Exhibition: China, 2006
Artist: Sun Jianchun
Curator: Xia Jifeng
Opening: 7 November 2009, 3pm
Dates: 7 - 27 November 2009
Venue: Iberia Center for Contemporary Art
E06, 798 Art Zone, no.4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Art Director: Zuo Jing
Director: Xia Jifeng
Producer: Gao Ping
Organisers: International Art & Culture Foundation of Spain, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art
T: 86 10 5978 9530 / 5978 9030
info@iberiart.org
www.iberiart.org
Iberia Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Sun Jianchun “China, 2006” on 7th November 2009. In May 2008, at Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Iberia Center for Contemporary Art organized the largest Chinese contemporary art exhibition ever held in Spain “55 Days in Valencia: Chinese Art Meeting”. Sun Jianchun’s China, 2006 was the largest and also one of the most important works on display in that exhibition.
In every single day of 2006, Sun Jianchun repeated the same task — he chose one news photo on that very day from the Internet and painted it. At the end of the year, he completed his work China, 2006, which consists of 365 paintings and related literary narrations. This forms a personal edition of “picture chronicle” of China in 2006.
Today, the Internet world has almost become a carnival place for civilians. Its liberty, confusion and abundance are stunning. This is a boundless virtual space full of confused noises. A lot of true information is spontaneously transmitted among civilians rapidly. When Sun Jianchun chose original pictures from the internet, he was undoubtedly truncating an image of “China” that was closer to primitive ecology, a more genuine fact of the era being framed by the screen. In fact, the intensity of his work is stunning enough. The selection from day to day and the reproduction the images on canvas required strong passion, will and strength as support. Objectively, this marathon-styled painting was promoted by the contemporary art wave which had just reached its peak at that time. Meanwhile, it had a meaning of self-salvation. The final realization was like a small miracle.
2006 is a seemingly ordinary year in changing China. The artist has chosen an extremely plain means to articulate this “ordinary period of time”. He observes that “In fact, trying to bring back time is just a fabricated idea. Recording might be an effective way of keeping time. ‘One painting everyday’ has a hidden character of ‘performance art’. Doing one’s job perfunctorily, this is a relatively plain understanding of time and a relatively plain way of cultivation. Just like the ‘daily class’ for ancient literati, there was a detailed record for each passing day. In my opinion, I make a mark for time everyday.”
China, 2006 can be regarded as a kind of expression of collective anxiety by artists of a new generation who are in an abruptly changing country. This is a challenge or a kind of jump between “the combinations of all the images that a contemporary of the same status experienced” and “everything is in detail”. His method is inclined to a description about aggregation. But in fact he offered 365 details. Without his selection and reproduction, in a short period of time, many of those lively details would go back to darkness and die there like ashes, as if they had never happened before. We can image, as time goes by, this group of Sun Jianchun’s work will gradually develop into a proof for history research. Its indefinite meaning is dependent on the future re-interpretation.