Opening Reception 開幕酒會
5 Sep 2020, Saturday 星期六，4 – 6:30 pm
Blindspot Gallery is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Jiang Zhi: Can I Become Better?. The exhibition features newly made figurative portraits executed in 2019 and 2020, a time of social upheaval and global pandemic, a moment when the anthropocentric world is under threat, when systems of health, economy, and mutual trust are in serious collapse.
During this time, the artist made an important pivot from the depiction of objects and nature to the manifestation of human beings and their inner condition. This ensemble includes works selected from multiple series, such as Youth, Mr. Beard, Human Body, and Seven Blind People. The exhibition title “Can I become better?” comes from the artist’s self-reflection and personal response to the question “Can the world become better?”.
Despite a certain pessimism from apathy and worry, the artist expresses his passion and optimism based on personal belief and human reality.
About Jiang Zhi (b. 1971, Hunan, China)
Jiang Zhi works with a wide range of media, including photography, painting, video, and installation. Fiction and poetry have also been an important part of his artistic output. Consistently engaging with contemporary social and cultural issues, Jiang consciously positions himself at the intersection of poetics and sociology, while weaving mundane social and personal experiences into his works.
Jiang Zhi has had two major solo retrospectives at OCAT Shenzhen (2016) and Times Museum in Guangzhou (2012). His work was also shown in international institutions and biennials, including “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” (Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, 2017); “Canton Express: Art of the Pearl River Delta” (M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2017); the 9th Shanghai Biennale (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2012); the 4th Guangzhou Triennial (Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China, 2012); “Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China” (ICP and Asia Society, New York, USA, 2004); “Zone of Urgency”, the 50th Biennale di Venezia (Venice, Italy, 2003); and “P_A_U_S_E” , the 4th Gwangju Biennale (Gwangju, South Korea, 2002).
Jiang was awarded the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000; the Academic Award of Reshaping History (China art from 2000 to 2009) in 2010; and the Credit Suisse Today Art Award in 2012. Jiang currently lives and works in Beijing, China.
