Solo Exhibition Fou Gallery
New York - Fou Gallery is pleased to announce the new exhibition Zhai Liang: Living Room, which will be on view from August 18 to October 9, 2016. The gallery’s original white walls will be turned into large chalkboard murals by artist Zhai Liang on site at Fou Gallery. These works reveal the artist's thoughts and fantasies surrounding the interchangeability between public and private spaces. This will be Zhai Liang's second exhibition in New York. The opening reception will be held on August 18, 6 - 8 pm.
August18— October 9, 2016
Opening Reception: August 18, 2016, 6 -8 pm ； NO RSVP RequiredLocation: Fou Gallery, 410 JeffersonAve, #1, Brooklyn, New York, NY11221Hours: Saturday 11am - 6pm, or by appointment (info@fougallery.com)Exhibition Support: Cloud Printing NYC
The living room is recognized as an individual’s personal living space, and a comfortable place for private conversations. As an escape from the fast-paced lifestyle associated with the overwhelming Information Age, it is also a realm where people are able to meet on common ground and enjoy an environment that stimulates deep contemplation. Thanks to the living room, a house is not simply a building constructed with apile of bricks, and completely confining those inside to privacy and away from the world outside. Instead, it is a semi-public domain. The living room is a place for family gatherings, and an inside place to interact with the outside world. It is where individuals maintain a high level of awareness towards themselves and towards others, as they constantly oscillate between their social roles and self. Often overlooked as a private domain, the living room bears attributes of both public and private spaces, and secretly influences our perceptions of the outside world.
Fou Gallery is located in a Brooklyn brownstone building built in the 1910s. With the first floor used as a private residence, and the second floor as an exhibition space, the building retains its original architectural features, such as French shutters, plain-colored blinds, wooden floors, fireplaces, and classic crown-molding. In brownstone buildings, the original use of the second floor, was as the living room, sometimes referred to as the parlor room. Apart from the dining room, it wasthe most important place for social events, such as receiving guests, holding small indoor performances, and hosting salons.
This exhibition aims to restore the original role of the "living room". The gallery’s white walls, to which we are normally accustomed, are transformed into blackboards, that can berepeatedly drawn on and altered. The large surface of the blackboard is like a theater stage, where the separation of black and white forms two kinds of plots, one involving people and space, and the other involving the inside and outside worlds. Thus, the living room is no longer a closed private space, but instead an open visual space - more fluid and distinct.
The drawings on the blackboard are divided into two parts: The space to the sofa’s right presents “exhausted people” in the midst of social interactions. Their facial features and bodies, outlined as simplified drawings, are depicted in languid postures -- sitting paralyzedon sofas or lying on the ground. The space beside the fireplace shows two connected parts of a landscape painting, that are separated by a wooden door. This piece brings nature into the indoor space, conjuring a surreal scenery of clouds and mountains with a door firmly standing in the middle. In this unworldly setting, common conversations are elevated to an abstract level. The audience is invited to the seemingly familiar setting of a living room, yet much of their perception of their surroundings becomes unclear or altered by the space. Because the entire living room is reconstructed to assume a kind of dream-like floating quality, the seemingly static images are replete with the possibility of change.
During the exhibition, Fou Gallery plans to invite artists, musicians, dancers, cooks, and other creative people from all professions to re-imagine the "living room." These future activities will produce greater possibilities to enhance the exhibition, as they will continue to produce inspiration and add fuel to the creative engine.
More Pictures:
Facebook
Instagram
WeChat 微信