Group Exhibition Whitebox Art Center
Produce: Sun Yongzeng
Curator：Cao Maochao
Artists：Huang Liyan Li Binyuan Lu Zhengyuan Li Kezheng Ma Ke Pu Yingwei Shen Chaofang Su Shangzhou Sun Ziyao Tang Baihua Tong Kunniao Wu Wei Xiao Daniu Xu Hongxiang Zhang Wenrong Zhang Yue
Exhibition Dates：05. 27, 2017 - 06. 11, 2017
Organizer：Whitebox Art Center
Address：B07, 797 Road, 798 Art District, No.2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Outliers - Traversing a time of anxiety
Curated by the vice-director of the Whitebox Art Center, Cao Maochao, “Outliers –Traversing a time of anxiety” annual group exhibition will open on May 27, 2017. Invitingsixteen artists born from 1970 to 1990 to participate, most of the works on view are “tailor-made” for this exhibition, focusing on the artistic ecology and reality we live in the present. This exhibition marks Whitebox ArtCenter’s continuous focus on young artists projects, by which to discover and promote young artists with acute attitudes and unique creative approaches.
Based on shiftinggrounds of the supply and demand of the planned economy to the profit-seekingmarket economy, particularly, the various economic policies in the 1990s hadfundamental impact on the various principles and understanding of the formersocialist experience. The versatility of social mechanism that came with it equally challenged the public tolerance, a sense of anxiety outpoured, the artists living in this tidal wave are not the carps crossing the river, rather their artistic practice became the appealing path for a spiritual pursuit.“Outliers” sets the academic tone for this exhibition, resonating with Foucault’s “Technology of the self”, which demands the artist to pay attentionto the self, to achieve self-cultivation through internal reflection andexternal contemplation. “Chinesepatient” has become the portrayal of the general public in the last two decades, referring those who suffer from the symptoms of anxiety that cannot be eradicated. Confronted with anxieties of survival, identity, living space…artist living in this period have equally fallen for the same anxiety, beingthe “outliers”, they are aware of this time of anxiety, and hope to cure the“anxiety” of our time through artistic practice, and heal through ongoing discussions; they have kept an introspective and self-critical attitude,refusing to be assigned with identities and rehashing iconographies in their works of art. They take the courage to step outside of the existing frameworksand knowledge groups, this is not only a conscious role shifting in the practiceof art, but also an active escape. The participating artists can be divided into different age groups, whose choice of contents and forms also mark an evolutionary progress. Those who were born in the 1970s have chosen painting as their primary vehicle of expression; and those born in the 80s-90s have shown vivid, audacious and versatile characteristics of the time in their works of art. Overall, they have shown significant differentiationfrom the previous generations of artists, who are not swayed by major politicalevents, neither would they undertake the burden of history on their shoulders.They confront their practice and life, unhinged by the limitations of any artistic medium and material. As a spiritual sample of a young artist exhibition, we look forward to your analysis, and this exhibition will continue to June 11, 2017.
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