From September 1 to 28, 2012, presented by the Today Art Museum in association with the Institute for the Advancement of 21st Century Art, the “Spin: the First Decade of the New Century” exhibition, organized by renowned curator Zhang Qing, shall be on display on the Second Floor Exhibition Hall of Today Art Museum’s Building One. The exhibition brings together new works of the past ten years of six artists whose rise coincided with that of the new century- Chen Ke, Jia Aili, Ouyang Chun, Qiu Xiaofei, Wang Guangle and Wei Jia, and shall include both classic works from their illustrious careers as well as the newest pieces of the current year.

As introduced by curator Zhang Qing, “the distinguishing characteristics of the artists born in this decade are as diverse and varied as the radical changes that took place during it. Their works are historical reflections, social critiques, the conceptual wanderings and cultural hesitations of an era’s or an individual’s transformations; or, they are the secrets of an artist’s own personal growth, taken to form the light, soft visual aesthetics of a new generation. Of course, the cultural trends and tendencies shared among these different possibilities are not rigid and invariable, but rather free-flowing and mutually permeable.

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Preface for Spin: the First Decade of the New Century

by Zhang Qing

The seventies were a watershed decade for New China, a turning point in the nation’s history. The distinguishing characteristics of the artists born in this decade are as diverse and varied as the radical changes that took place during it. Their works are historical reflections, social critiques, the conceptual wanderings and cultural hesitations of an era’s or an individual’s transformations; or, they are the secrets of an artist’s own personal growth, taken to form the light, soft visual aesthetic quality of a new generation. Of course, the cultural trends and tendencies shared among these different possibilities are not rigid and invariable, but rather free-flowing and mutually permeable.

This exhibition brings together a group of artists born in the 1970’s whose works display an individualized sensitivity and realism within the cultural framework of an era, as they express their unique worldviews from the heart. They are neither the degeneration of a previous cultural age nor the prelude to a coming one. Instead, they are a particular and unique historical convergence: bodies spinning on their own axis at a point where the age of consumption comes into fierce collision with ideology. Their artistic visions pierce through masks of forgotten memories, sickness, and psychoanalysis, aimed outwards in an investigation of human emotion and the essence of humanity itself—all amidst modern society’s high-speed consumerism. Their artistic language possesses the voice of an individual, screaming out against a seemingly unmoving solitude, while the images of their art works reflect the purity of an innermost self and its independently administered education. Hues and tonalities stand tall on their own, offering flickering glimpses into mystery and ruminations upon the true nature of existence. The powerful attraction of these artists’ works is that of a barbaric springtime: better equipped than even the most crystal-clear demonstration to send the hormones into pulsating action.

The entire exhibition is devoted to the spinning structures, spinning expressions, and spinning stages of these artists and their world. The gallery space is organized such that their artworks and evolving emotional states are presented from the very beginning of their artistic practices and onwards, through each major milestone: like ripples in a pond emerging from a single water droplet. Even if there were no direct relationship shared among them, their works, now featured together, form an explicit manifesto of the progress and development of art in the first decade of the new century, and reveal their outward, spinning blossoming into the artists they have become today. In this way, the exhibition becomes an academic experience for participating artists; “Spin: the First Decade of the New Century” and the unique approaches to life and self-expression that distinguish the artists within it provide both a blueprint for and a cross-section of history.

About the exhibition

Organizer: Today Art Museum

Co-Organizer: Institute for the Advancement of 21st Century Art

Curator: Zhang Qing

Artists: Chen Ke, Jia Aili, Ouyang Chun, Qiu Xiaofei, Wang Guangle, Wei Jia

Duration: September 1—28, 2012

Venue: 2nd Floor Exhibition Hall of Building No.1, Today Art Museum

Address: Pingod Community, No.32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Tel: 8610-58760600-100

Courtesy of the artists and Today Art Museum, for further information please visit www.todayartmuseum.com.