transréalité
14 Sep - 04 Nov 2007
Wang Du , Le berceau, 2007
steel, television sets,mattresses, fabric, electricity installation view kestnergesellschaft , 1300 x 600 x 150 cm
© Wang Du ,Photo: Raimund Zakowski
Courtesy Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris; Baronian-Francey, Brussels und VG Bild-Kunst Bonn
steel, television sets,mattresses, fabric, electricity installation view kestnergesellschaft , 1300 x 600 x 150 cm
© Wang Du ,Photo: Raimund Zakowski
Courtesy Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris; Baronian-Francey, Brussels und VG Bild-Kunst Bonn
TRANSRÉALITÉ
14 September – 04 November 2007
In his first solo exhibition in Germany, the Chinese sculptor Wang Du is presenting two new groups of works: first, the space-encompassing, multimedia installation "Le berceau" in which two dozen switched-on video screens hang down above a huge bed which may be climbed onto; second, five large-sized bronze sculptures displaying artfully crumpled newspaper pages. With these "papiers froissés", Wang Du satirizes the ephemerality of current news items in the form of time-transcending bronze sculptures. In the physical confrontation with their colossal size, these works also express the relationships of domination and appropriation of truths.
The sheets and pillowcases of the installation "Le berceau", upon which are printed images from the media, form a pictorial landscape which is reflected in the switched-on television monitors attached to the ceiling. Lying in a comfortable position on the bed, the visitor is supplied with a cacophony of contrasting program channels and is transferred into a virtual world. In a straightforward manner, Wang Du links the private and reclusive world of sensation with the unselected, interchangeable mass of images flooding across the world’s airways.
Ever since beginning his artistic activity, Wang Du has focused upon the massive power of images throughout our society and in everyday life. In oversized sculptures, the artist analyzes the relationship of the public to media images, especially to their formulas and impact.
Wang Du (* in 1956 in Wuhan, China) has lived in Paris ever since 1990. The artist trained himself as draftsman and painter with considerable success. Only with the wave of liberalization in China during the nineteen-eighties did it become possible for Wang to receive formal instruction as a sculptor. Thanks to regular sojourns in his country of origin, Wang Du is able to achieve a perspective reflecting upon various cultural contexts, so that he has become a pioneer in the Chinese art scene which is on the rise.
14 September – 04 November 2007
In his first solo exhibition in Germany, the Chinese sculptor Wang Du is presenting two new groups of works: first, the space-encompassing, multimedia installation "Le berceau" in which two dozen switched-on video screens hang down above a huge bed which may be climbed onto; second, five large-sized bronze sculptures displaying artfully crumpled newspaper pages. With these "papiers froissés", Wang Du satirizes the ephemerality of current news items in the form of time-transcending bronze sculptures. In the physical confrontation with their colossal size, these works also express the relationships of domination and appropriation of truths.
The sheets and pillowcases of the installation "Le berceau", upon which are printed images from the media, form a pictorial landscape which is reflected in the switched-on television monitors attached to the ceiling. Lying in a comfortable position on the bed, the visitor is supplied with a cacophony of contrasting program channels and is transferred into a virtual world. In a straightforward manner, Wang Du links the private and reclusive world of sensation with the unselected, interchangeable mass of images flooding across the world’s airways.
Ever since beginning his artistic activity, Wang Du has focused upon the massive power of images throughout our society and in everyday life. In oversized sculptures, the artist analyzes the relationship of the public to media images, especially to their formulas and impact.
Wang Du (* in 1956 in Wuhan, China) has lived in Paris ever since 1990. The artist trained himself as draftsman and painter with considerable success. Only with the wave of liberalization in China during the nineteen-eighties did it become possible for Wang to receive formal instruction as a sculptor. Thanks to regular sojourns in his country of origin, Wang Du is able to achieve a perspective reflecting upon various cultural contexts, so that he has become a pioneer in the Chinese art scene which is on the rise.