Jason Farago, 'Day After Day; RongRong and the Beijing East Village.' New York Times, Aug 16, 2018 (in the column "Galleries" of the section "WeekendArts II").
("once every few decades a young, mutinous generation collides with the rogue wave of history, and changes everything. * * * it happened in Beijing 26 years ago when a circle of underfed bohemians, including 張洹, AI Weiwei and MA Liuming 马六明, fought censors and developers to forge contemporary Chinese art. A 25-year-old photographer named RongRong 荣荣 was among them, and 40-odd black-and-white prints here document the low-rent fecundity of Beijing's East Village 北京东村, named in tribute to New York's own beggared art quarter. RongRong witnessed Mr Zhang's fabled, revolting performance '12 Square Meters 12平方米, for which the artist slathered his naked body in honey and fish sauce, then let flies gorge on his flesh in a noxious public latrine. He photographed Mr Zhang's nude body and shaved head, gleaming with sweat, angst and total dedication -- and then wrote to his sister, 'It felt like the end of life.' The police shut down Beijing East Village in 1994. The next quarter-century would witness the flourishing of Chinese contemporary art * * * If you know your Chinese art history, RongRong's photographs captured myths as foundational as Pollock dripping paint in front of Hans Namuth's lens. * * * ")
Note:
(a)
(i) The title of the review is also the title of the exhibition ("6/13/2019 - 10/12/2019") at The Walther Collection whose address is 526 West 26th Street, Suite 718, Manhattan.
https://www.walthercollection.co ... eijing-east-village
(ii) Artur Walther
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Walther
(born in 1948 in Germany, section 2 The Walther Collection).
(b) "Pollock dripping paint in front of Hans Namuth's lens"
Jackson Pollock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock
(1912 – 1956; American painter; caption to photo 1)
(c) There is no need to read the rest of a very brief review. |