JUN JUN HU: Beyond the Mountain

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胡军军——山外有山

2013年9月12日至2013年11月3日

VIP开幕酒会：2013年9月12日，周四，下午6-8点 上海James Cohan画廊 地址：徐汇区岳阳路170弄1号楼1楼，近永嘉路

上海James Cohan画廊将荣幸推出艺术家胡军军个展《山外有山》，展览将于2013年9月12日开幕并持续到11月3日。这是胡军军在上海James Cohan画廊的首次个展。

中国山水画有着悠久的传统，并在中国艺术史中占有举足轻重的地位。上溯至宋、金、元、明，清，中国山水画被视为以描绘自然景物而展现不同哲学思想和精神理想的艺术作品；同时因与神秘主义的联系，山水亦常被视为精神及宗教极乐世界的体现。中国山水画有时也以象征方式表现社会结构、朝廷、社会秩序，道家和佛家经典，而在另一方面，这也强调了人类在广袤宇宙中的渺小角色。

胡军军的最新作品——以二十四节气命名的２４张单色网格系列作品，是基于相似的观念，但更倾向于精神层面及对绘画过程的思考：无论是作为一种冥想过程抑或是作为一种建构有条不紊的构图方式。艺术家从经典的中国山水画作品中选取画面，创造了一个精致微妙的视觉体验：网格覆盖于整个画布（每个正方形小网格为1.8厘米），通过逐帧描绘每个网格而构成了整件作品。因而每件作品都是一系列系统而清晰的视觉行为。正是因为这些复杂而耗时费工的绘画过程，每个网格代表了对像素化或数字化想法的反抗。

观众同样也可以想到胡军军的审美基础是极简主义和后极简主义。然而，同过去古典山水画家一样，胡军军的作品挑战了对于绘画的普遍定义或何为绘画的假设：作品不仅仅是一种对历史的重新诠释或者通过挑选出的历史图像与过去进行对话，也不是对已被定义的自然或自然世界的描绘；而是，对于自然的思考成为观者脑海中的一个客体或者地方。

胡军军，浙江绍兴人，1971年生于中国上海（原籍为浙江省绍兴市）。1990至1992就读经济管理专业，辍学；1993年移居北京，开始诗歌绘画创作，期间获刘丽安诗歌奖；1998年移居纽约至2005年；2006年移居上海至今。

如需更多信息或图片，请联系周冰心izhou@jamescohan.com或+86-21-54660825。画廊工作时间：周二至周六，早10点至晚6点，周日中午12点至晚6点，周一请预约。

JUN JUN HU:BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN

September 12, through November 3, 2013

Opening Reception: Thursday September 12, 2013, 6-8 pm Venue: James Cohan Gallery Shanghai Address: 1/F, Building 1, Lane 170 Yue Yang Road, by Yong Jia Road

James Cohan Gallery Shanghai is pleased to present Beyond the Mountain, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Jun Jun Hu. The exhibition opens on September 12 and will continue through November 3, 2013 and is the artist’s debut exhibition at the gallery.

The subject of mountain landscapes or Shan shui 山水paintings have a long and revered place throughout the whole history of Chinese art. Mountain-water paintings, dating from five dynasties (Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing), were viewed with varied philosophical and spiritual imperatives in their depiction of the natural world and connection to mysticism—the land of the spirit world and the embodiment of heaven. These paintings were sometimes symbolic of the Imperial Court and the structure of society and social order, whereas the Taoist and Buddhist readings stressed how human presence played a minor role in the vastness of the universe.

Jun Jun Hu’s new paintings, a cycle of twenty-four monochromatic grid-based works, are based on similar ideas, but lean more toward the spiritual and painting-as-process, both in terms of meditation and as a means in which to build methodical compositions. Taking specific fragments from historical Chinese landscape paintings, Hu builds an intricate and precise visual experience by first creating an all-over grid structure (each grid measuring 1.8 cm) then painting frame by frame in order to create the completed image. Each painting is thus a series of systematic and clear visual incidents. Because of the intricate, labor-intensive brushwork each grid goes against any idea of pixelation or digital suggestion.

An evident connection with minimalism and post-minimalism as Hu’s aesthetic foundation also comes to mind. But like the ancient Shan shui painters of the exhibitions, her works challenge the commonly held definition or assumption of what a painting is or should become, seeing the work not merely as a reinterpretation of history or discussion with the exhibitions through selective appropriated historical images, nor merely the depiction of what is identifiably nature or the natural world; but rather what the thought of nature becomes in the viewer’s mind.

Jun Jun Hu was born in 1971 in Shanghai, China (originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang province). She started her college studies in economic management in 1990 and then stopped in 1992. In 1993, she moved to Beijing and began to write poetry and make paintings. During her stay in Beijing she was awarded the Liu Lian prize for poetry. In 1998 she moved to New York and then returned to Shanghai in 2006.

For further information, please contact Ivy Zhou at izhou@jamescohan.com or contact the gallery at +86 21 54660825. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 6:00 p.m.; Sunday 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.; and Monday by appointment.