“Everything: The 6th A+A” will open on March 23. Having begun as PIFO Gallery’s annual exhibition, A+A adopted a biennial format in 2010. In seven years and six exhibitions, 92 artists have participated, and 25 have participated more than once. Many of these artists have become known through the A+A platform.

This exhibition has invited 12 artists: Detlef Waschkau\Gao Bo\Jiang Ji’an\Li Daiyun\Lu Zhengyuan\Ma Wenjia\Meng Zhigang\Tian Tian\Wang Junyi\Yuan Jia\Zhang Yexing\Zhong Zhao.

“Everything” is possible; all ideas are expressed. It’s not a convergence of style and method, or a similarity in subject and content that makes this continuing exhibition possible. It’s the attitude A+A conveys—facing head on individual independence and individual differences. This is the attitude of the participating artists, the attitude of the curator in choosing the pieces, and the attitude of the pieces A+A displays. As we move along on our journey, we can’t just sit back and accept what comes; what we need to know now is how to march to our own beat.

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Step to Your Own Beat

I.

A+A, beginning as an annual exhibition at PIFO Gallery, adopted a biennial format in 2010. In seven years and six exhibitions, 89 artists have participated, and 25 have participated more than once. Many of these artists have become known through the A+A platform.

A+A got its start from the requests of CAFA students for a place to exhibit their work, but over the years it has become a space for new creations and given works a voice. The boundaries between opportunities for exhibition, discussion and creativity have melted away, and the true theme has emerged: “expression of individual approach”.

From 2006, A+A has witnessed and participated in the changes in Chinese contemporary art. As various fads and imitations dominate the contemporary art market, the exhibition has chosen an independent road of determination and non-conformity.

II.

The sixth A+A has invited Detlef Waschkau, Gao Bo, Jiang Ji’an, Li Daiyun, Lu Zhengyuan, Ma Wenjia, Meng Zhigang, Tian Tian, Wang Junyi, Yuan Jia, Zhang Yexing and Zhong Zhao. As they observe each other, the question is asked how to make comparisons between artists from a mixture of different cultural cores and backgrounds, and the exhibition thus becomes a kind of dialogue.

Lu Zhengyuan’s creative medium is rich with color. Beyond pure realism, his realistic skill has become the subject he wants to express. The pieces are the end result of a process passing through time.

Jiang Ji’an examines the existence of individualism by repeating strokes again and again on rice paper. As time propels itself forward, bringing us along with it, a high level of mastery is achieved, and the spirit of the canvas swells with a calm awareness of extreme individualism.

While analyzing the concept of “time”, Tian Tian discovered the pervasiveness of specific “moments” in time. The intelligent gears of emotion infuse each second of our lives with consciousness.

Detlef Waschkau shows us scenes specific to one location during different periods of time. From a German perspective, he captures visually scenes of contemporary Chinese life.

There are secrets held within Gao Bo’s works, and this is exactly what he wants to express, an acceptance of all that is known and not known. His romanticism and ambiguity is an aloof acknowledgement of the complexities of the world.

Everyday objects enlarged under the lens are the subjects of Wang Junyi’s artistic method. The enlargement of ordinary seen objects gives familiar materials a new appearance, inviting reflections on visual understanding.

Meng Zhigang undertakes an exploration of spatial perspective that exists only in the view of its inhabitants.

By portraying realistic objects, Zhang Yexing avoids the possibility of both manipulating and being manipulated, while he slowly conceals himself within his ideas.

There persist in Li Daiyun’s works multiple observable viewpoints, as the forms on the canvas become a vehicle to transmit her personality. She both uses form and at the same time transcends form itself, making it possible to view the works from different angles. The canvases exude a natural intensity, with the combination of repeated strokes and an external roughness; the finished product is a sigh of release after painstaking work.

Zhong Zhao’s choice of media, old wooden doors and bricks from demolished houses, turns everyday objects into art pieces. The social significance of these original materials in transition has been re-interpreted, the cast-off door and jagged bricks synonyms for the changing circumstances we find ourselves in.

Two more artists working with wood are Ma Wenjia and Yuan Jia. Ma Wenjia emphasizes the investigation of replicated and classical forms in sculpture, and all the while the pieces are taking on a human aspect. With eyes hidden in wooden books and file folders, we can say that the existence of objects is an existence of consciousness. Yuan Jia’s pieces, on the other hand, are humorous, the assembled structures like large toys. Yuan Jia’s works don’t take us through the same process of awareness as Ma Wenjia’s, but place more importance on how the objects are understood in relation to their atmosphere. In the relationship between the leading and supporting roles of the objects, the pieces resemble an intensely theatrical and romantic fantasy.

This passionate exploration of different forms reveals a multitude of artistic expression. In the continuous linear development of Chinese contemporary art, “Everything” is possible; all ideas are expressed. It’s not a convergence of style and method, or a similarity in subject and content that makes this continuing exhibition possible. It’s the attitude A+A conveys—facing head on individual independence and individual differences. This is the attitude of the participating artists, the attitude of the curator in choosing the pieces, and the attitude of the pieces A+A displays. As we move along on our journey, we can’t just sit back and accept what comes; what we need to know now is how to step to our own beat.

Jiao Xueyan

About the exhibition

Curators: Wang Xinyou and  Jiao Xueyan

Artists: Detlef Waschkau, Gao Bo, Jiang Ji’an, Li Daiyun, Lu Zhengyuan, Ma Wenjia, Meng Zhigang, Tian Tian, Wang Junyi, Yuan Jia, Zhang Yexing and Zhong Zhao

Duration: March 23th— April 21th 2012 10:00～18:00（Except Monday)

Opening: March 23th 2012 16:00～18:00（Friday)

Address: PIFO Gallery

B-11, 798 Art Area,No.2 Jiuxianqiao Rd, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

Tel: 86 10 59789562

E-mail: info@pifo.cn