Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening on November 8, 2007 of The Rock Touring Around Great Britain by He Yunchang. Although his work has been seen in group exhibitions, this will be the first solo exhibition in the United States of an artist who is now recognized as China’s leading performance artist. Born in Yunnan, China in 1967, he graduated from the Art Institute of Yunnan in 1991 and currently lives and works in Beijing.
While most of the artists who practiced performance art in the 1990s have moved on to other media, He Yunchang has continued to conceive increasingly extreme performances in which physical endurance is pushed to the extreme. In his introduction to the catalogue Andrew Brewerton points out that each work is preceded by “protracted deliberation – two years being by no means an uncommon gestation period for a fully rendered and irreducible idea.” Memorable examples in the last decade include Wrestling: One and One Hundred, 2001, in which the artist wrestled with one hundred persons in a row; Eyesight Test, 2003, in which he fixed his eyes on a 10,000w light for 60 minutes and Casting, 2004 in which he was cemented into a concrete block for 24 hours. Having been witnessed by few people, these challenging performances are preserved in memorable sequences of photographs.
The Rock Touring Around Great Britain, the focus of the current exhibition, involved a walking circumambulation of Great Britain from September 23, 2006 to June 14, 2007. Starting from the hamlet of Rock, Northumberland, the artist walked to the nearby town of Boulmer where he selected a rock which he then carried counterclockwise until he returned it to the precise location from which it was taken. The photographs that follow the artist on his journey are strikingly beautiful in their sensitive portrayal of the constantly changing patterns of English weather but as he commented at the time the work was primarily “an attempt to represent the iron will of an individual and the living conditions of his being with simple and pure methods.” Accompanying the photographs is a series of oil paintings based on the journey, He Yunchang’s return to the medium in which he graduated in 1991.
*A catalog will be available.
前波画廊将于20007年11月8日起举办艺术家何云昌的个展《石头英国漫游记》。作为公认的中国目前最具代表性的行为艺术家，何云昌曾在美国参加各种群展，但这次在前波画廊的展览将是这位艺术家第一次在美国举办个人展览。何云昌于1967年出生于中国云南省，1991年毕业于云南艺术学院。现在北京居住工作。
大部分曾在二十世纪九十年代尝试行为艺术的艺术家现已转向其他创作媒体，但何云昌却坚持不懈，继续在自己的行为表演中将身体的忍耐力推向极端。Andrew Brewerton为本展览出版的图录撰写了文章，并指出：何云昌的每一件行为艺术都是一个“长时间的深思熟虑——对于一个完整表达的，不可随意缩减的创作构想来说，两年的时间并不是一个不寻常的酝酿期。”艺术家在过去十年内创作的给人留下深刻印象的作品包括《摔跤：1和100》（2001年），在这件行为作品中，何云昌连续与100个人摔跤。在《视力检测》（2003年）中，艺术家盯着一万瓦特的灯长达60分钟；《铸》则是艺术家将自己封闭在水泥体内24小时的行为作品。只有少数人有幸亲眼看到这些行为，大部分观众都是通过一系列纪录摄影了解到这些作品的。
本次展览的主题《石头英国漫游记》是何云昌从2006年9月23日至2007年6月14日期间，绕大英帝国行走一圈的行为作品。从Northumberland的Rock村出发，他走到附近的Boulmer小镇，并在那里选了一块石头。他手举着石头逆时针方向行走，直到走回到出发点。记录这一漫游过程的照片也同时细致地描绘了英国易变的天气。艺术家解释说，这件作品主要是“企图用简单纯朴的方式表现人的意志和生活状况。”他同时根据漫游的过程创作了一组油画作品，回到1991年毕业以前主要使用的创作媒体。
*前波画廊将为此展览出版图录。