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四年

夏星2009至2012

北京

2013年10月26日—2013年12月8日

Four YearsInstallation view

Four Years
Installation view

Four YearsInstallation view

Four Years
Installation view

Four YearsInstallation view

Four Years
Installation view

Four YearsInstallation view

Four Years
Installation view

Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening on October 26 of Four Years: Xia Xing 2009 to 2012. Since 2004 Xia Xing has systematically produced about sixty paintings a year, identical in format, based on photographs from the front page of Xin Jing Bao, the widely read newspaper which was established in 2003. For his first exhibition at the gallery, Xia Xing will present the entirety of his production between 2009 and 2012.

Among contemporary painters Xia Xing is notable for the programmatic nature of his approach, both in terms of choice of subject matter and style. The first decision was to deal with daily events in the political and social life of China through the pages of Xin Jing Bao. Every few days he selects an image that will become the subject matter of his painting, with the result that the relationship between the individual canvases is as unpredictable as the news itself. In effect he has no control over the thematic content of his paintings although particular situations might lead to a more sustained development of certain issues throughout the year.

Right at the beginning of his career, the second decision was to make each unit in the year’s production identical in size and horizontal format, and not to make any changes in the composition of the photographs he uses as source material except in so far as a vertical composition required minor adjustments. Although the content of the individual canvases ranges from tragic to humorous, the systematic presentation places the emphasis on the period of 365 days in which they all took place.

It is the paradoxical nature of Xia Xing’s achievement that makes him such a distinctive artist. Although he is a painter, the stylistic achievements of the great masters of the past are largely a matter of indifference. There is a strong conceptual underpinning to his practice, the decision to limit his painting activity to a certain number of identically sized canvases each year, but this is modified by the unpredictable nature of his subject matter. To the extent that his works frequently document events with major social and political ramifications, he would appear to be deeply engaged politically but the orderly presentation obscures this aspect to a considerable degree.

Visitors to the gallery will undoubtedly be familiar with many of the news events converted from newsprint to oil on canvas in Four Years: Xia Xing 2009 to 2012. It is Xia Xing’s great accomplishment to create a new context in which this awareness leads to a deeper understanding of historical processes and the passage of time.

北京前波画廊将于2013年10月26日起举办展览《四年:夏星2009至2012》。自2004年起,夏星便开始系统化地每年创作六十件绘画作品,每件作品尺寸相同,创作题材均来源于2003年创刊的《新京报》。艺术家在前波画廊的首次展览将展出他2009至2012年之间所创作的所有作品。


在当代艺术家中,夏星以其在主题上和风格上程序化的创作方式著称。首先他决定通过《新京报》刊登的新闻来反映中国政治和社会生活中所发生的大小事件。每过几天他就会选择一个图片作为其绘画作品的主题,于是画作之间的关系就如同新闻本身一样不可预测。事实上,他本人并不掌控每件作品的内容,而是通过六十张画布来全年跟踪某一特定主题。


在其艺术生涯初期,夏星做了第二个决定,那就是限定每年创作的作品量并且统一作品的尺寸。除非刊登在《新京报》上的原图是竖版的,否则他也不对构图做任何改动。虽然从悲伤的主题到幽默的题材,每件作品大相径庭,但系统化的展示将重点放在了发生这些事件的一年中的365天上。


夏星艺术创作中展现的矛盾性使他成为了一名独特的艺术家。作为一名画家,前辈艺术大师们在创作风格上所取得的成就对他来说却是无足轻重的。限定每年创作的作品量并且统一作品的尺寸,这样的决定本身就体现了一种强烈的观念性。与此同时,夏星广泛的兴趣使得此系列作品的主题森罗万象。他的作品中记录了许多重大的社会和政治事件,然而作品简洁有序的呈现方式却从某种程度上模糊了艺术家对时政和社会动态的关心和热忱。


无疑,前来画廊参观《四年:夏星2009至2012》的观者们,对这些油画作品中所反映的一些新闻事件非常熟悉。夏星的成就则在于,为更深层地理解历史的进程和时间的推移创建了一个新的平台。

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