For the 2019 edition of Frieze New York, Tang Contemporary Art brings works by established and emerging Chinese artists, including Zhu Jinshi, Zheng Guogu, Yangjiang Group, Wu Wei, Cai Lei and Zhao Zhao.
Zhu Jinshi is known for his 'thick paintings' that became mainstream among constructivist and neo-geometrical styles in abstract painting in the 1990s in the West, favouring artist's own experiences over the monolithic idea of traditional abstraction. Zhu's paintings defy the neat boundaries that have been set between media and the difference between local and international understanding of abstract art. Zheng Guogu's Another 2000 Years to Rust series is an evaluation of consumerism humorously depicting commodity items in relation to China's expanding economy and equating contemporary culture to ancient civilisation. Wu Wei's Fur series is a continuation of his previous works where the artist simulated the fur by tailoring the paper, and used this method to create the 'smooth space' and 'striped space'. Cai Lei's works explore the relationship between illusion and space. From his interest in planarity, he carves out an illusory conceptual space which oscillates between the second and third dimension for his creations. Zhao Zhao will be presented with his latest series One Second and In Extremis. To create the One Second drawings, he held in one hand ten pencils and within one second marked a piece of paper with a grouping of lines. From these spontaneous works, he then went about meticulously translating the hyper-realistic image onto canvas in oil paints, a process that took almost a year to complete. The idea of In Extremis came to him after witnessing traces of a dead cat's body spread over the road and flattened into the asphalt by passing vehicles outside his studio. This installation encourages the audience to form their own understanding of human perseverance and examines how various groups of people confront their own mortality.
****2019 Fair Opening Days
Wednesday Preview, May 1 (invitation only).
The fair closes at 7pm.
Thursday Preview, May 2, 11am-7pm
Thursday Private View, May 2, 4pm-7pm
Friday, May 3, 11am-7pm
Saturday, May 4, 11am-6pm
Sunday, May 5, 11am-6pm