PHOTOFAIRS SHANGHAI l EXPOSURE AWARD 2020

© Zou Jingyao, Visit The Web Celebrated Sites, Internet Celebrity Check-in 05, 2019, courtesy of L.A.P Gallery
© Zou Jingyao, Visit The Web Celebrated Sites, Internet Celebrity Check-in 05, 2019, courtesy of L.A.P Gallery


PHOTOFAIRS SHANGHAI l EXPOSURE AWARD 2020PHOTOFAIRS is delighted to announce an exhibition of works by US-based Chinese artist Guanyu Xu (Gaotai Gallery, Urumqi), this year’s recipient of the Exposure Award powered by MODERN EYE. Exhibited alongside it in the Modern Studio space is the work of runner-up Sameer Twade (UP Gallery, Taipei). A digital presentation by a selection of artists that submitted to this year's Exposure Award is available from 11 September via photofairs.org.


In support and acknowledgment of the challenges faced by the artistic community this year, the 2020 edition of the Award includes an extended presentation of artists coinciding with a weekend of photography exhibitions and events in Shanghai.


Launched in 2019 the Award provides a complementary exhibition platform to any gallery with a solo presentation of experimental work by an artist pushing the boundaries of photography. Titled Temporarily Censored Home Xu’s work features photographs of his parent’s home in Beijing covered in intricately layered photographic collages. Secretly installed and taken down each day while his parents were out of the house, these collages reflect parts of Xu’s identity unknown to his family and comprise family pictures, adverts and portraits of the artist with other gay men. Through these temporary installations, Xu reclaims the conservative home he grew up in as a queer space of rebellion and freedom.


Commenting on his work Guanyu Xu said: I WaS born and raised in a conservative family in Beijing, where expressions of overt non-heteronormative behavior was forbidden. My father iS a Military officer and my mother is a civil servant. Both of them still do not know I’m gay. Growing up in China with limited representation Of LGBTQ people, I turned my attention to Western fasciitis 0FId fashion [...] the juxt0pOSition of torn pages from film and fashion magazines that attracted me during my teenage years and Staged self-portraits with other gay men in the U.S creates a Self-reflective relationship between the image production of power and safety investigation of the intersectionality of race and Sexuality.

 

The judging panel for the Exposure Award 2020 includes: Cao Dan, President of MODERN ART and Publisher of The Art Newspaper China and LEAP; Sunyoung Kim, Curator of The Museum of Photography Seoul, South Korea; Gwen Lee, Co-founder, and Director, Singapore Photography Festival and Director, DECK, Singapore and; Lu Ni, Executive Director, Xie Zilong Photography Museum (XPM) and Secretary-General, Alliance of Chinese Photography Museums.

 

Discussing the work of Guanyu Xu the judging panel commented: "Every artist has a "point of origin" for their work, be it experiential, psychological, or even subconscious. It is impressive to discover how artists communicate these personal narratives with a creative visual language in unpredictable ways. In Guanyu Xu’s work a large number of images and physical spaces are juxtaposed, interspersed, and nested to form a series of sophisticated and complex installation of photographs that collapse the boundaries between time, space, and dimensions. His focus on the conflicts between individuals, family, and society raises questions not only around identity and gender but also about race and culture."


In the work of runner-up Sameer Twade, Dialogues of an Introvert, everyday objects, sculptures, and miniature sets are featured in a series of fantastical photography that visualizes the human psyche and look to draw attention to the separation and, at times, feelings of alienation between the self and the outside world.

 

Also displayed as part of this year’s Award exhibition is digital presentations by a selection of artists including Roland Biermann (Galerie Du Monde, Hong Kong) showcasing Apparition and snow+concrete, two bodies of work that encourages viewers to consider their own power in a world filled with uncertainty; Zheng Fang (Time Space Gallery, Beijing/Zhengzhou) with Fantasie Impromptu a series of surrealist black & white photographs in which the body language and contortions of a dancer act as expressions of the artist’s subconscious; Ma Hailun (Gaotai Gallery, Urumqi) presents Hometown a collection of colorful portraits of Urumqi and Uyghur neighbors and residents of her native Xinjiang region; Zou Jingyao (L.A.P Gallery, Wuhan) exhibits images from his series Visit The Web Celebrated Sites and QR Codes, a commentary on our consumer and social media-obsessed culture.

 

Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes (Unit 17, Vancouver) is represented with Open HeartS which explores different image-making processes within advertisements, social media, and entertainment as a way of noting the current state of image circulation; Zhang Yunfeng (West Gallery, Shanghai) presents Quarantine Period, a visual and written record of the artist’s time during lockdown; and Yichen Zhou (MiA Collective Art, New York/Beijing) showcases A Ciuidebook of Image Reading, an examination of our ability to read images autonomously in a time when we are constantly and undiscernible exposed to them.

The work of thèse artists is available to view photofairs.org from 11 September to 9 October 2020.

In May this year PHOTOFAIRS took the difficult decision to cancel PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai 2020 and instead, explore different forms of engagement that would better serve our community in the face of travel and large gatherings restrictions and ongoing concerns due to COVID-19.

Accompanying the Exposure Award 2020 exhibition and presentations are Shanghai Photography Weekend, a weekend of photography events and exhibitions across the city running from 11 13 September. A full program and list of events will be announced soon.


PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai will return in September 2021.


© Zhang Yunfeng, Face to face, 2020, Silver Halide photographic print, 7 inches, courtesy of West Gallery
© Zhang Yunfeng, Face to face, 2020, Silver Halide photographic print, 7 inches, courtesy of West Gallery
© Zhang Yunfeng, It’s East wind or west wind tonight?, 2020, Silver Halide photographic print on wooden board, 150x200x10 cm, courtesy of West Gallery
© Zhang Yunfeng, It’s East wind or west wind tonight?, 2020, Silver Halide photographic print on wooden board, 150x200x10 cm, courtesy of West Gallery
© Ma Hailun, Hometown, 2018, Inkjet Print, 59x50 cm / 100x83 cm, Edition: 4+6, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Ma Hailun, Hometown, 2018, Inkjet Print, 59x50 cm / 100x83 cm, Edition: 4+6, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Ma Hailun, Kazakh Bride, 2019, Inkjet Print, 59x50 cm / 100x83 cm, Edition: 6+1AP, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Ma Hailun, Kazakh Bride, 2019, Inkjet Print, 59x50 cm / 100x83 cm, Edition: 6+1AP, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, Aaron, 2019, Inkjet on Dibond plate, paint and pine, 18x12 inches, courtesy of Unit 17
© Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, Aaron, 2019, Inkjet on Dibond plate, paint and pine, 18x12 inches, courtesy of Unit 17
© Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, V5 Draft, 2019, Inkjet print and pine, 27x26 inches, courtesy of Unit 17
© Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes, V5 Draft, 2019, Inkjet print and pine, 27x26 inches, courtesy of Unit 17
© Roland Biermann, Apparition 12, 2000,7 Silver Gelatin Prints on Aluminum Dibond, 144 x 52 cm each (Polyptych), courtesy of Galerie du Monde
© Roland Biermann, Apparition 12, 2000,7 Silver Gelatin Prints on Aluminum Dibond, 144 x 52 cm each (Polyptych), courtesy of Galerie du Monde
© Roland Biermann, snow+concrete XIV, 2009/2012, 4 Black and White Photographs on Fused Glass, 50 x 50 cm each (Polyptych), Aluminum Channels and Wire Suspension, courtesy of Galerie du Monde
© Roland Biermann, snow+concrete XIV, 2009/2012, 4 Black and White Photographs on Fused Glass, 50 x 50 cm each (Polyptych), Aluminum Channels and Wire Suspension, courtesy of Galerie du Monde
© Sameer Tawde, Dialogues of an Introvert, Chapter One, 01, 2018, Pigment Inkjet Print, 30 × 40 in / 76.2 × 101.6 cm, courtesy of UP Gallery
© Sameer Tawde, Dialogues of an Introvert, Chapter One, 01, 2018, Pigment Inkjet Print, 30 × 40 in / 76.2 × 101.6 cm, courtesy of UP Gallery
© Sameer Tawde, Dialogues of an Introvert, Chapter Two, 15, 2018, Pigment Inkjet Print, 30 × 40 in / 76.2 × 101.6 cm, courtesy of UP Gallery
© Sameer Tawde, Dialogues of an Introvert, Chapter Two, 15, 2018, Pigment Inkjet Print, 30 × 40 in / 76.2 × 101.6 cm, courtesy of UP Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, Inside of My Drawer, 2019, Archival pigment print, 24 × 30 in, 61 × 76.2 cm, Edition of 5, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, Inside of My Drawer, 2019, Archival pigment print, 24 × 30 in, 61 × 76.2 cm, Edition of 5, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, Space of Mutation, 2018, Archival pigment print, 40 x 50 in, 102 x 127 cm, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, Space of Mutation, 2018, Archival pigment print, 40 x 50 in, 102 x 127 cm, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, The Dining Room, 2019, Archival pigment print, 40 x 50 in, 102 x 127 cm, Edition of 5, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Xu Guanyu, The Dining Room, 2019, Archival pigment print, 40 x 50 in, 102 x 127 cm, Edition of 5, courtesy of Gaotai Gallery
© Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Eighth, 2019, Offset lithography, LED light tube, 200 cm x 200cm, courtesy of MiA Collective Art
© Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Eighth, 2019, Offset lithography, LED light tube, 200 cm x 200cm, courtesy of MiA Collective Art
© Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Three, 2019, Digital C-Print mounted on aluminum plate, Red String, 25cm x 50cm (each), courtesy of MiA Collective Art   © Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Seven, 2019, Rug, 60cm x 60cm, courtesy of MiA Collective Art
© Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Three, 2019, Digital C-Print mounted on aluminum plate, Red String, 25cm x 50cm (each), courtesy of MiA Collective Art 

© Yichen Zhou, A Guidebook of Image Reading, Page Seven, 2019, Rug, 60cm x 60cm, courtesy of MiA Collective Art
© Zheng Fang, Fantasie Impromptu 14, 2019, Edition of 12, 170x100cm, Print on Ilford Prestige Washi Torinoko, courtesy Time Space Gallery
© Zheng Fang, Fantasie Impromptu 14, 2019, Edition of 12, 170x100cm, Print on Ilford Prestige Washi Torinoko, courtesy Time Space Gallery
© Zheng Fang, Fantasie Impromptu 18, 2019, Edition of 12, 146x100cm, Print on Ilford Prestige Washi Torinoko, courtesy Time Space Gallery
© Zheng Fang, Fantasie Impromptu 18, 2019, Edition of 12, 146x100cm, Print on Ilford Prestige Washi Torinoko, courtesy Time Space Gallery
© Zou Jingyao, QR Code, Qingdao Vientiane City, 2016, courtesy of L.A.P Gallery
© Zou Jingyao, QR Code, Qingdao Vientiane City, 2016, courtesy of L.A.P Gallery

Post a Comment

0 Comments