Galerie Urs Meile is pleased to announce our participation at the first edition of Art Chengdu International Contemporary Art Fair. Our gallery is engaged internationally in the presentation and dissemination of contemporary art and operates from two locations: Lucerne (Switzerland) and Beijing (China). We will be presenting a selection of most recent works by emerging artists from China and the West.
Cao Yu (b. 1988 in Liaoning) is unpacking and expanding on the surrounding reality and individual experience while also constructing her own honest, direct and incisive artistic language. Her first solo show was held in the Fall of 2017 at Galerie Urs Meile Beijing. We will present the latest piece from her Canvas series Canvas 171219-180210 (2017-2018, sign pen on canvas, 240 x 120 x 15 cm).
Hu Qingyan (b. 1982 in Shandong)'s works have taken multiple trajectories over the last few years; the planned, calculated element often gives way to the unplanned, to a sort of extemporization. We will present a new piece from his representative series One Breath—Portrait of the Father (2018, marble, 18 x 30 x 25 cm). One Breath is a series of portraits that breaks the conventional way of depicting the appearance of the people portrayed. Instead, it makes possible to see the amount of breath each person can hold.
Ju Ting (b. 1983 in Shandong) draws from her experience in graphic printing. She layers a number of overlapping foils of acrylic paint, using a carving knife to cut away thin strips of paint and turn them upwards. This reverses the temporal order and spatial arrangement of the layers. The layering of the colours is revealed, presenting a shallow space of positive and negative, yin and yang (+-020218, 2018, acrylic on board, 127 x 155 cm).
Li Gang (b. 1986 in Dali, Yunnan) experiments with various aesthetic possibilities through a wide range of media. He is interested in ordinary, everyday objects, because he tries to change them into something poetic and special. He employs in his new work series The North (2018, pottery, steel, No. 4: pottery: 36 x (ø) 34 cm, steel frame: 90 x 90 x 33 cm; No. 7: pottery: 39 x (ø) 33 cm, steel frame: 85 x 85 x 35 cm ) antique Chinese vases this once for their auditive, not their visual qualities. For that purpose, he installs them in a metal frame onto the wall, the opening towards the spectator, or in this case, the listener. Like seashells, the vases catch the sounds of their environment and emulate them into a sound like of distant wind or sea breezes. This piece with its functional outlook includes the whole surrounding space audibly.
We will also present young emerging Swiss artist Rebekka Steiger (b. 1993 in Zürich, Switzerland) who expresses herself freely and in a virtuoso manner. Repeated application of layers of colour in a process embracing serendipity characterizes her artistic approach. Steiger gets inspiration by browsing through old books and photographs. Her abundant visual knowledge is then put into practice in a subtle and playful manner. We will present her most recent works created in Beijing during the period of her stay in Galerie Urs Meile Beijing's Artist-in-Residence program this year (untitled, 2018, oil, tempera and pastel on canvas, 240 x 190 cm).
Yang Mushi's (b. 1989 in Jiangxi) solo show Compulsory Execution was held at Galerie Urs Meile Lucerne earlier this year. The artist submits himself to a rigorous daily routine, diligently working on his sculptural materials in vigorous acts of cutting, grinding and sharpening. As a final step, the surface is polished and covered with black lacquer, thus reducing the objects to dark shapes of strict aesthetics and a martial kind of beauty (Paralleling-Branc__h (No. 3), 2017, wooden ladder, lacquer, 65 x 155 x 20 cm).