Omnipresence
Artist: Zhu Changquan
Duration: November 6–December 31, 2021
Vernissage: November 6, 17:00-19:00, 2021
Venue: Vanguard Gallery, Rm 204, Bldg. 4A, 50 Moganshan Rd, Shanghai
Tel: +86 21 62993523
Vanguard Gallery is pleased to present “Omnipresence” by Zhu Changquan, the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. From November 6 through December 31, a series of multimedia works will be on view at Vanguard Gallery to outline the artist’s ongoing research on cognitive behavior and exploration for multifaceted and alternative narrative approaches.
In the exhibition, Zhu Changquan delves into “All-factors Image Narratives”, the core notion of his art which attempts to place equal importance on all factors interfering the progress of events and matters. In his conception, trivial details normally disregarded gain vital importance in decoding the subject, while the acquisition and recognition of such details lie in accordance with the viewer’s own experience, leading to distinct and individualized cognitive outcomes produced at the viewer’s “receiving end”.
The exhibition derives from the video work Dark, Beyond Deep (2019-20), with its artistic concept extending into I’m Disguised, Right in front of You (2021) and onsite sculptures. The video contains a computer-generated garden, a test site for cognitive formation, in which symbolic and allegorical items such as apple, snake, raven, or monkey take the role of “guides” or points of reference. These items lead the viewers to explore the garden so as to formulate their individual cognitions through diverse dimensions and perspectives endowed by the guides’ narration, action or shifting angles. Throughout the exhibition, the videos and sculptures become carriers of the variable, pivotal code embedded by the artist, taking form of symbols, stories, imagery, Morse code, and music sheet. The viewer’s perception and interpretation of the variable would inform the topology of the entire garden. The collective of Zhu’s works tends to dissolve the time-based linear narrative, with the contextualization of components and individual elements serving as potential entrances to the cognitive realm.
Apart from the 3D-rendered moving images, the components with physical presence constitute a new phase of Zhu Changquan’s “All-factors Image Narratives”. The cast metal plates and sculptures reflect the iconography manifested in the videos, while materializing and anchoring the corresponding concept into the physical realm. The artist further employs the notion of nails and the action of the explosive as a gesture to hack into our reality.
The idea of omnipresence sums up the artist’s philosophy and provides all-access into the constellation of his works. Zhu Changquan constantly seeks to disrupt the existing and rigid system of cognition, while attempting to negotiate and establish an alternative system that is diffused and tangled. Is it left to the viewer to decide which system contains more truth to our world?
Selected Works
Dark, Beyond Deep | Dual screen video | 1920x1080px2 | 17’40’’ | Ed. 5+2 AP | 2019-2020
Canon | Digital simulation, UV print | 86 × 60 cm | Ed. 3+1 AP | 2021
I’m Disguised, Right in front of You | Video, dual channel | 3840x2160p HD | 10’ |2020
I’m the visitor | Sculpture, Tin-bismuth alloy | Dimension Varies, 5 pieces | 2021
Installation View
