SHI ZHIYING: The Infinite Lawn

*Please scroll down for English.

无垠的草坪——石至莹个展

2012年5月26日至7月26日

VIP开幕酒会：2012年5月26日，周六，晚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画廊将荣幸推出上海艺术家石至莹个展《无垠的草坪》，展览将于2012年5月26日开幕，并持续至7月26日。这是艺术家在James Cohan画廊的首次个展。

石至莹的作品以其黑白风格的广阔海域、无尽散乱的岩石风景、传统的沙庭景观和叶片交错的草坪而予人深刻的印象，其作品总是能够令观者立刻进入深层的感官与冥想境界。“我希望认真地面对这些事物，”艺术家曾说过，“我尽可能真诚地对待绘画（和其他事物）；我与他们进行交流…”

本次展览将展示艺术家最近的作品《帕洛马尔》，一组30件纸本水彩水墨作品。标题来自著名意大利作家卡尔维诺（1923-1985）的一部文学作品《帕洛马尔》。在书中，主人公帕洛马尔先生—其名字得自美国著名的天文观测台—不断对其周身世界中的物进行哲学观察与观察，一片海浪，如剑般的阳光，两只乌龟，火星的表面，一盘奶酪，日式沙庭，宇宙星系，等等，所有这些都将他带入了关于存在本质的沉思，亦进入了至莹的视觉化的冥想中。每一件纸本绘画即对应书中的相应章节。

本次展览的中心作品《无垠的草坪》，一件大幅油画，亦出自该书之一中心章节。《草坪》系列作品始于2010年，与她略早期的《海经》系列及近期的《火星》《沙海》系列类似，草亦是至莹反复摹绘的主题之一。其绘画过程本身亦仿佛是她自身严格的冥想，在注重过程的绘画进程中逐渐展开其作品的内容与主题。又或者，至莹可能想问，“两片草叶是否是相同的？”

石至莹（1979年出生于上海），毕业于上海大学美术学院油画系。2009年，她在北京尤伦斯当代艺术中心举办了重要个展《从太平洋─公海》。她的作品参加过许多群展，包括2011年《N分钟影像艺术节》，上海；《白兔十年》，White Rabbit画廊，悉尼；《DAS ICH IM ANDEREN》，麦卡托基金会，德国埃森；2010年《双簧─中国当代艺术展2010》，东大名创库，上海；《百年女性中外女艺术家作品展》，上海美术馆，上海；2010年个展《天上•人间》，空白空间，北京。艺术家目前工作和生活于上海。

更多信息或图片，请联系 周冰心 izhou@jamescohan.com或 +86-21-54660825 *602。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。

点击下载艺术家简历

点击下载展览图册

SHI ZHIYING: The Infinite Lawn

May 26 through July 26, 2012

VIP opening reception: May 26th, 2012, Saturday, 6-8 pm Venue: James Cohan Gallery Shanghai Address: 1F, Building 1, No.170 Yueyang Road, by Yongjia Road

James Cohan Gallery Shanghai is pleased to present the solo exhibition The Infinite Lawn by Shanghai-based artist Shi Zhiying, opening May 26 and continuing through July 26, 2012. This is the artist’s debut exhibition at the gallery.

Known for her stark black and white paintings depicting vast views of the sea, endless landscapes of scattered rocks, traditional sand gardens and intricate blades of grass, Shi’s paintings are at once deeply visceral and contemplative. “I wish to face things quietly, attentively” the artist has stated, “I treat painting [and objects] sincerely; I am communicating with them…."

The exhibition features Shi Zhiying’s recent project Palomar, a set of 30 watercolor and ink works inspired by the book Mr. Palomar by Italian writer Italo Calvino (1923-1985). The novel’s central character, whose name also evokes that of a famous observatory, continuously makes philosophical observations and speculations about the world around him—a wave, the rays of the sun, a pair of turtles, a sand garden—all leading to ruminations on the nature of things and Being towards the universal. Each of Shi’s 27 works corresponds to a single chapter.

The centerpiece to the exhibition, The Infinite Lawn, is a large scale painting which also refers to one of the novel’s key chapters. The Grass painting series was started in 2010. As in Shi’s earlier seascape paintings or her recent Mars and Sand series, grass is one of the motifs the artist keeps returning to, eliminating all that is inessential and to further distill its essential characteristic. Or, as Shi Zhiying might ask, “Are any two blades of grass ever alike?”

Shi Zhiying (born in Shanghai, 1979) graduated from the Oil Painting Department, Shanghai University Fine Arts College. In 2009, Shi Zhiying was the subject of a major solo exhibition From The Pacific Ocean to the High Seas at Ullens Center of Contemporary Art in Beijing. Her work has been featured in distinguished group exhibitions, including 2011 N Minutes Video Art Festival, Shanghai, China; 2011 Decade of the Rabbit, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia; 2011 DAS ICH IM ANDEREN, Stiftung Mercator, Essen, Germany; 2010 Double Act – 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Red Town Warehouse, Shanghai; 2010 Centennial Celebration of Women in Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, and a solo exhibition at White Space in Beijing in 2010. She exhibitionsly works and lives in Shanghai.

For further information or additional images, please contact Ms. Ivy Zhou at izhou@jamescohan.com or +86 - 21 - 54660825 *602. Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10-6 p.m., Sunday 12-6 p.m., and Monday by appointment.

Click here to download ARTIST'S BIO

Click here to download EXHIBITION BROCHURE