke

The IFC Center is located at 323 6th Avenue.

Artist: Misaki Kawai

Biography

1978 - Born in Osaka, Japan
1999 - Graduated from the Kyoto College of Art in Kyoto, Japan
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York

Sitting and Looking
2007
Mixed media

Misaki Kawai on Vbs.tv

Vbs.tv has a new feature on Misaki Kawai, a Brooklyn-based psychedelic artist.

"I like very simple artwork – it's very strong, very honest and very clear." - Misaki Kawai

Graffiti in Taipei, Taiwan

Asesr

Gacy

Host

Servo

Video

Grab a coffee at New Museum

The Young Hae-Chang Heavy Industries Flash installation, BLACK ON WHITE, GRAY ASCENDING, is located on the ground floor of the New Museum's new location on the Bowery.

"Invoking the genre of film noir, and the hard-boiled literary styles of Raymond Chandler and Phillip K. Dick, YHCHI’s imaginative, witty and often politically pointed narratives offer layered and compelling stories in which identities are assumed and discarded, and ideologies of all persuasions are held up and questioned.

For BLACK ON WHITE, GRAY ASCENDING, their project for the New Museum, the artists have expanded their usual single-channel format to create an unprecedented seven-channel installation that tells a chilling story of abduction and assassination from seven separate points of view, set to an eerily laid-back bossa nova score. The installation is at once as nostalgic as a 1960s suspense film and as current as the daily headlines." - New Museum

Instead of paying $12, $8, or $6, buy a pastry from the museum's coffee shop, take a seat, and enjoy the work through the glass barrier.

The installation will be up until March 23, 2008.

New Museum is located at 235 Bowery by Prince Street.

Hello 2008!

Hi everybody! Hope everyone had a good holiday and a happy new year.

More information about Altered States, the Zhang Huan exhibition at the Asia Society.

Zhang Huan
Ash Head No. 3
2006
Ash, iron, wood

There is an interesting video that addresses the artist's studio as mentioned in this New York Times article.