WEN Zhongyan: Wandering in the City, Waking from a Dream

Sep 13 — Oct 20, 2023

August 23, 2023 (Palo Alto, CA) – Qualia Contemporary Art is pleased to present Wandering in the City, Waking from a Dream, an exhibition of works by Chinese artist WEN Zhongyan. The artist’s first solo exhibition in North America will feature a series of seven works on paper and two paintings that depict the city of Beijing through what was lost, what remains, and what has changed. WEN combines multiple layers of imagery in an intuitive screen printing process that evokes a feeling of nostalgia but also embracing the city that was and is – on a personal level to the artist, and on a collective cultural scale as well. Wandering in the City, Waking from a Dream will be open to the public from September 13 – October 20, 2023, with an opening celebration hosted on September 16th from 4:30-6:30 PM PST.

Ancient landmark structures throughout Beijing bear witness to its long history over the course of several dynasties. Alongside these fragments, the constantly evolving contemporary cityscape reflects the decades of demolition and development that have occurred since the mid-1960s, when the city wall and significant parts inside the city wall were demolished. Thus, Beijing stands as a unique case study for rapid change and the sense of loss that follows in its wake, as the city underwent many iterations of deconstruction and reconstruction both before and during WEN’s time there.

The distinctive architecture of the city, as illuminated beneath the strong artificial lights of the night, forms the background for WEN’s screen-printed circuit board diagrams and illustrated map. This first layer of imagery is painted from the artist’s own photographs, taken at night when he lived in Hou Hai, Beijing and wandered its storied streets, the feeling of nostalgia palpable beneath the cover of darkness. Together, the interaction of the layers results in a composite representation of the city over time that WEN describes as the “New Beijing Image,” concrete and yet intangible, and full of contradictions. The artist’s technique itself recreates the collision of industrial culture and ancient civilization it seeks to portray, epitomizing the progress of modernization that comes at the expense of historical and cultural memory. The chaos therein is laid bare, and while WEN’s imagery is specific to Beijing, the plights of industrialization and urban expansion are universally felt.

Circuit boards—symbols of modern industry—are repeatedly present in all of the selected works. WEN uses the circuit board diagram from the manual of his first TV as the source for this pattern, as well as a historical map of Beijing from 1950, before parts of the old city and the city walls were torn down. After constant layering, the intersecting grids create a psychedelic interference, weaving a colorful web-like network that visibly obscures the cityscape beneath while aesthetically and symbolically elucidating its details. Themes of uncertainty permeate WEN’s visions of Beijing. The dialogue between the layers is described by the artist as a conversation in which each is “perhaps speaking its own language, perhaps speaking in unison, perhaps a cacophony of noises, or perhaps a beautiful harmony,” but above all, “This conversation is of uncertainty.”

WEN Zhongyan: 游观 (Wandering in the City, Waking from a Dream) will introduce the artist’s poignant work to the Silicon Valley community, a place with deep ties to the complicated narrative of technological advancement and change explored in the exhibition. History, as recorded in the built environment, and experienced in the fabric of urban life, is equally central to WEN’s body of work. Audiences are invited to connect with WEN’s unconventional scrapbook of Beijing and to consider the dense networks that underlie their own perceptions of place.

About WEN Zhongyan

WEN Zhongyan (b. 1971 in Yuncheng, China) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1997 and his Master of Arts from Tsinghua University in 2010. Since 1997, he has been teaching at Tsinghua University Department of Painting, where he is a department head, doctoral supervisor, and professor. WEN is also a member of the China Artists Association, vice chairman of the Printmaking Art Committee of the Beijing Artists Association, and more. He currently lives and works in Beijing, China.

WEN has exhibited widely internationally with a focus in China at National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Today Art Museum, Beijing; National Museum of China, Beijing; The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing; China Art Museum, Shanghai; Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai; China Woodcut Museum, Shenzhen; Hubei Museum of Art, Hubei; Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Hubei; CAA Art Museum, Hangzhou; Futian Art Museum, Shenzhen; Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan; Chongqing Art Museum, Chongqing; Tanggu Museum, Tianjin; among many others and abroad at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Berlin, Germany; Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA.

WEN’s work is in the collections of internationally renowned art museums and institutions National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Today Art Museum, Beijing; National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing; CAFA Art Museum, Beijing; China Artists Association; Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai; Shanghai University, Shanghai; Jiangsu Art Museum, Jiangsu; Hubei Art Museum, Hubei; Chongqing Art Museum, Chongqing; Inner Mongolia Museum, Hohhot; Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen; Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; among many others.

About Qualia Contemporary Art

Located in downtown Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, Qualia Contemporary Art is dedicated to showcasing outstanding established and emerging artists working in a variety of media. The gallery is committed to building lasting relationships with artists, collectors, curators, and scholars nationally and internationally, and providing a vital platform for dialogues on contemporary art and culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

Location

328 University Ave

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Gallery Contact

Dacia Xu

650-656-9132

dacia@qualiagallery.com