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2008

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Group Show of Chinese Contemporary art
October - December 2007

 

Zhou Yilun Solo Exhibition
"Beauty, Weapon & Beast"
30th June - 29th July, 2007

June Show of Chinese Contemporary Art
1st June - 29th June, 2007

Group show of leading Chinese contemporary artists.
Zhan Nian photography, Zhou Chunya silkscreen prints, Miao Xiaochun's "Last Judgement in Cyberspace",
Li Wei and Xiong Qin oil paintings.

"Quietly Collecting "
10th March 07 - 29th April,2007
The seed was first sown for this collection 3 years ago in the Tate Modern in London. At the time I was working six days a week for an auction house surrounded by art on a daily basis but because the tempo of an UK auction house is so fast with between 2-5 sales a week it is often hard to find the time to sit back and appreciate the art. So on my Saturdays off I liked to journey around the unending trail of art galleries in London.

One such Saturday took me to the Tate Modern and one piece of work jumped out at me as I was leaving. Tucked in a room near the side exit I saw a piece of video work, it took me a while to figure out what was happening or even to understand it. The scene was set in a nightclub bathroom with lots of girls checking make-up, stashing money, and other things we shouldn't be privy to, yet it was compelling. I picked up the leaflet about the artist and went home and looked him up on the internet. The piece was "Lady's" not by a him but a her "Cui Xiuwen". This was my first experience of Chinese Contemporary art. Till this point I hadn't given any thought to Chinese contemporary art, I knew of the "Chinese Contemporary" gallery in London but that was about it. My second experience of Chinese art would be another 6 month's later in February 2005.

Shortly after visiting the Tate I needed to find a new flat in London, whilst looking for a flat I met a friend of a friend who happens now to be my wife, that person is Jing Wang.

We decided to come to China over Chinese New Year 2005 for a holiday, taking in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Beijing. It was while we were in Beijing that on a cold snowy day we went to 798 Dashanzi. Here we both fell in love with one particular painting "The Lucky One" by Yang Jing exhibited in "798 Space", we couldn't decide whether to buy it or more to the point where the hell to put it.
We left not having bought the piece but happier for seeing it.

August 2005, Jing and I were thinking that maybe we could return back to China but not for a holiday, to live there, study the art and look at investing in Chinese contemporary art. In December I nervously handed in my notice at work as it was a job I loved, but I received great support from my colleagues and was reassured that it would be a success and a great opportunity. We spent our last days in London saying goodbye to friends and frantically trying to reduce our world possessions down to the bare minimum. Early January 2006 we left London and arrived in Shanghai to start a new life. 2006 was spent travelling around China, meeting artists, going to as many galleries, museums, shows as possible and immersing and educating ourselves in the art. Then by luck we found that we could buy the Yang Jing painting we had originally seen in 798, after some negotiating we finally managed to secure our first piece of art. Over the course of 2006 we also managed to buy the other pieces you see in this show by various means.
What you see in our gallery is part of what we have quietly collected over 2006, pieces we look at fondly and with passion. However for the collection to expand we have to let some pieces go, make some profit and re-invest in new work. What started as a hobby has now turned into a job, but a job we would never want to quit.