Art for the Masses

Art Toys (2008)
Yue Minjun & KAWS, Zhou Chunya, Zhou Tiehai, Liu Ye, Jin Nu

30cm by 15cm by 10cm (5 pieces) Pottery, Resin, FRP, Felt

Art Toys is a collaboration between artists Yue Minjun and New York-based artist KAWS, Zhou Chunya, Zhou Tiehai, Liu Ye and, Jin Nu. Presented as five individual sculptures, Art Toys aims to integrate art, design, and fashion in one unique and engaging work.

Yue Minjun

Born in Heilongjiang Province of China in 1962. Yue Minjun graduated from Fine Art Department of Hebei Normal University. He is considered one of the most important characters among the school of “Cynical Realism”. The creation of his works is mostly based on the blueprint of his own portrait with an expression always giggling in a foolish smile. Behind this master of a simpered face, we see how he looks and evaluates self-existence by this great humorous compassion. His works also make us wonder at the heart sore atmosphere and the hollowness from this commercial society.

Zhou Chunya

Born in Chongqing, China in 1955, Zhou Chunya first attended Sichuan Fine Art Institute and then graduated from the Liberal Arts Department of Kassel University in Germany. He is considered one who knows how to master the colours best among those dynamic artists in the field of Chinese contemporary art. His works are a combination of expressionism and traditional Chinese techniques. With each brushstroke of shape and colour, one can see the emotion he depicts in his paintings. His most notable collection, the “Green Dog Series”, was inspired by his beloved pet, Heigen. Through recreating the wolfhound’s life and his spirit, we see the delicate sensibility in Zhou Chunya’s work.

Liu Ye

Born in Beijing in 1964, Liu Ye studied at Beijing Craft and Art School before graduating with a master’s degree from The Berlin University of Art. He is known as an oil painter that floats between traditional eastern painting techniques and western abstract ones. Liu is profoundly influenced by both Chinese ideas and western master Piet Cornelies Mondrian. He has a reputation for being skilled at using cartoon figures to communicate and create a certain illusion. Behind the adorable facades, he depicts viciousness, contradiction and conflict of human natures- an illusion of portraying dark sides underneath flawlessness.

Zhou Tiehai

Born in Shanghai in 1966. Zhou Tiehai graduated from the Shanghai University School of Art. He is considered one of the premier talents among Chinese Contemporary artists and was awarded a CCAA (China Contemporary Art Award) scholarship from the Swiss-China Contemporary Art Association in 1998. His most recognized works are those inspired by the former logo of Camel cigarettes, Joe Camel, a camel with a pair of sunglasses that is unwilling to look steadily at this world. Uniquely, Zhou Tiehai often does not create his own works, but rather conceptualizes them, or draws them on computer, and then directs a group of assistants to make the pieces.

Jin Nu

Born in 1984 in Qinhuangdao City in the Hebei Province of China, Jin Nu studied in the Sculpture Department of China Central Academy of Fine Art. She is considered to be one of the cynosure artists in China born after 1980. Being from a generation without sombre historical memories and responsibilities or a fundamental base of abundant life experiences, Jin Nu’s art works represent a new chapter for Chinese art and are unceasingly self learning and absorbing. Most of her works carry with them a visual expression of sentimental beauty. Jin’s style is perhaps best described as a characterization of new generation self-awareness ruminated from the accumulation of a childhood memoir of fairy tales.

Art Toys, Yue Minjun & KAWS (2008)

10cm (length) by 12.5cm (width) by 30cm (height) Pottery, Crystal resin

An unprecedented combination between Fine Art and Street Art occurs in the first ever cooperation between the famous Chinese contemporary artist, Yue Minjun, and graffiti designer, KAWS. A grinning expression, the most recognizable image from Yue Minjun, is integrated with the representative icon “XX”, of KAWS, creating something new and iconic. Yue Minjun puts himself into the body that KAWS created and laughs at the world with Cynical Realism; without vision, without the sadness and bitterness of society.

Art Toys, Zhou Chunya (2008)

17cm (length) by 35cm(width) by 30cm(height) PITCH resin/Felt

In memory of his perished German wolfhound, Heigen, Zhou Chunya creates a series of green dog paintings to remind himself of his beloved pet. Prominently featured in various ways in many of Zhou Chunya’s works, Heigen was the artist’s muse from memory. For ART TOYS he uses felt for a realistic texture and his signature bold shapes to translate his painting style into original, but still adorable, sculpture.

Art Toys, Liu Ye (2008)

14cm (length) by 15.5cm (width) by 30cm (height) Pottery/FRP

Liu Ye expresses his ideas through beautifully loveable cartoon figures in his art works. In the 3D adaptation of his painting, ‘Who’s Afraid of Madame L’, beauty and viciousness both dwell inside this teacher. Behind her innocent face is hidden her more sinister intentions, as evidenced by the birch rod gripped tightly in her hands.

Art Toys, Zhou Tiehai (2008)

19cm (length) by 14.5cm (width) by 30cm (height) Pitch/Crystal resin

Zhou Tiehai’s idea of a typical Shanghai woman of days gone by is wearing a pair of sunglasses and a Cheongsam with dim red checks. Here Zhou Tiehai creates a visual conflict by presenting the viewer with a stereotypical image of a beautiful woman, but depicting her as a camel wearing a tattoo and slippers. With this, the artist attempts to bring the idea of a ‘typical Shanghai woman’ into the present and convey the way she has evolved and over-turned traditional values.

Art Toys, Jin Nu (2008)

28cm (length) by 19cm (width) by 21cm (height) FRP/Crystal resin

Surely you remember Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid. She abandoned her beautiful voice to search for love before sacrificing herself for her beloved prince’s happiness. This piece, inspired by a fairy tale rather than reality, is representative of much of post-80’s Chinese art in that it lacks the historical and political baggage of the work of previous generations. The Art Toy depicts a girl who envied the glamorous tail of the mermaid, so she killed a shark and put on its tail to achieve her desire. To Jin Nu, the shark represents a large opposing force; she must defeat it in order to gain purity of mind.

Jia Shan De Wu (Urban Arcadia) Zhan Wang & MVRDV (2011)

Stacking wood blocks deriving from the shapes of 24 town houses of MVRDV’s “TheVerticalVillage©” project, Chinese sculptor Zhan Wang creates the artwork, “JIA SHAN DE WU”.

However, “JIA SHAN DE WU” is not merely a game of stacking blocks. Zhan Wang borrows the forms of MVRDV’s 24 town houses and applies the principles of Chinese gardening to this work. The viewer can select and combine these elements to create the Chinese garden arcadia of their own in their hearts. For the artist, “JIA SHAN DE WU” is a dialogue between art and architecture to interpret the concept of arcadia. It also symbolizes the ultimate spiritual pursuit of the East and the West.

The design of a Chinese garden starts from artificial rocks. The forms of “artificial rocks” extracted from the “natural world” in Chinese gardens are reflected through the material created in the period of Western industrialization, stainless steel. Through this combination, the artist expresses a “new dream” that “combines East and West.” The artist then takes these elements and reallocates them in the sculpture space, and in this process of double transformation, the artistic value of the cross-field artwork is discovered. The artwork explores the problems that arise when integrating man and nature as well as man and the environment in the fields of artistic aesthetics and architectural aesthetics, inspiring people to think the way to achieve the ultimate pursuit of the human spirit through opposing or complimentary methods.”

MOT/ARTS Yang Shin-Yi

Jia Shan De Wu (Urban Arcadia) Zhan Wang & MVRDV (2011)

60.5cm by 38.5cm by 38.8cm Stainless Steel

Alternate view of Jia Shan De Wu (Urban Arcadia)

Alternate view of Jia Shan De Wu (Urban Arcadia)

Jia Shan De Wu Block Set (Sculpture Accompaniment)

Case 6cm by 40cm by 40cm Wood

Zhan Wang

December, 14th, 1962, Born in Beijing
1978-1981 Beijing Industrial Arts College
1983-1988 Sculpture Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts Lives and works in Beijing nowadays.

Exhibitions

2008 Zhan Wang Hannes Gallery, Sanfrancisco
Zhan Wang Garden Utopia National Art Musuem of China, Beijing Rocks into Gold Asian art museum, San-Francisco
86 Divinity Figures Long March Space, Beijing798

2006 ZHAN WANG Urban Landscape-Beijing Williams College Museum of Art 2005 Flowers in the Mirror Han art Gallery, Hong Kong
2004 Mount Everest Project -- to the Summit Everest 8853.5m
2002 From Sweden to Taipei Taipei- Tai Zhong

2001 In & out --Floating Rock on Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden
Sham Nature--Zhan Wang's Artificial 'Jia Shan Shi'Han art Gallery, Hong Inlay Great Wall Remnant Great wall of Ba Daling, Beijing

2000 Beyond Twelve Nautical Miles--Floating Rock Drifts On The Open Sea Lingshan Island Jiaonan City, Shandong Province
1994 'Vacant Empty- Seduction Series'-- Works of Zhan Wang CAFA Gallery, Beijing

Group Exhibitions

2008 SH Contemproary 08Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai
Hypallage/ The Post-modern mode of Chinese Contemporary ArtOCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen

Accumulations The Spirit of the East Asia Art Center, Beijing798
New World Order Contemporary Installation Art And Photography From

China Groninger Museum，Holland
Case Studies of Artists in Art HistorySZ Art Center 798, Beijing

2007 Energies-Synergy Foundation De 11 Lijinen
TOP10 Chinese Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition Asia Art Center, Beijing "Contemporary Cultural Venation.China Version" 2007 Credit Suisse ReincarnationDORIS MCARTHY Gallery University of Toronto Scarborough Beijing Comprehensive Art Exhibition Florilegium Museum of Art Today Escape By Crafly Scheme_salvation From Traditional And Revolutional

Language Square Gallery of Contemporory Art.Nanjing
China Under Construction: Contemporary Art from the People's Republic

ART Houston
China Onward-The Estella Collection-Chinese contemporary Art 1996-

2006 Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

2006 Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of HeterogeneityMoCA, Shanghai
City in Progress/ Live from Zhang Jiang Zhangjiang, Shanghai
Hyper Design 6th Shanghai Biennale Shanghai Art Museum
Chinese in Indigenous Mode: Contemporary Renaissance in Aesthetic

Reconstruction Today Art Museum, Beijing
The New Chinese Landscape Arthur M Sackler Museum, Harvard University

Art Museums gallery
Beaufort 02 Triennium PMMK Museum of Contemporary Art in Ostende,

Belgium
Heyri Asia Project/Chinese Contemporary Art Festival Seoul, Korea Martell Artists of the Year 2006 National Art Museum of China, Beijing

2005 1st Annals Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art Millennium Art Museum, Beijing

Exchange Value of Pleasure Pusan Museum of Modern Art, Korean
The Festival of China the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C
'Electrical Scape' International New Media Art Exhibition Zheng Da Art

Museum, Shanghai
Chinese Avant-garde Sculpture Museum Beelden aan Zee Holland
On the Edge--Visiting Artists Program Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, San-,

USA
The Elegance of Silence Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Universal Experience--Art, Life, and the Tourist's Eyes Museum of

Contemporary Art, Chicago; Haywood Gallery, London
'The Wall'-- Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art Millennium Art Museum,

Beijing
'The Wall'UB Art Gallery and Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

2004 Chinese Imagination Jardin des Tuileries, Paris
Beyond Boundaries Shanghai Gallery of Art
Between Past and Future: New photography and Video from China International Center of photograph (ICP), New York
Playing with the Energy House of Shiseido, Tokyo

2003 Dreams and Conflicts-The Dictatorship of the Viewer 50th Venice Synth-Scape: Chinese Pavilion Venice; China Guangdong Museum of Art

Open Times National Art Museum of China, Beijing

Biennale:

A Sino-German Exhibition of Contemporary Art798 Space Art & Culture, Beijing

New Generation And post-Revolution Yan Huang Museum, Beijing

China Contemporary Art Museo Arte Contemporanea di Rome, Italy Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary

2002 Long March-A Walking Visual Display Ruijing and Xichang, China Beijing-Paris Paris

China Contemporary Art Brasilia Art Museum, Brazil
Foison - China Contemporary Art Museum of Farming, Beijing
China artMuseum Kuppersmuhle Sammlung Grothe, Duisburg, Germany
The First Guangzhou triennial Reinterpretation: A Decade of

Experimental Chinese Art(1990-2000)Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou

2001 Poster Exhibition of Chinese Avant-garde Red Door, Beijing HOTPOT-kinesisk samtidskunstKunstnernes Hus Oslo, Norway Making China Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York
Rocks and Art--Nature Found and Made Chambers Fine Art, NY Dream--contemporary Art of China Atlantic Fine Art, London Cross Crossing Modern Gallery, Chengdu, China

2000 With complements Cotthem Gallery, Belgium
2000'Shanghai Biennale Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
2000'The West lake International Sculpture Invitational Exhibition Taiziwan

Park, Hangzhou, China
The World of Real and Illusory Yun Feng Gallery, Beijing
Documentation of Chinese avant-garde Art in 90sFukuoka Asian Art

Museum, Japan
Humanities Landscape Langdao, Guilin, China

'Open2000' International Exhibition of Sculpture and Installations Venice, Italy

Invited Exhibition on Contemporary Chinese Sculpture Qingdao Sculpture Museum, Qingdao, China

Oriental Plaza Selected Contemporary Sculpture from China East Square, Beijing

MVRDV

MVRDV was set up in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV produces designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape design. The office continues to pursue its fascination and methodical research on density. It uses a method of shaping space through complex amounts of data that usually accompany contemporary building and design processes. The products of this approach vary and range from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban designs to publications and installations.

ALIVE
Zhou Chunya & Jaime Hayon (2012)

Libido refers to a person’s primitive and intuitive biological urges contained in what Freud called the id. Some of the subconscious desires unfulfilled during one’s childhood are compensated for through games or other methods as a means of consolation. While a person’s desires intensify as one grows older the need to fit in, to meet the expectations of society, and to conform to ethics and religion often suppress the opportunity to act on these desires. Artists, through their self-exploration, highlight libido in a way that forces viewers to introspect and sublimate their desires to a whole new level. Chinese contemporary artist Zhou Chunya gives a truthful portrayal of the libido of grown men through the pompousness, clumsiness, and growling faces of the “green dog”, manifesting both the restraint and the liberation of the libido. Spanish designer Jaime Hayon, on the other hand, thinks outside the box with his bold style and unique works. His freewheeling dream-like, yet realistic style paints the true face of one’s libido as a child.

Two figures from different disciplines join hands to launch ALIVE, with dozens of pieces portraying different faces and motions of the green dog, while the display case showcases fluid lines and contours. This collaboration between art and architecture reveals the maturity of both artists as well as their optimism towards reality. ALIVE explores the changes of the libido as one grows older emotionally and transforms and evolves. It surpasses previous artworks by transcending personal experiences and specific contexts to portray a general phenomenon that every one of us goes through. With concepts of modern design incorporated and reinterpreted, ALIVE forces viewers to open up and reflect upon artworks with a genuine and honest attitude.

ALIVE

Zhou Chunya & Jaime Hayon (2012)

14cm by 5cm by 8cm, 30 pieces
130cm by 55cm by 81.5cm
Epoxy resins, Lacquer, Lacquered wood

Alternate view of ALIVE

Alternate view of ALIVE

ALIVE (2012) Detail

Zhou Chunya

1955 Born in Chongqing, China
1982 Graduated from the Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, Chongqing, China
1988 Graduated from Experiment Art department of Kassel Academy of Fine Art, Kassel, Germany

Now lives and works in Chengdu and Shanghai, China

Solo Exhibition

2012 “ALIVE AND KICKING” ,MOT/ARTS,Taipei
2010 “1971—2010 Forty Years Retrospective Review of Zhou Chunya”, Shanghai Art Museum, China
2008 “Zhou Chunya, Green Dog, Jakarta”, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
2008 “Zhou Chunya Solo Exhibition: New Painting”, My Humble House, Taipei 2007 “Blooming Stories: Paintings & Sculptures by Zhou Chunya”, Beijing Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2007 “Zhou Chunya Solo Exhibition”, Chinatoday Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2006 “New Works by Zhou Chunya,” Shanghai Gallery of Art at Three on the Bond, Shanghai, China
2002 “Zhou Chunya Art Show: Green Dogs”, 314 international Art Centre, Bergen, Norway
2002 “Zhou Chunya”, Museum of Modern Art Contemporary, Trento, Italy
1997 “Zhou Chunya”, Beizhuang Gallery, Taipei
1992 “Zhou Chunya Oil Painting”, Grace Art Gallery , Taipei
1988 “Zhou Chunya Invitationl Exhibition,” Domach-Anhof Art Centre, Linz, Austria
1987 “The Works of Zhou Chunya”, GDCF, Dusseldorf, Germany

Group Exhibition

2011 “The Collection Exhibition of Work by Zhou Chunya”, My Humble House, Taipei
2011 “Chengdu Biennale: Pure View”, East Chengdu Music Park, Chengdu, China 2011 “Expression of Chinese Contemporary Art”, Beijing Today Art Museum, China 2010 “The Second Annual Conference of Collectors of Chinese Contemporary Art”, Sichuan Museum, Chengdu, China

2010 “The Constructed Dimension——2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition” , National Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010 Martell Artists of the Year 2010, joint-exhibition in: Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Beijing Today Art Museum, Beijing; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

2010 “Reshaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009”, CNCC, Beijing, China
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2009 “A Collateral Event For The 53rd Biennale Di Venezia: A Gift To MARCO POLO”, VIU(Island of San Servolo), Italy
2008 “Today’s China: Contemporary Art From China”, Belvue Museum, Brussels, Belgium

2008 “Beyond Reminiscence”, Beijing Centre For The Arts, Beijing, China
2008 “We Are Together-POLY Charity Auction for Wenchuan Earthquake”, Beijing, China
2008 “Case Studies of Artists in Art History and Art Criticism”, Shengzhi Art Centre, Beijing, China
2008 “New InterfaceIV–Spring is Coming”, Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai, China 2007 “Beyond Icons: Chinese Contemporary Art in Miami”, Miami Design District, Miami, U.S.A
2007 “Post-Martial Law vs Post-89: Contemporary Art in Taiwan and China”, Taiwan Art Museum, Taichung
2007 “From New Figurative Image to New Painting”, Tang Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China
2007 “Starting from the Southwest: Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Southwest China”, GD Gallery, Guangzhou, China
2007 “Beyond Icons, Chinese New Painting”, Shanghai Art Museum, China
2007 “Makeup Art History-Chinese Contemporary Works Exhibition of Museum’s Collection”, Guangdong Art Museum, China
2007 “Guiyang Art Biennale Exhibit 3th.2007:Word of Mouth From Four Corners”, Guiyang Art Museum, China
2006 “Expanded Realism-Oil Painting of Mainland China Since 1978”，Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
2006 “The Naked Truth, Six Chengdu-Based Chinese Contemporary Artists” Tang Contemporary Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2006 “A Flower is not a Flower”, Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing, China
2006 “Zhou Chunya ·∙ Zeng Fanzhi ·∙ Ji Dachun”, Longren Art Gallery, Beijing, China 2006 “12345”, Shanghai Yibo Gallery, Shanghai, China

Jaime Hayon

Born in Madrid in 1974, designer Jaime Hayon, with his ingenuity, boldness, and humour, has injected his freewheeling creativity into our daily lives. He became the leading figure at Fabrica, the Benetton-funded design and communication academy. Through his line of work, Hayon came in contact with talents around the world specializing in design, photography, fashion, and illustration, which became inspiration for his eclectic style which serves as a channel of communication between art and industrial design. In 2004, Hayon curated an installation art exhibition named Mediterranean Digital Baroque in London. The exhibition showcased the grandeur and whimsical beauty which are the hallmarks of Baroque Art, bringing together traditional hand paintings and digital technology. Subsequently, Hayon broke out on his own to open up his personal studio. In 2005, Hayon curated the Mon Cirque installation art exhibition, which marked the first time the artist made use of ceramics to work on a series of lovely works with refined lines. The exhibition became an overnight sensation, while reputable companies from different sectors beckoned the rising star. Ever since then, Hayon has treaded freely in the world of furniture, clothing, toys, and interior design, working with reputable names such as Barcelona Design, Moooi, Magis, Camper, SWAROVSKI, and Lladro, etc. Hayon is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the 10 breakthrough creators worldwide by Wallpaper Magazine, the Icon Magazine Best Show Award at London Design Week, and the Elle Deco International Design Award. The Spanish Cultural Department also recognized Hayon as the most talented young artist. Today, Hayon continues to surprise with his diverse design, revealing the love for life and beauty embraced by the Spanish.