Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of Shi Jinsong's Ne Zha – A Child’s Boutique on March 20, 2008, his second exhibition at the gallery. For his first exhibition at Chambers Fine Art in 2006 titled Ne Zha Baby Boutique, Shi Jinsong produced a range of articles expressed for baby Ne Zha, a much beloved figure of Chinese folklore and mythology.
Although Ne Zha is now chiefly celebrated as a God of Lotteries and Gambling, his origins were far from playful. As described by Shi Jinsong, Ne Zha is “a supernatural youthful hero who always recovers and refuses to grow up. He has three heads, nine eyes and eight arms, with blue clouds coming from his mouth, flamed wheels under his feet, and all kinds of powerful weapons in his hands. He needs only to shout for clouds to turn into rain. He cuts his own flesh and commits suicide to save his father, fights the dragon king, and overturns the universe.”
In the two years that have elapsed since the baby boutique offered a walker, cradle, pacifiers etc. suitable for the new-born infant, Ne Zha has grown up and the articles now available are appropriate for the young, all-powerful mini-warrior – a suit of armor, rocking horse, etc. In addition there is a naked effigy of the eight-armed youthful hero.
Born in Danyang County, Hubei Province in 1969, Shi Jinsong enrolled at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, majoring in sculpture. It soon became apparent to him that none of the traditional techniques he mastered were adequate to express the complexity of his relationship to the rapidly changing society in which he lived. Simultaneously deeply involved in the mythological past of China and the technological advances of the modern world, he found the precise and potentially dangerous forms of finely crafted stainless steel to be the medium most suited to his sculptural explorations.
Using the latest methods of product analysis and design, Shi Jinsong gives memorable three-dimensional existence to dreams and fantasies, whether it is the combination of a traditional Chinese three hand truck and a Harley Davidson in the recent Halong- Kellong installation at the 2006 Shanghai Biennale or his ongoing investigation of the powerful myth of Ne Zha.
前波画廊将于2008年2月28日起举办《哪咤婴幼儿用品》，史金淞的第二次个展。在2006年的展览《哪咤婴儿用品》中，史金淞创制了一系列专门为哪咤这位人人喜爱的中国神话人物所设计的物品。
如同史金淞自己提到的：“哪吒是一个死而复生且永远拒绝长大的超级少年英雄︰三头九眼八臂，口吐青云，足踏风火轮，手持各种奇门兵器，大喊一声，云降雨从，割肉还父，斗龙闹海，乾坤烁动。”
从两年前的学步车，摇篮，奶嘴等新生儿用品到现在，哪咤已经长大。这次的物品是专门为这位幼小但神通广大的小战士所设计，包括盔甲，摇马等。与此同时，展览还将展出这位小英雄的模型。
史金淞1969年出生于湖北丹阳，1994年进入湖北美术学院学习，主修雕塑。他很快就意识到，他所掌握的传统制作工艺无法适当地表现他与自己所生活的快速变化社会之间的关系。他对中国神秘的过去和当今科技的发展同样着迷，并寻找到了不锈钢这种材质—它的精确性和危险性正好适合自己的雕塑创作。
史金淞使用最先进的产品分析和设计方式，给予梦想和幻想难忘的三维存在形态—在2006年上海双年展上他展示了将手扶拖拉机与Harley Davidson摩托车合为一体的装置作品《哈克隆》。这次展览的作品也是艺术家对哪咤神话探索的延续。