Exhibition Opening Reflection

After our exhibition opening last night, we were astounded by the sheer volume of visitors to see the 2020 and 2022 winners of the John Moores Painting Prize.

The 10 John Moores Painting Prize China winners made insightful reflections on their experience of Liverpool, bringing in their own interests and practices from home. The variety of artists’ interpretations of Liverpool was fascinating to see within the space of the Art School. Connecting experiences to space and environment.

Given the short time for producing the work it is impressive to see the magnitude of art in a matter of 10 days!

The artists also brought their own artworks from China to connect their new works to their inherent practice and provide further context to the exhibit.

Reflection:

The exhibition consisted of two exhibition spaces to showcase a total of 51 pieces. The space within the Exhibition Research Lab provided a great landscape for the 2022 prize winners. This is the first time works were exhibited on the walls of the gallery space, as a opposed to hanging from the ceiling. This allowed for better use of the space to allow visitors to immerse themselves and walk round the exhibit.

The first piece upon entry is the large scale work from Peng Yong and his piece "3000 Realism in a Single Moment of Life, Gray Cloud". The work made a great impact within the space, particularly when viewed from the back of the exhibition space.

Peng Yong: "300 Realms in a Single Moment of Life - Gray Cloud", "3000 Realms in a Single Moment of Life No.23-1", 3000 Realms in a Single Moment of Life No.23-2" and "3000 Realms in a Single Moment of Life No.23-4"

Pairing Peng Yong's and You Xin's work together, created an interesting narrative concerning the value of aesthetics within art making processes and the dynamic feel to both pieces as they change upon where you are viewing from. We could also connect Jin Dawei's work to the value of process within art with his piece

You Xin's work makes a fascinating connection to light, in which wherever you stand, the piece changes colour as it interacts with the light, creating this incredibly transient piece.

Left Image: You Xin "NPD"

Right Image: You Xin: "NPD", "Holidays" and "Story"

In concerning the value of process within art, We could also connect Jin Dawei's work to this philosophy. Through constructing paintings and then deconstructing in order to reconstruct, it creates a fascinating dialogue to the process of art-making as the artwork itself. The result being simply that, a result.

The way the pieces hang suspended from the ceiling, creates this further engagement by offering the viewer insight into how the remnants of painted canvas were constructed.

Image 1: Jin Dawei: "Untitled F230816" and "Untitled F230818"

Image 2: Jin Dawei: "Stories 2# F230815","Untitled F230816", "Untitled F230818", "Bells 1# F230904", "Bells 2# F230904" and "Bells 3# F230904"

Image 3: Jin Dawei:"Untitled F230818", "Bells 1# F230904", "Bells 2# F230904" and "Bells 3# F230904"

It is captivating to see how each artist views painting so differently from each other. From Li Qing's mystifying surrealist works which hold such fine detail, to Chen Jiabin's expressionistic and gestural pieces that evoke a feeling of fluidity and calmness. From Yang Wei's futuristic architecture to Nie Li's Picasso and Kafka inspired works.

Image 1: Li Qing's art works: "An Ordinary Day", "Going on a Long Journey", "Waves" and "The Pool.

Image 2. Chen Jiabin artworks all titled: "Lisa".

Image 3: Chen Jiabin. "Wavy"

Image 4: Chen Jiabin: "The Girl by the Sea"

Image 5: Yang Wei artworks:"About Liverpool, Empty City, Breeze and the Shoal"

Image 6: Nie Li artworks: "Enter Through the Narrow Gate", "Mood Diary", "The Cage of the Body" and "The Woman and Man Holding the Mirror".

As we go further into the Public Exhibition Space, we see the 2020 John Moores Painting Prize China winners. The predominantly figurative pieces make some insightful comments on the experiences of visiting a foreign country and the environmental struggles across the world.

Wang Longwei's pieces have a strong theme of control from the deep imagery of marionettes hanging from string. As a teacher we can also see the childlike influence of his pieces through puppetry and childlike games including cats cradle, as depicted in the three dimensional work "Breaking into Liverpool". The use of string within his pieces brings in this idea of two dimensionality entering the three dimensional plane.

Image 1: Wang Longwei: "Private Spaces"

Image 2 Wang Longwei: "Walking Across the Gobi"

Image 3 Wang Longwei: "The Night with Rain"

Image 4: Wang Longwei: "Breaking into Liverpool"

Image 5: Wang Longwei: "Out of Control" and "A Practice on the Raft of Medusa"

As we move to the work of Tan Bide, we can see how visually clear his message is, into the destructive effects of climate change. Through creating this fantastical imagery he combines real monuments around Liverpool with natural disasters invading the histories and culture of Liverpool.

Image 1: Tan Bide "Peace", "Chinaman", "Untitled (flood), "爱 (Ài)", "Untitled (wildfire)" and "LOVE"

Image 2: Li Qiangqiang: "Spiritual Halo, Man and Space"

Image 3: Li Qiangqiang "At Home No.1"

Image 4: Li Qiangqiang "At Home No.2"

In a similar vein to Tan Bide, Li Qiangqiang also highlights the architectural design of Liverpool through portraying key biblical monuments of the Anglican Cathedral. It is clear to see how much of an impact Liverpool has had on Li Qiangqiang's work and the textural backdrop he gives to delineate the pink sky scape.

We would like to thank everyone for coming to the exhibition opening and we look forward to welcoming other visitors throughout the week.

For more information on each artists biography check out our other blog posts.

For information on the John Moores Painting Prize China Residency visit the website here: http://www.johnmooreschina.com/en/

For information on the UK painting prize, visit the website here: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/jmpp/john-moores-painting-prize