Ji Dachun
An Acrylic Skin: The Recent Works of Ji Dachun
2022.12.09 - 01.31
TRIUMPH GALLERY is pleased to present artist Ji Dachun's latest solo exhibition curated by Su Wei, An Acrylic Skin: The Recent Works of Ji Dachun, from December 9, 2022 to January 31, 2023. The exhibition will present more than 20 recent acrylic paintings by him.
Ji Dachun was born in Jiangsu in 1968, and graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1993. As one of the most acknowledged contemporary artists in China, Ji has won the accolade at home and abroad with his unique artistic style.
After having produced many of his now-widely recognized figurative paintings from his early career, Ji begins to gravitate towards acrylic, a medium that is comparatively lighter and less saturated than oil paint. Initially he was obsessed with the viscous pictorial effect of acrylic, and later on there were his serial explorations of the themes of “Black” and “White”. Throughout this entire process, he has experimented with Payne’s gray—which he considered an unstable pigment color—in terms of how it presents different shades of transparencies, textures, and tonal layers on the canvas. He experimented so as to grasp the relationship between the subject of paint, the residue, and the image. Through this project, Ji Dachun endeavors to grasp his own position within the coordinations of (art) history and reality, and comes up with his own rationales to experiment with—or deconstruct—paint in a perhaps attempt to approximate the boundaries of finite thing.
Ji Dachun was born in Jiangsu in 1968, and graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1993. As one of the most acknowledged contemporary artists in China, Ji has won the accolade at home and abroad with his unique artistic style.
After having produced many of his now-widely recognized figurative paintings from his early career, Ji begins to gravitate towards acrylic, a medium that is comparatively lighter and less saturated than oil paint. Initially he was obsessed with the viscous pictorial effect of acrylic, and later on there were his serial explorations of the themes of “Black” and “White”. Throughout this entire process, he has experimented with Payne’s gray—which he considered an unstable pigment color—in terms of how it presents different shades of transparencies, textures, and tonal layers on the canvas. He experimented so as to grasp the relationship between the subject of paint, the residue, and the image. Through this project, Ji Dachun endeavors to grasp his own position within the coordinations of (art) history and reality, and comes up with his own rationales to experiment with—or deconstruct—paint in a perhaps attempt to approximate the boundaries of finite thing.
Ji Dachun
Ji Dachun was born in 1968 in Nantong, Jiangsu, China. He graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Oil Painting Department, Beijing, China in 1993. As one of the most representative Chinese contemporary artists, Ji Dachun is widely noticed for his distinctive personal style. His paintings are witty, humorous, ethereal and tranquil, and full of romantic poetry and Zen. In particular, his choice and persistence in easel painting, in an environment where installations, images, pictures, and multimedia methods are becoming more popular, it highlights its unique expressive charm and profound significance.
After having produced many of his now-widely recognized figurative paintings from his early career, Ji Dachun (b. 1968) begins to gravitate towards acrylic, a medium that is comparatively lighter and less saturated than oil paint. Initially he was obsessed with the viscous pictorial effect of acrylic, and later on there were his serial explorations of the themes of “Black” and “White”. Throughout this entire process, he has experimented with Payne’s gray—which he considered an unstable pigment color—in terms of how it presents different shades of transparencies, textures, and tonal layers on the canvas. He experimented so as to grasp the relationship between the subject of paint, the residue, and the image. Through this project, Ji Dachun endeavors to grasp his own position within the coordination of (art) history and reality and comes up with his own rationales to experiment with—or deconstruct—paint in a perhaps attempt to approximate the boundaries of finite things.
Ji has held solo exhibitions at LudwigMuseum (Koblenz,Germany), MACRO Museo d‘Arte Contemporanea Roma (Rome, Italy), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, China), Kunstmuseum Bern (Bern, Switzerland), Posco Museum (Seoul, South Korea) and other art institutions. His works have been exhibited in the 56th Venice Biennial, 2012 Gwangju Biennale Special Exhibition, The First Triennial of Chinese Arts, 2001 Chengdu Biennale, 2000 Shanghai Biennale, the 1st China Oil Painting Biennale and the 2nd 2ed Annual China Oil Painting Exhibition.
After having produced many of his now-widely recognized figurative paintings from his early career, Ji Dachun (b. 1968) begins to gravitate towards acrylic, a medium that is comparatively lighter and less saturated than oil paint. Initially he was obsessed with the viscous pictorial effect of acrylic, and later on there were his serial explorations of the themes of “Black” and “White”. Throughout this entire process, he has experimented with Payne’s gray—which he considered an unstable pigment color—in terms of how it presents different shades of transparencies, textures, and tonal layers on the canvas. He experimented so as to grasp the relationship between the subject of paint, the residue, and the image. Through this project, Ji Dachun endeavors to grasp his own position within the coordination of (art) history and reality and comes up with his own rationales to experiment with—or deconstruct—paint in a perhaps attempt to approximate the boundaries of finite things.
Ji has held solo exhibitions at LudwigMuseum (Koblenz,Germany), MACRO Museo d‘Arte Contemporanea Roma (Rome, Italy), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing, China), Kunstmuseum Bern (Bern, Switzerland), Posco Museum (Seoul, South Korea) and other art institutions. His works have been exhibited in the 56th Venice Biennial, 2012 Gwangju Biennale Special Exhibition, The First Triennial of Chinese Arts, 2001 Chengdu Biennale, 2000 Shanghai Biennale, the 1st China Oil Painting Biennale and the 2nd 2ed Annual China Oil Painting Exhibition.
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Curator
Curator
Su Wei
Su Wei (born in Beijing) is an art writer, art historian and curator based in Beijing.
Su Wei's work in recent years focuses on re-constructing the narrative—and radical imagination—of contemporary Chinese art history, and explores the roots of the legitimacy and rupture of contemporary Chinese art history in a global context. Pivotal to his work is the attempt to take the “post-1949” as the key in understanding artistic production in a contemporary situation, and in so doing he seeks to re-define the stance and possibilities of art in nowadays China. He thus engages in an anti-establishment critical practice by mapping the limits, contextual clues and unconscious energies of the post-1949 art production, which figures the dual presence of decay and emptiness.
Su Wei's work in recent years focuses on re-constructing the narrative—and radical imagination—of contemporary Chinese art history, and explores the roots of the legitimacy and rupture of contemporary Chinese art history in a global context. Pivotal to his work is the attempt to take the “post-1949” as the key in understanding artistic production in a contemporary situation, and in so doing he seeks to re-define the stance and possibilities of art in nowadays China. He thus engages in an anti-establishment critical practice by mapping the limits, contextual clues and unconscious energies of the post-1949 art production, which figures the dual presence of decay and emptiness.