On May 24, 2014, hosted by the Inside-Out Art Museum, co-organized by the famous collector Charles Jin, ShanghART Gallery and SEE+ Art Gallery, “Challenge the Tradition — 20th Century Western Classical and Chinese Contemporary Photography” opened in the Inside-Out Art Museum. During the exhibition, almost a hundred photographic works are on display, including the classical works by William Eggleston, the classical master known as “Father of New Color Photography”, Saliman, known by many people and Damien Hirst, the modern photography artist, and Chinese representatives of modern photography, such as Wang Qingsong, Hai Bo, Yang Fudong, Qiu Zhijie, Rong Rong, etc.

At 16:00 on May 24, 2014, the opening ceremony of the exhibition was held as scheduled. It was presided over by Yuan Zuo, Director of the Inside-Out Art Museum, collector Charles Jin, Wang Huangsheng, Director of CAFA Art Museum, Wang Xi and Hua Er from SEE+ Art Gallery, painter and auctioneer Lin Lin attended the activity.

Yuan Zuo, Director of the Inside-Out Art Museum said: “On the way to develop Western cultural traditions, technologies and materials are always the important factors that affect an era. And this trend has permeated the development of Chinese culture in the past 100 years.” The museum holds the “Challenge the Tradition” photographic exhibition which aims to sort out and reflect on photographic art since the 20th Century, at the same time, with the help of the comparison between the Eastern and Western classical works, it searches for the direction for the development of Chinese contemporary photography art.

The title “Challenge the Tradition” was designed for the purpose of elucidating the close relationship between the development of photography art and evolvement of art history by means of exhibition, from the introduction of the perspective theory in 1435 which allowed people to describe their visual experience with more well-grounded reasons on Rembrandt and Ingres’s efforts of relying on the optical instrument in their paintings to capture the illusion of the three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional material. A few decades after the invention of photography in the 19th century, people used photographic technology to reproduce the three-dimensional space, trying to shift the theme of painting from traditional literature to creations based on light or color. Such a transition of theme changed with the continuous advancement of social technology. As the photographic technology is improving, the 21st century photographic art has freed itself from the constraint of the traditional “recording” and “reproduction” conveyed, and more artists have the courage to express themselves. They know what to accept or reject, brave enough to explore the unknown and any possibilities. On the road to contemporary art, photographers are confronting with unprecedented challenges….

The exhibition serves the exact purpose for people to sort out and reflect on the photographic art and rendering of works since the 19th century in the course of the increasingly “innovated” technologies and ideas.

The exhibition lasts until June 29, and during this time, the Inside-Out Art Museum is holding a seminar and public education activity.

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by the Inside-Out Art Museum