独唱团 

 Silent Spring

 郭警

Guo Jing

开幕时间：5月16日 下午 3：00 – 5:00

Opening：May 16，3 - 5 pm

 展览时间： 5月16日 – 6月14日

Duration：May 16 – June 14 

地点：红门画廊，798艺术区，北京

Venue：Red Gate Gallery，798 Art Zone，Beijing

展览由Artand主办，红门画廊协办

Artand and Red Gate Gallery

 Silent Spring by Guo Jing opens in Beijing on May 16, 2020 to commemorate the special spring of 2020. Due to the new coronavirus, global development has stagnated, the regular order has broken down, and humanity has fallen into crisis and pain. This spring seems particularly late and quiet.

The title of the exhibition comes from the reflection of artists on artistic energy during the epidemic period. Guo Jing feels the power lessness of art, and tries to break through such constraints. In an interview with Xiang Wai, Guo Jing said "artistic expression does not directly affect reality. The link between art and reality can only be presented in a subtle way. It is not a heavy punch, but a kind of commemoration, remembrance, an alert. It’s meaning will not be found now but in the future.

In recent years, black humor and absurd irony are the distinctive symbols of Guo Jing's art. However, Guo Jing's works keep a certain distance from realistic themes. Through a certain plot or construction, he shows an aberration in the logic, creating amusement. This delicate design is often achieved through still life. Occasionally there are characters whose identities are vague, directionless, and sometimes Western faces.

However, from this spring things will change. What will happen to a surrealist artist once he starts to seriously think about reality? Silent Spring will run until Sunday June 14, 2020.

Artist Statement

Foreword

My exhibition has been postponed from February to May due to COVID-19. Before the outbreak of pandemic, I wrote a statement about the exhibition called “What is in the Dark Space?”. The words seem to be willfully deliberate when I review them now, after this worldwide catastrophe (not to mention a previous title – Pythagorean). The foreword and the statement seem to contradict  each other, yet both represent myself from pre and post epidemic periods respectively.

My state of mind has shifted drastically. Rather than directly delivering a creative explanation of my art today, I would firstly offer a brief understanding of ART…..

It seems to be sinful to talk about arts or anything other than the pandemic in the heat of epidemic. Every subject and every object are denied, not questioned and not challenged. Even for now, orchestrating an art exhibition is still considered as inappropriate. Compared to previous years when Spring should be bustling and chaotic for artists, there are few promotional notices for exhibitions. This lone stance makes me feel like the little performers with red cheeks who wait for the very last curtain call of the cantata.

Is Art essential? Maybe only for the artists. Art is not an elixir curing physical illness, but it provides relief for pain, as we may need it now.

The epidemic and the changes it brought, is triggering a series of emotional responses in people — sorrow, love, indignation, silliness, annoyance and inhumanity all coexist, disrupting the world order. In the first three decades of my life, I have never been a witness to a major event of history. We are about to live in a world with more chaos and confusion. Should there be any spontaneity in my future creation? Or would I be that little performer with the red cheeks—standing stubbornly on stage, because of the silence of Spring in 2020.  

What is in the Dark Space?

Only by writing, do I carefully reflect on my work, searching for clues and to organise the train of thoughts during the creative process. It is like walking down a deserted lane from the past, covered with dust and dirt. Only with patience do I see clearly through the shade and cover to see that light ahead, appreciating the journey that I have weathered.

This is also a process of self-discovery. Without putting down these notions into words, my inner desire for change and for novelty would otherwise lie unnoticed and unenlightened. This is the essence of this exhibition for me personally. I am not someone who creates with a clear direction in mind, but who only knows what is right at the time, knowing what I want.

In my previous phase, my artistic role was more analogous to a stage director, dressing the elements with fashions of surrealism and placing them in my constructed scene. They play out according the rules I stipulate, repetitive and orchestrated.

However, in this exhibition, there is less of my eagerness to stipulate an intrinsic order, but rather more of a challenge to internal order. I attempt to dissolve and deconstruct the mundane attributes of commonly known objects - like doors, bubble gum, balloons, fast-food, oceansand choirs, assigning new meanings to their existence. To me, such transformation is more surrealistic and more interesting, adding a tinge of Dadaism with a personal touch!

Further, beneath this transformation lies the deconstruction of so-called "meaning". On one hand, I use symbols and signal-like imagery to capture the viewers' eyes; on the other hand, inpresenting a scene or a relationship, I would diminish or remove the subject of this imagery, in order to pose a "rhetorical question", and to explore whether the discussion itself carries meaning.

As an example, in the grand auction of The Masterpiece, the two figures who carry the artwork are illustrated in greater detail, bringing more credibility and prestige to the value of the artwork in their hands. Yet, when everyone focuses their eyes on the artwork, it is displaced by a block of sheer blackness. In this process, greater realism and sincerity confirm the extent of deconstruction, which in turn creates more conflict in viewers' perception.

Therefore, to the question: What is in the Dark Space? The answer is: Only the Void.

【My thanks would go to my beloved friend Chloe (Niu Xinyue), an independent curator of Chinese art at APEC, for providing excellent translation of this statement】

Guo Jing