ARARIO GALLERY

A Solo Exhibition by Gao Lei-Projections 投射 at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL cheongdam


Arario Gallery Seoul Cheongdam is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the leading Chinese contemporary artist Gao Lei (b. 1980), opening on July 12th, 2012. Gao Lei endlessly explores into worlds of binary elements such as core essence and appearance, fantasy and reality, and individual and authority, creating novel spaces through juxtaposing and deanthropomorphizing. Presenting a total of 22 works including large installation works measuring over 3 meters and paintings and photography, this is Gao Lei’s first solo exhibition in Korea.



J-712_2012_Iron metal frame, acrylic box, 2 water gun head, two plastic pipes, cast iron sluice model_175x50x100cm


Born in 1980s, Gao Lei is of The Post-80s generation in China, whose members were born after the implementation of 1 child policy in 1980s. Unlike their parents’ generation, The Post-80s generation were born under the market economy system, and brought up receiving the materialistic abundance and advantages of economic growth. Therefore, they are characterized as being individualistic, cost-driven, open-minded and reasonable. In general, Chinese contemporary art had the tendency to be large in scale, present bold colors and forms, and address political motifs. However, the art of The Post-80s generation casts a stark contrast with that of previous generations. Artists of The Post-80s use a much wider range of material, liberally working with installation art, media and painting in interdisciplinary style. Furthermore, they aren’t hesitant to demonstrate works that are much more diverse, abstract, dreamy or personal, and to draw connections to Western culture and politics.



A-9_2012_mixed media_250x120x240cm

Among the artists from The Post-80s generation, Gao Lei is acclaimed for his highly philosophical and intense way of thinking which is reflected in his innovative works that transcend the limits of medium and genre. He crosses over the worlds of fantasy and reality with ease, by juxtaposing sculpture or installation in real space with its depiction in drawing or painting.
Work-in-progress since 2005, the photography series Scene and Building freely traverse between things that are virtual and things that exist in reality. The viewer stands in front of a square box with a hole in it, through which they view a photograph installed in the box. The photograph portrays bizarre situations that take place in a ruined room. An astronaut-like figure seems to have collapsed on the ground, or two large giraffes are striding in the room. The fantasy world the artist presents arouses a bizarre feeling and beckons the viewer into such space. However, the room in the photograph is an actual space in a building in China, which the artist himself has photographed. The photograph is revised and recreated into a space of virtual reality by the artist, creating the illusion as if it were a virtual world rather than actual world.


Scene No.7 _ 2008 _ photography _ 30x30x45cm

The recent works created in 2012 that are on display at Arario Gallery Seoul Cheongdam are much more exquisite, and higher quality in form and scale compared to the artist’s previous works. Dealing with the subject of human life and death and the Buddhist idea of the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the recent body of work adopts a much more frank tone in its exploration of the relationship between individual and society.



T-3217_ 2012 _ Iron rack, 8 chains, 2 copper model, 2 aluminum model _ 120x340x230cm


T-3217_2012_c-print on paper_40x60cm


T-3217 is an installation work featuring 4 swings suspended from an iron rack. Each of the swings takes the form of a female pelvis. Behind the swings are photographs of the head of a fetus with the same pelvis on its head. Since long time ago, swings have symbolized the desire for prosperity of descendents, and the female pelvis symbolizes the channel which gives life to a form. Through heredity and evolution, the human kind has strove to eliminate weak characteristics so that they are not passed down to next generations. Increased practice of caesarean section has contributed to the fact that pelvis has remained small, which has made natural birth more and more difficult. Thus risks in giving birth have increased, leading to the death of pregnant women in severe cases. Gao Lei states that this work confronts the circulating process of contradiction in which the human convenience of choosing something artificial rather than natural has given birth to dangers that have not existed in the past.


F-09151_ 2012_A rubber cushion and a gas mask, a hawk model _ 130x190x55cm


Meanwhile, F-09151 presents a rubber cushion with a gas mask, and a hawk model which seems to peck at its food on the ground. This work references the custom of ‘sky burial’ which is often used by the Buddhists in Tibet and Mongolia. Based on the Buddhist faith in reincarnation, sky burial involves cutting up and leaving human corpse in a certain place for it to be eaten by birds and be reincarnated through them. In F-09151, the cushion that’s filed with air symbolizes life, and the pecking hawk builds the tension, leaving the cushion ready to burst with pecking. By putting an iron cage around the hawk and the cushion, the artist provides a sense of safety for the viewer, from the volatile situation in which life and death can reverse at any moment.

Gao Lei leads his viewers to expanded awareness by creating new virtual reality based on social cultural situations of today. By introducing works by a young artist at the forefront of Chinese contemporary art scene, the intention of this exhibition is to present a refreshingly original form of Chinese contemporary art and its new direction.

About Artist
Gao Lei was born in Changsha, Hunan Province in China in 1980. He graduated from Digital Media Art in China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2006. Gao Lei has participated in numerous group exhibitions in world-renowned museums and galleries including Museum Jean Tinguely Bassel and Ludwig Museum. Gao Lei had solo exhibitions at Aya Gallery in Beijing in 2008, White Space in Beijing in 2011. This solo exhibition at Arario Gallery Seoul Cheongdam is Gao Lei’s 3rd solo exhibition.

A Solo Exhibition by Cheng Ran-沉默影院 The Cinema of Silence at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL samcheong

Arario Gallery Seoul Samcheong is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Cheng Ran (b.1981) from July 10th to August 12th, 2012. This exhibition features 6 new video and photography works by the young Chinese artist, who was born in Mongolia and currently lives and works in Hangzhou, China.


Installation view at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL samcheong

Media art is in the spotlight in the art scene in China. Observing the rapidly changing society since China’s economic reform and opening up, Chinese artists are embracing new media as an artistic tool that casts and honest reflection on the realities of China. In such turning point in Chinese contemporary art, Cheng Ran is celebrated for his media art works that observe the everydayness of Chinese society as well as capture beautiful images combined with films. Cheng Ran has persistently exhibited his work at Arario Gallery through the group exhibition Daybreak at Arario Gallery Cheonan and Memento Mori in Arario Gallery Beijing in 2011. Displaying Cheng’s new works and photographs from 2012, The Cinema of Silence is Cheng’s first solo exhibition in Korea.
Mainly producing new media works, Cheng’s oeuvre mostly consists of video and film, as well as photography and installation works. Cheng’s video works are praised for its eclectic form in which films are integrated into the poetic culture of contemporary age. His works convey a young perspective on the unsolvable issues in life, such as problems regarding identity, and life and death, and the anguish felt by young Chinese people living through the globalized Chinese culture and cultural policy. Cheng applies basic cinematic techniques to his work like cutting, rearranging and montage, but his works do not have a coherent narrative like in films. Cheng also applies classic films that inspired him, or symbolic elements of contemporary re-make of the classic films. In addition, the artist also often balances contradictory ideas or points of view in different films to create a new film. Cheng creates his own filmic language through various expressions, such as introducing rock n’ roll or electronic music to complement the aesthetic qualities of Chinese ink paintings.



Untitled_2012_Photography_120x225.7cm


In Cheng’s recent work Ghost (Hamlet) produced in 2012, three single-channel videos are projected at the same time. In each of the three videos that are 22 minutes long, a man and a woman start dancing in a space with a chandelier and a table. Dressed in modern Western attire, they respond to each other in body language by dancing passionately or slowly. Completely removed of all other sounds, the spaces in the video are filled with sounds created through the dancing bodies alone. After repeating gestures that tangle with each other or displaying improvised expressions, the dancers jump in the water either voluntarily or involuntarily. The space in the water is staged in the same setting as the space out of the water, and the dancers continue on with their gestures in the water.


Untitled_2012_Photography_70x125cm


About Artist
Born in Mongolia in 1981, Cheng Ran majored in Painting in China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Kicking off his art practice in 2003, Cheng has worked in an artist theater as an actor as well as working as a director for video works. Cheng freely crosses over boundaries of different genres from painting to performing arts and video production, and such interdisciplinary nature has become a catalyst in his art practice.
Cheng has held numerous solo exhibitions, including at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2009 and in Galerie Urs Meile and Leo Xu Projects in Beijing in 2011. He has also participated in many group exhibitions in galleries and institutions in China and abroad, including James Cohan Gallery and Meulensteen Gallery in U.S. in 2011. In 2011, Cheng won the Bes Video Artist Award held by online art magazine Randian.


Untitled_2012_Photography_100x178cm

A Solo Exhibition by RANBIR KALEKA at ARARIOGALLERY CHEONAN


Arario Gallery Cheonan is pleased to present a large-scale solo exhibition by the Indian artist Ranbir Kaleka (b. 1953) from July 3rd to August 19th 2012. With over 30 years of media art practice, Kaleka is a representative artist of the Indian contemporary art world. Combining painting and video, his works have been exhibited in the last 10 years in museums and galleries in major cities such as Venice, Berlin, Vienna, New York and Sydney. As his first solo exhibition in Korea, this exhibition explores the unique art world of Ranbir Kaleka.



CHIMERIC ENRAPTURE_2011_oil & acrylic on canvas with video projection_single channel HD video, color, sound_2min 5sec looped_81 x 145cm




Kaleka’s media works project video on large paintings. Paintings have physical attributes like weight and texture, and accumulation in layers of color pigment on paintings increases the darkness of color. On the other hand, video—which has a spatial element as a continuation of an image made of light—has the complete opposite characteristics of being intangible, fleeting, and becoming lighter with more layers of light. By mixing the two contradictory mediums, the artist amplifies the inherent nature of each medium, at times layering or overlapping them, and re-creating a completely new image. Moreover, by overlaying two different notions of time—the still time in painting and time of continuity in video—the artist creates a surreal and dream-like space-time. The essential focus in Kaleka’s work is not only his unique methodology in working with video, but the narrative itself in the video work. The narratives usually focus on issues that often arise throughout India, where the artist grew up, such as the daily life of Indians, or migrant workers and their missing children. Kaleka’s works of magical realism crosses over contrasting worlds, such as the locality of India vs. globalism, nature vs. man-made, and reality based on the artist’s personal experiences vs. symbolic illusions


SWEET UNEASE_2011_single channel HD video projection on painted canvas mounted on fractured wall 11'11 min loop_294x53.5cm


The work which most clearly demonstrates the unique traits of Kaleka’s oeuvre is Not From Here (2009), a six-minute video projection on painting which deals with the issue of over a hundred million migrant workers in India. The people that appear in the work are laborers that wander around the city, with barely noticeable presence or record of existence. They walk out of their own bodies in the painting, vanishing after having left only just their physical trace. Their body is expressed in a silhouette but their luggage on the ground is depicted in detail. In contrast to the faint impressions of the people, these objects of surrealistic presence arouse an unfamiliar feeling. When the video is almost over, whistling sound forecasts their re-appearance. Following the whistling, trains of the future and the past carrying new passengers come in like a fantasy.



Not From Here_2009_4channel HD video, 4canvas, 4projector, 6 min looped with sound_1371.6x243.8cm(each 343x243.8cm, 4canvas)


Kaleka’s recent work Forest (2009-2012) reflects the artist’s meditation on ‘regeneration’ in the midst of a period of confusion and troubles. Black burnt-down ground is exposed beneath the flowers on the field, on which a man is whipping himself in atonement for his sins. When the man gets up and walks away, he turns into an animation character. Although the detailed rendering of the trees on the field seems to juxtapose with the man and others who are moving about busily across the forest, they soon overlap on top of the tree and express one image. A desk emerges on the field, symbolizing knowledge, and the lion sitting in front of the desk symbolizes the patron saint of knowledge. However, when confusion and troubles roll in, the library is set on fire and the lion is forced to leave by the power of destruction. The man saves the books from the library up in flames, and studies them. As knowledge is built up, a new city is generated in the same spot, and a baby lion walks into the new city.


FOREST_2012_video projection on a painting_16 min loop with sound_ 340x600cm


Ranbir Kaleka has chosen the Academy Award winning composer Elliot Goldethal to create the music for his video. Famous for his often intense experimentation, intelligent nuances and unconventional techniques and processes, Goldenthal is considered "way ahead" of his contempories. His ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original inventive ways makes him perfect for this particular project. Even while studying at the Manhatten School of Music in the 70s, Goldenthal has been already experimenting with unusual musical ways, preparing him for the much acclaimed success he would later receive. Elliot Goldenthal has won numerous awards including an Oscar for Frida, a Golden Globe and three Grammys.

Kaleka’s work invites the audience to the third space-time he has created, as the audience immerses in a flood of broadened aural visual experience and emotions. Furthermore, Kaleka’s work provides the opportunity for the viewer to meditate upon the artist’s outlook on the problems in India society, and goes on further to initiate a deeper contemplation on our own life.


18 ALLEGORIES OF SELF_2011_video projection on canvas_ 81x145cm


About the Artist
Ranbir Kaleka was born in Punjab in 1953. He studied at The College of Art, Punjab University, and at Royal College of Art in London. Following his first solo exhibition at Art Today Gallery in New Delhi in 1995, Kaleka has held numerous solo exhibitions including in Bose Pacia Gallery in New York in 2005 and in Spertus Museum in Chicago and Volte Gallery in Mumbai in 2007. Kaleka has also participated in many group exhibitions, including Urban Manners at Hangar Bicocca in Milan and HORN PLEASE: The Narrative in Contemporary Indian Art in Berlin Art Museum in 2007, Art Video Lounge in Art Basel Miami Beach and Hungry God: Indian Contemporary Art in Museum of Modern Art in Busan in 2006, iCon: Contemporary Indian Art in Venice Biennale and Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India in New York Asia Society in 2005, and Culturgest-Lisbon and Zoom! Art in Contemporary India in Lisbon in 2004. Kaleka currently lives and works in New Delhi.

All Imagecourtesy of the Arario Gallery
In collaboration with Volte Gallery