In 2021, we’re passing through the world that no one have ever met before. Once abnormal experiences have become daily lives. Masks, social distances, and homeisolation. These all are the scenery of our era which the virus unheard of changed. Time confined within a routine has been continuously going. In this new world, artists could not be an exception. Many exhibitions planned last year were cancelled. They don’t know when it would be available to get around freely for new work. However, why artists are artists? They are particular people always a bit more sensitive than most of us. Thus artists do not settle for the way things are and turn their eyes to where they stand.
<Courtesy the artist and Magician Space>
<The Things 2020> opened at the Magician Space in 798 Art Village, Beijing is the result of contemplation by Hu Jieming, a Chinese artist. Hu Jieming, born in Shanghai in 1957, is one of the representative artists in Chinese Contemporary Art. One of his works widely known is the photo collage, . There is a jeopardized raft supported with Coca-Cola cans while the B&W image of people and Mao tangled with colorful agitators. It symbolizes the era of chaos and conflict during the Cultural Revolution in China through the famous French romanticism painting of Théodore GÉRICAULT from 19th century. You may remember the image I explained though you don’t remember the artist. In Korea, he showed his work at 2016 Busan Biennale.
<Courtesy the artist and Magician Space>
Last year, Hu Jieming had a chance to look around things composing his daily lives while staying at home due to home isolation and social distance. He found that the objects overlooked before began to seem different through this time. Forms and color of these daily scenes, which was just nothing before, touched his heart. He used 50mm lens to take pictures while keeping a constant distance with them. First, he took some time to look at these objects, then pressed the shutter when he felt something from the depth of his mind. After that, according to the artist said, the time of “second gaze” followed. He maximized a specific color which dominated each scene by employing digital technique. Through this second process, the impression of color and form he stared at became strong while remaining became faint. The images such as Green, Red, Yellow or Cyan coupled with a number were made by these two steps of gaze. He could capture the moments because he took time on and stared at them with all his heart.
<Hu Jieming, The Things Series - Red No.19, 2020, pigment inkjet print, 110.8 x 150cm, courtesy the artist and Magician Space>
Thirty images are shown on the exhibition at the Magician Space. The executive director of the gallery, Mu Jinpeng, explained that Hu Jieming carefully designed the installation through his sketch. He also decided which pictures would be hang with frames while the others are shown without frames. The show started with orange/yellow tone, then moved to green/blue. Then it shifts to red. Yellowish time of a kitchen through ground glass and a thin pillar across a red window came to my eyes vividly. And finally various color filled out the space. Half of the beauty of the images is exposed through their color, and another half comes into view through their forms added/subtracted by the artist. A dark green leaf from a wilted pot, a metal bar with a worn towel, or a thin glass tube that penetrated the frame. These silent but dazzling forms drew my eyes.
<Hu Jieming, The Things Series - Blue No.21, 2020, pigment inkjet print, 84.3 x 150cm, courtesy the artist and Magician Space>
Hu Jieming painted oil drawings at first, then turned his path to media art since early-to-mid 90s. His work has been evolved with adopting the latest video/media technology for about twenty years. Then, in past years, he would like to go “back to basic”. Like the term “low-tech aesthetic” he said (I understood it as aesthetic arose from simplicity), the new series is based on straight photography. This consciousness about “basic” might make him using 50mm lens which is similar to humans’ eyes. It seems the sight of Hu Jieming, who often looks for the meaning of society, history and culture through mega-size installation works, is narrowed. He carefully captured the hidden beauty within this uncommon and limited sight.
In some ways, the lives of ourselves in 2020 was not that different with the one of Hu Jieming. Repeated daily routines had been kept going, and just a little break to breath outside freely was not allowed. Everyone, of course including myself, got tired of this new world. By the way, Hu Jieming let us know something through his eyes. It is like he said we would be able to find a little comfort if we look around our days with a little more care. I felt his images resonated with audiences because of it. Maybe this is one of the reasons that we need art. Sometimes, a little consolation may become a big echo for us to get through this pandemic era.
<Hu Jieming, The Things Series - Orange No.4, 2020, pigment inkjet print, 80 x 53.4cm, courtesy the artist and Magician Space>
