Seven years after the opening of Chambers Fine Art in New York in 2000, Christophe W. Mao is pleased to announce the opening of Chambers Fine Art in Beijing on September 20th. Opening at a time when the interest in contemporary Chinese was becoming an international phenomenon, Chambers Fine Art became one of the primary showcases for the work of a wide range of Chinese artists in the United States. As the art world has become increasingly globalized in the last seven years, the significance of Beijing as a cultural and artistic center has grown enormously, leading to the decision to open a gallery there.
The striking new gallery, designed by Ai Weiwei is located in the Cao Changdi district, a choice location which is rapidly becoming one of the major centers for contemporary art in Beijing. The first exhibition to be held in the new space, Net: Reimagining Space, Time and Culture is organized by Wu Hung, who has served as chief curator for many of the biennials held in China and South Korea including the Shanghai Biennale (2000) and the Gwangju Biennial (2006) and influential exhibitions held in the United States and Great Britain (Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video in China, 2004).
Wu Hung’s first association with Chambers Fine Art began in 2000 with First Encounter: Lu Shengzhong. For the current exhibition which brings together specially commissioned works by seventeen artists associated with Chambers Fine Art, Wu Hung has investigated the concept of a “net” which “transcends any given time of space, history and region, specificity and abstraction. At the same time it also inhabits any given time and space, history and region, specificity and abstraction.” The meanings of the word range from the simple fishing net to Laozi’s use of the word as a political metaphor, and continue into the present day with the omnipresence of the internet. As Wu Hung points out: “To modern and contemporary artists, the “net” has become a favorite subject of their work, mainly because this image allows them to explore the connectivity and fluidity between the phenomenal world and the conceptual world… Because of the complexity of this concept, the show is expected to address many issues, from history and culture to its status as a fundamental image.”
Included in the exhibition are works by Ai Weiwei, He Yunchang, Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Lu Shengzhong, Qiu Zhujie, Rong Rong, Shi Jinsong, Song Dong, Wang Jianwei, Wang Tiande, Wu Jian’an, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong, Zhan Wang, Zhang Peili, Zheng Guogu. Representing several generations, the selected are notably diverse stylistically and in the nature of their relationship to the overpowering presence of the culture of classical China. Their attitude to the massive transformation of Chinese society in the last two decades, unparalleled in history, also ranges from outright rejection to enthusiastic acceptance.
In the various phases of his development, Ai Weiwei has attempted to emulate the achievements of classical art, on occasion to rescue it and to demolish it altogether. Wang Tiande, Qiu Zhijie and Zheng Guogu have turned to calligraphy to examine how it might become something other than an antiquarian pursuit. Lu Shengzhong and Wu Jian’an have delved deeply into the traditional world of Chinese paper-cut and have turned away from the face of contemporary China. For Zhang Peili in his photographic works, and for the searching Realist paintings of Yu Hong, on the other hand, it is life as it is lived today that is of primary importance. Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen have used video, performance and installation in their investigation of personal and social issues. Rong Rong, Hong Hao and Hong Lei have used the contemporary medium of photography as a means of creating haunting pictorial illusions while Wang Jianwei and Zhang Peili have made major contributions in the field of video. The disturbing performances of He Yunchang, one of which will take place during the opening, in which he frequently puts himself in situations of extreme discomfort or even danger, contrast with the steely perfection of the sculpture of Shi Jinsong in which the element of risk is an essential part of its appeal.
Christophe W. Mao has remarked: “It has been a rewarding experience for me over the past seven years to work with this group of artists, all great individualists unmoved by trends and what is currently in vogue. Finally - and thanks to Wu Hung - I will be able to see what it is that attracted me to them in the first place. Installed in the new gallery their works will speak to each other and I will be able to see not only what unites artists with similar interests but also artists at the other end of the artistic spectrum from each other. Is there any connection between the performances of He Yunchang and the sculptures of Shi Jinsong and Zhan Wang. Or between the paper- cuts of Lu Shengzhong and the paintings of Yu Hong. The “net” that Wu Hung described will occupy real space from September 20.”
A catalog on the exhibition will be available
前波画廊于2000年在纽约成立。七年之后，茅为清（Christophe W. Mao）十分荣幸地宣布，北京前波画廊将于2007年9月20日开幕。前波画廊开办之初，正值国际对当代中国日益关注的时候，而前波画廊也逐渐成为在美国展示众多中国艺术家作品的主要展览空间。过去七年来，随着艺术界的日益国际化，北京作为文化和艺术中心的重要地位也不断提高。这些因素都促使我们决定在北京再设置一个展览空间。
由艾未未设计的新画廊，坐落在北京草场地艺术区，而该地区正迅速成为北京当代艺术的主要中心。新空间的首展题为《网：再现空间、时间与文化》，由国际主要策展人巫鸿教授策划。巫鸿曾策展过2000年上海双年展、2006年光州双年展，以及在美国和英国举办的深具影响力的其他展览（如《过去与未来之间：中国的新摄影与录像》，2004年）。
巫鸿与前波画廊的合作，始于2000年的《初次见面：吕胜中》。而此次展览汇集了与前波画廊合作的十七位艺术家为“网”的主体专门提交的作品。巫鸿解释“网”的概念为：“超越任何假定时间和空间、历史与地域、具体与抽象。同时，它又寓于任何假定时间和空间、历史与地域、具体与抽象”之中。这个字的含义从单纯的渔网，到老子的政治隐喻，直到今天，又可演绎成无所不在的互联网络。正如巫鸿所指出的：“对于现代和当代的艺术家而言，在他们的作品中，‘网’已经成为一个倍受喜爱的对象，主要是因为这一象征能够使他们探索现象界和观念界之间的联系与变动。……由于这一概念的复杂性，本次展览可望提出许多问题，从历史与文化，到它作为一种基本象征的现状”。
本次展览将展出艾未未、何云昌、洪浩、洪磊、吕胜中、邱志杰、荣荣、史金淞、宋冬、汪建伟、王天德、邬建安、尹秀珍、喻红、展望、张培力和郑国谷十七位艺术家的作品。他们代表了不同的几代人，所展出的作品风格迥异，各自同具有强大力量的中国古典文化之间的关系也不尽相同。他们对过去二十年来中国社会史无前例的大规模变革所抱的态度，也从彻底拒绝到热情接纳。
在艾未未个人发展的阶段中，他一直试图仿效古典艺术的成就，时而抢救，时而彻底摧毁。王天德、邱志杰和郑国谷则转向书法，审视它何以成为好古者追求之外的某种事物。吕胜中和邬建安则深入研究了中国传统剪纸，逐渐偏离了当代中国的外表。而另一方面，张培力的摄影作品以及喻红具有敏锐洞悉力的现实主义绘画作品，所深入考察的是今天所拥有的生活的重要意义。宋冬和尹秀珍在他们对个人和社会问题的探讨过程中，采用了录像、行为和装置的形式。荣荣和洪磊则采用了摄影这一当代媒介，使之成为创作令人难以忘怀的、形象化幻像的手段。汪建伟和张培力则在录像领域里做出了重要贡献。
茅为清表示：“对我来说，过去七年来与这样一群艺术家的合作，实在是一段有益的经历。他们都是不为当下的时尚所动的个人主义者。感谢巫鸿教授，我终于将能够再次看到最初将我吸引到这些艺术家中来的东西。将他们的作品安放在新的画廊空间，作品将会彼此对话。而我不仅能看到相似的旨趣怎样将这些艺术家联合在一起，而且也能同时看到处在艺术谱系两端的艺术家的作品。何云昌的行为艺术与史金淞和展望的雕塑作品之间有任何联系吗？或者，吕胜中的剪纸艺术与喻红的绘画有何关联？从9月20日开始，巫鸿先生所描述的‘网’将在前波画廊占据一个真实的空间”。