SIYUAN TAN: FACE OFF

谈思远：单挑

May 25–June 23, 2019 | 2019年5月25日—6月23日

Artist’s Talk | 艺术家对话: May 25, 2019, 4–5 pm

Curator | 策展人: Wang Yangxingyue 王洋星月

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Artist

WangYangxingyue.jpg

Wang Yangxingyue
王洋星月

 

NEW YORK – Fou Gallery is pleased to announce Siyuan Tan’s solo exhibition Face Off from May 25th to June 23rd, 2019. An artist’s talk and opening reception will be held on May 25th, from 4–8 pm. Siyuan Tan’s work focuses on the confrontation between virtual and physical spaces. His work takes a post-internet approach by employing tangible materials and representational images to pose questions of critical reflection to society, and modes of perception, following the widespread adoption of the internet.

Tan’s work utilizes tangible media and forms to explore tensions between two coexisting but “opposing” spaces. The idea is derived from both Tan’s cultural and academic background. Tan was raised in Liaoning Province, Northeast China, which is famous for its coal mining industry. Tan’s experience growing up, including childhood memories of a deceased parent’s spirit, made him aware of the imaginative space that co-exists, intertwines, and sometimes conflicts with the physical space he occupies. His practice as a sculptor further deepened his understanding of these two spaces, which the artist describes as a virtual, “nihilistic space” that transforms into the visible—the physical and concrete form that arises during the process of making molds. Through this experience, Tan found that the ensemble of tangible forms bore a vivid resemblance to the abstract relationships between virtual and physical spaces or, in a broader sense, between two confrontational forces.

Face Off presents the artist’s continued interest in coexisting spaces. His recent body of work on view includes both sculptures and paintings, which experiment with the features of tangible materials and forms, as well as their embodiment of and commentary on the way the virtual—especially the contemporary digital domain—plays with our physical reality, including facts and truths. As the exhibition’s title suggests, each of Tan’s works are filled with juxtaposition and confrontation.

The two sculpted figures attempting to tear each other apart—drawing inspiration from the aftermath of WikiLeaks—alludes to the virtual, seesaw-like fight between individuals and authorities over the power to claim the truth. The miniature and fragmented replicas of the ancient miracles are a response to the replacement of monumental physical existences by their flattened online screenshots. The clearly-printed proverbs set against the vaguely-sprayed backgrounds of daily clichés legitimate the digital fragments as a core of daily life, rather than the layered, sensory, and immersive experience people physically inhabit. With notorious public figures, de-canonized icons, and dried-out daily moments, the exhibition puts together a parody of contemporary life, in both the virtual and concrete domains, wherein every spectator would, at some point, find a way to interlink themselves. Additionally, the exhibition implies the result led by this face-off between virtual and real spaces: as the online virtual world, a large part of which is imaginative, keeps colonizing our real life, the perception of facts and meanings is being challenged, reshaped, and overwritten—repeatedly and rapidly.

Public programs focusing on the confrontation between the digital world and our physical reality will accompany the exhibition. The first is a film screening and panel discussion curated by Yi Bingying, a filmmaker and creative practitioner in digital media. Along with the discussion is a cocktail experience curated by Siyuan Tan. The second program features an interactive digital gaming experience led by independent game designer Hu Wengu. Hu will present his project, Zombies Shall Not Pass!, which allows participants to join a “face-off” between zombies and humans in a virtual city with their body gestures being captured.

纽约 – 否画廊荣幸的宣布，我们将于2019年5月25日至6月23日举办谈思远个展《单挑》，并于25日4点至8点举办艺术家对话和开幕酒会。谈思远在他的艺术实践中致力于探索真实物理世界和虚拟网络世界之间的连接。他在作品中采取了一种后网络策略，从跳脱艺术表现形式与数字媒体的常规介入，到返回艺术议题的本身，即采用传统的雕塑输出方式也应用了新的绘画工具以及材料。从而对互联网时代的社会机制和认知方式进行反思。

谈思远的作品记录了他对两个平行对抗空间的探索。这一想法来源于他的成长经历。艺术家生长的能源城市是由地上城市和地下工厂组成，在经历亲人的病逝，以及美院雕塑系五年的学习，都让他对真实与虚无的关系有了更深入的理解。从怀疑到发现，再到如何与之相处。他的作品始终在解释两个并存空间的关系。通过对它们的复制、破坏、解构，去探讨人类社会与虚拟世界的交叉，空间的公共领域，网络新殖民，以及速食新闻与日常生活审美化等问题。而这些具体问题也让他找到了真实与虚无（或者说两股对抗力量）之间抽象关系的切入点——实体材料和具象图形的组合。

本次展览《单挑》展出了艺术家基于空间思考的一系列最新创作，包含了雕塑和手喷漆绘画。正如展览标题“单挑”字面意思所示，展出的每件作品都充斥着对立、冲突等真实问题。在以维基解密事件为灵感的雕塑中，代表政府权威的狮子形象与泄密者阿萨奇的人头在相互撕扯中，隐喻了个体与权力机构在网络世界中对话语权的争夺。另一组雕塑，通过对经典古代神迹微缩及残片化的复刻，审视了读图时代物理本体与其数字副本间日渐模糊的边界。伟大历史遗迹被截屏成无限复制的数字刻本。在线上的不断传播中，逐渐消解了自身的文化价值。绘画作品中，前景清晰的标题性文字与模糊的手喷漆背景形成对比，指代由高速虚拟线上世界所催生的“标题党”为代表的信息速食模式。手喷漆材料本身的快干性和覆盖性也与网络舆论瞬间定形和反转的现象形成互文。充满争议的公众人物、走下神坛的古代偶像、毫无营养日常晒图，它们合力出演了一幅当代线上线下空间的生活图鉴，观者总能在其中找到一些隐秘而有趣的连接点。展览英文标题Face Off也暗示了在这场虚拟空间与物理现实空间的“单挑”中，随着网络新科技的进步与提高，现实生活已经完全被入侵和改写，人类的认知与未来正面临着重大的挑战。

展览期间画廊还会举办两场公共教育活动。在第一场活动中，独立电影工作者、媒体艺术家易冰萤将挑选四部独立短片放映，并与谈思远就数字世界与物理现实之间的对抗展开一场对话。谈思远也将现场调制鸡尾酒以丰富观众们在这场虚拟漫谈中的现实感官体验。第二场活动则是一场互动数字游戏体验，由独立游戏设计师胡文谷展示他的游戏作品《僵尸禁行曲》。参与者将通过现实中的肢体语言加入一场虚拟城市中僵尸与人类之间的“单挑”。

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