Duration: Aug 31 – Sep 20, 2019
Opening Reception: Aug 31, 2019, Saturday at 3pm
Venue: Canton-sardine
Address: 268 Keefer street, #071 at Lower-ground (LG), Vancouver
Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 12-6pm
Curators: Xiaoyan Yang, Steven Dragonn
BRINGING THE SPIRIT FROM AFAR TO THE OTHER SIDE OF OCEAN
It was in 1987 when Wang Yiming began his first sketching tour to Tibet. Ever since then, he has been obsessed with the rite of “Kora”. In the past 30 years, he made numerous journeys into remote mountains in Tibet. Just as how Tibetan Buddhists express their piety, he also calls his art journey “Kora”. He has already completed 10 trips to Tibet since 2011. Each year he spends one or two months driving to Tibet and practicing sketching from the morning until afternoon when the wind starts to blow. “The way Wang paints may look like sketching , but is in nature a synchronized movement of emotion and body aroused by the majesty of the summit. What sustains his painting on a 8m*3m canvas all day long is the stamina stimulated by a unique emotion. The self-indulgence in his paintings boasts an intense sense of presence, making it more like a tough mental and physical improvement instead of a sketching. In this sense, Wang’s paintings are a kind of action painting, and his artistic practice is the result of something closely linked with his own action”, observed by Yang Xiaoyan, a famous Chinese art critic.
Tibetans practice “Kora” in a number of ways. They walk around a holy mountain or a holy lake just to express their gratitude to mother nature. And this is their spiritual pursuit. I believe a lot of things in human society are just expressed in different ways. They are different because your background of growing up and getting education are different. Or maybe because your jobs are different, just like I am a painter myself. I have been to Tibet for so many times in these years because I am attracted to everything in there. This is my spiritual pursuit and my belief of “Kora”. What appears in my paintings and those paintings done traveling in Tibet are two totally separate concepts. I absorb all the elements in Tibet and reorganize them in my mind before making them into something completely different”, said Wang.
Flag is a spiritual token for Tibetans. Wang borrows this form as a symbol of his action painting. Just as what Huang Jiancheng, a Chinese artist, observed that “Tibet has a sense of belonging and life to Yiming. Traveling to Tibet is just a start, or a part, of his destiny to Tibet. I think what Tibet means to Yiming is more than merely a symbol or a physical experience in surface, but more like a call from within or a religious belief. Only with this can he leave such a meaningful adventure in life”. As a “Tibetan-style” symbol, flags convey the meaning of making wishes and praying for good luck. Stripping off this symbolic element from his abstract paintings created when he traveled to Tibet and elevating it to a kind of behavior art full of a primitive sense of ritual, Wang plans to drag along the “colorful flags” made with 81 pieces of 15m*3m painted cloths around the foot of Mount Everest in the way of walking around the mountain, or “Kora”. He observed that “ I hope people can pay attention to the nature that sustains us. Visitors to Mount Everest leave a large amount of garbage in the camps. Grave environmental pollution can be found at the summit of earth , let alone the rest parts of the world”. Wang hopes to do something for the world, for Mount Everest and for environmental protection through such a painting action.
This time, Wang has brought this spirit with him to Vancouver, a city on the other side of Pacific. In the form of action art, he continues to explore the meaning of life and share his feelings with audience outside China. After his solo exhibitions in Today Art Museum in Beijing (2017), 21 Space Art Museum in Dongguan (2017), Redtory in Guangzhou (2018), Coast Gallery in Zhuhai (2018), chief special art project of Shanghai Art Fair (2018), and Meishan Land Art Festival (2018), Wang started his worldwide promotion of painting actions advocating environmental protection. Vancouver is honored to be the first stop of this journey. Besides paintings created in Tibet, this exhibition will exhibit Wang’s new painting created in this very journey to Vancouver together with local artists. The painting is 20 meters long and is created on a silk-linen cloth.
To support daily operation of Shang Foundation for Art and Canton-sardine, promote environmental protection in art practices and artistic exchanges between China and Canada, Wang has made a generous donation of 15 pieces of exhibit works to raise fund for the operation of the foundation and the gallery.
Flags on the Other Coast: Wang Yiming’s Solo Exhibition in Vancouver is co-curated by Yang Xiaoyan, Chinese art critic and professor at Sun Yat-sen University, and Canadian independent curator Steven Dragonn. The exhibition will open at 3 pm on August 31, 2019 at Canton-sardine until September 20. Guests are invited to grace the opening ceremony, where Wang Yiming will share his thoughts of creation.
Brief introduction to Wang Yiming
Born in Liuyang, Hunan Province, Wang acquired his master degree from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts. He is now Dean of Art Teaching and Research Office, Dean of Visual Art Laboratory, and Dean of Environmental Art Research Institute at the School of Architecture of South China University of Technology, and member of the Art Teaching Committee of the Architecture Discipline Professional Steering Committee of National Higher Education Institutions.
Solo Exhibitions of Wang Yiming
2017 Mountain Kora: Yiming Wang’s Spiritual Journey, Today Art Museum, Beijing
2017 A Long Spiritual Journey: the Painting Actions of Wang Yiming, 21 Space Art Museum, Dongguan, Guangdong
2018 Flags: Loving Mount Everest, Respecting Nature, Wang Yiming’s Public Art Actions, Coast Gallery of Gree Real Estate, Zhuhai, Guangdong
2018 Flags: Loving Mount Everest, Respecting Nature, Wang Yiming’s Public Art Actions, Chief Special Art Project of the 22nd Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai
2018 Flags: Loving Mount Everest, Respecting Nature, Wang Yiming’s Public Art Actions, E5 Art Gallery, Redtory, Guangzhou
Academic publications
Rain Season in Shangri-la, published by Hunan Art Press
Mountain Kora, published by Lingnan Art Publishing House
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《王义明：彼岸之幡》
展覽時間：2019年8月31日至9月20日
開幕時間：2019年8月31日，週六下午3點
展览地點：沙甸鹹水埠
展览地址：溫哥華 唐人街奇化街268號新華中心地下一層071單元
策 展 人：杨小彦，龍邃洋
把远方的精神带到大洋彼岸
1987年，王义明首次进藏写生，从此开始他的转山之路，三十年间他多次深入藏区创作，与藏传佛教表达虔敬的方式一样，他把这种艺术之旅也称之为“转山”。从2011年起至今已是十次入藏的他，每年都会花上一两个月的时间开车进藏写生，从早晨开始到下午起风之时结束。“王义明的作画方式，表面看是写生，究其实质，却是一种因眼前之峰颠壮美而掀起的一场情绪与身体的同步运动。他之所以能够用整整一天不知疲倦地在八米乘三米的大画面上作画，所依靠的就是这样一种奇特的情绪而调动起来的体力。他的绘画本身的放肆有一种强烈的现场气息在，仿佛不是写生，而是一次情感与肉身的深刻历练。从这一意义上看，王义明的画是一种行动绘画，他之艺术实践，就是一种与行动密切相关的产物。”中国著名美术评论家杨小彦说道。
“藏民的转山有很多种，他们围着一座神山、一个圣湖转，是他们向大自然表达感恩的体现，这是他们的精神追求。我想人类社会很多表达的东西只是方式不一样，因为你的成长环境、教育背景，或者职业区别，我是画画的。这么多年上西藏写生，因为那里所有的一切在吸引着我，这是我的精神追求，我的转山……我的画面和去西藏猎奇的画完全是两个概念，我是将西藏所有的元素全部归在脑子里面再重新组合变成另外一种东西。” 王义明说道。
幡，作为藏民的一种精神的寄托。王义明借用了这种形式作为他行动绘画的一种象征，正如中国艺术家黄建成评论道：“西藏对义明应当说有一种生命的归属感。上西藏只是他西藏宿命的开始，或者是一部分。我想西藏之于义明应当不仅是表皮上的符号、感官上的体悟，而是内心的呼唤和宗教般的信念所至，如此才有他生命中这一段极富意义的痕迹”。 幡作为一种“西藏式”的象征包涵的是许愿、祈福的意义。王义明在连续进藏的创作中从抽象绘画中剥离出这一象征元素并将其升华成一个与绘画结合，并具备原始仪式感的行为艺术——他计划把81条长15米宽3米绘画而成的“五彩幡”，以“转山”的方式在珠峰脚下拖行。他说：“希望人们关注我们赖以生存的自然，在珠峰营地，每年造访的游客和登山者都会留下大量垃圾，在地球的最高处都已经出现这么严重的环境问题，其他地方可想而知。” 王义明希望通过这一绘画行动，能为世界、为珠穆朗玛峰、为环保做一点事。
这次，王义明把这种精神带到大洋彼岸的温哥华，以行动艺术的方式继续探索生命之旅的意义，并把他的感受分享给中国以外的观众。这是继北京今日美术馆个展（2017），东莞二十一空间美术馆个展（2017），上海艺术博览会首席特别艺术项目（2018），广州红专厂个展（2018），珠海无界美术馆个展（2018），成都眉山乡野艺术节（2018）之后，开启王义明环保绘画行动在世界范围的推广，温哥华很荣幸地成为这个旅程的第一站。展览除了展出王义明在西藏绘画的作品外，还将展示他此次温哥华之行的驻地创作：一幅长20米，与本地艺术家共同完成的绢本作品。
为支持加拿大尚·艺术基金会和沙甸咸水阜的日常营运，促进世界艺术环保的推广和中加两国艺术交流，王义明慷慨捐赠本次展览的画作15件作为基金会和画廊运营经费之筹募。
《彼岸之幡——王义明温哥华个展》由中国著名艺术评论家、中山大学教授兼博士生导师杨小彦，与加拿大独立策展人龙邃洋联合策划，将于2019年8月31日下午3时在沙甸咸水阜Canton-sardine开幕，展期至9月20日，诚邀各界朋友莅临开幕式，艺术家王义明将向观众分享他的心路历程。
王义明简介：
湖南浏阳人
毕业于西安美术学院，硕士研究生；华南理工大学建筑学院美术教研室主任、视觉艺术实验室主任、环境艺术研究所所长、全国高等学校建筑学科专业指导委员会美术教学工作委员会委员；
王义明个展：
2017 年 “转山记一王义明的精神之旅”, 今日美术馆，北京。2017 年 “精神的长旅，王义明的绘画行动” 二十一空间美术
馆，广东东莞。
2018 年 “幡一珍爱珠峰，敬畏自然，王义明公共艺术行
动”， 格力地产无界美术馆，广东珠海。
2018 年 “幡一珍爱珠峰，敬畏自然，王义明公共艺术行”，
第 22 届上海艺术博览会首席特别艺术项目，上海
世博会展馆，上海。
2018 年 “幡一珍爱珠峰，敬畏自然，王义明公共艺术行动”
红专厂E5艺术馆，广州。
学术专著
《香格里拉的雨季》湖南美术出版社出版；
《转山记》岭南美术出版社出版
CANTON-SARDINE 