Asia Society Museum Presents Wang Gongxin’s My Sun
On view June 6 through August 5, 2012
Contact: Preeti Bhuyan 212.327.9271, [email protected]
Wang GongXin (born 1960, China) is credited as one of the first artists to have created a site-specific video installation in China in the mid-1990s. His video works typically deal with social and cultural clichés and misconceptions, often with a hint of humor. This exhibition features My Sun, his panoramic three channel video installation created in 2000, which focuses on the complex legacy of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution.
The video features an elderly peasant woman who first appears in the middle of a barren landscape. As she struggles to cultivate the field, a shining light emerges from the horizon. As she looks toward the light, her image multiplies to cover the landscape. The light gradually diminishes and eventually extinguishes itself in the palms of her hands. The image of the rising sun is a direct reference to Mao Zedong and was frequently used in Communist propaganda materials. The rural imagery evokes the memory of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), when spending time laboring in the countryside with peasants was required of all educated Chinese youths in the late 1960s.
Although this video is visually beautiful, it is filled with an atmosphere of melancholy. Wang GongXin often speaks with concern about the memory of China’s turbulent past fading from the minds of its younger generation. My Sun reflects on China’s recent history, exploring a time when Maoism and Communism offered hope to the Chinese people and questioning the changes brought about by the Communist regime.
Wang GongXin is based in Beijing, China. His work often addresses intersections between Chinese and Western culture. He and his wife, artist Lin Tianmiao, were educated at China’s Normal University in Beijing (Asia Society Museum will host a major show of Lin’s works September 7, 2012 through January 20, 2013). Beginning in the late 1980s, they spent 8 formative years in New York, where they were part of a community of Chinese artists and intellectuals such as Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing, filmmaker Chen Kaige and composer Tan Dun.
Support for this exhibition provided by Asia Society’s Contemporary Art Council and the Sheryl and Charles R. Kaye Endowment for Contemporary Art Exhibitions.
Image, above: Wang GongXin, My Sun, 2000. Three channel video installation, sound. 7 minutes, 25 seconds.
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