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Meng Jin’s latest work “Anonymous Architecture” is a series of six paintings of acrylic on canvas. This series centers on the notion of “editing” architecture and it also re-contextualizes “found” architectural objects or spaces. A series of simple, lined images, such as columns or an abandoned stage, place abstract elements into a spatial context: peripheral elements become the means by which space is articulated. The minimal colour palette creates a beautiful, poetic effect. The artist’s paintings float between abstract architectural drafts and surreal dreams. |
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Been There, Done That – Pauline Doutreluingne
Meng Jin’s latest work “Anonymous Architecture” is a series of six paintings of acrylic on canvas. This series centers on the notion of “editing” architecture and it also re-contextualizes “found” architectural objects or spaces. A series of simple, lined images, such as columns or an abandoned stage, place abstract elements into a spatial context: peripheral elements become the means by which space is articulated. The minimal colour palette creates a beautiful, poetic effect. The artist’s paintings float between abstract architectural drafts and surreal dreams.
The work presents incomplete spatial observations that need to be completed by the viewers. In this exhibition, we took this idea even further by making the paintings interactive. The viewer can actually draw on the paintings with chalk and then sweep it off again. This aspect doesn’t devalue the work of the artist but instead invites the visitors to interact with it. This aspect makes the paintings more alive.
The exhibition also comprises two earlier works of Meng Jin: Corner Rooms and a video piece entitled Hongyanercun. Besides the simple, line paintings in two-dimensional situations, Corner Rooms is also an attempt to transfer the notion of the “editing” of architectural space into three dimensions. The constructed box makes certain elements of a residential building such as corners of rooms, including door holes from a four-store apartment where Meng Jin used to live, abstract. It turns them into objects that could not be categorized as either an architectural model or a sculpture, but that stand out as kinds of scaled propositions. The box plays around with notions of positive and negative, solid and void.
This video work was shot in a courtyard in the city of Chongqing called Hongyan Er Cun. It is a courtyard within a factory’s common dormitory and has a name that is typical for this kind of industrial district in the city. The artist filmed a three-minute shot without cutting in an attempt to capture all the natural activities happening in that courtyard. The daily life from these three minutes, as captured on film, became a stage-like performance. Suddenly during this shot however, the viewer hears the sound of something hovering: a cold, mechanical noise that triggers a reaction from the people both inside and outside of the camera’s frame. The interaction between this sound and the people brings up, once again, notions of editing and observing and of reality and drama. Even claustrophobia and agoraphobia become intrinsic responses to this scene.
In the series “I Am Never Alone,” female artist Fang Er explores abandoned spaces through her subtle photography and deals with the memory of these architectural spaces in the process. She creates strong colour combinations and plays with the effects of natural light, ultimately giving life to these neglected spaces. The artist focuses on the objects and furniture left by the former inhabitants and touches on their unfinished stories. Places that have lost their vitality can be found in a state of in-between. What will happen? What happened to the workers who used to live there?
Meng Jin is originally from Chongqing, Sichuan Province, and Fang Er is Taiwanese in origin. They both completed their MAs in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. London is also the city where the two met and, after graduation, they decided to move, together, to Beijing and to open up a design studio called Fake Design. After moving to Beijing, Fang, who’s given name is Fang Yu, changed this to Fang Er. For her, this name seemed better for living in the tough, mega-city of Beijing.
Both of these young, promising artists observe, in this series of their works, the impressive architectural transitions and movements of the cities in which they dwell. Not only do they observe, but they also attempt to create a new artistic vision out of their impressions. Through their artistic language, which ranges from painting, photography and installation to animation and video art, the artists absorb, make abstract, recreate, re-edit and re-think their surroundings. In this way, you could describe the efforts here as based around the famous words of the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard: “A poetics of space.”
This exhibition is on display at the new 798 project space of Platform China Contemporary Art Institute. This new project space is a space for artistic experimentation. Next to more experimental solo shows of promising Chinese artists and international artists of the BIAP residency program, it will regularly host artist talks, workshops and other art-related projects.
