On September 17, 2023, Zhuang Hui’s solo project “The Journey of an Autodidact” opened atDRC.12’s new space in Building 11.
There is a black and white photograph at the entrance, which bears Zhuang Hui’s caption: “1963, the Year of the Rabbit in the lunar calendar. This is a family photograph labeled ‘Memories of Spring Festival ’63.’ Over two months after this photo was taken, on April 9th, I was born in Yumen, a desolate town in northwest China. I became a member of a loving family. In that year, our country had just endured three consecutive years of disasters. Fate would also lead me to experience a period of poverty, confusion, and unease.”
Now, sixty years later, we are one full sexagenary cycle removed from that photograph. We have collectively experienced three years of the pandemic, and our current reality is still causing exhaustion, confusion, and fear.
Zhuang Hui, a passionate collector, will present his experiences, art prints, sketches, and original photographs from his early years of teaching himself painting. The text for a painting entitled The Birth of the First Tractor reads: “In the 1950s, after Yue Xiyan retired from the army in Tibet, he was assigned to work at the Luoyang Tractor Factory, but he never gave up his paintbrush in his spare time. In 1961, he used a coarse bedsheet as canvas and created this oil painting titled The Birth of the First Tractor in his bachelor’s dormitory. When I was learning to paint, I also imitated Yue’s method by utilizing the coarse cloth used to wipe the machines in the factory. I used it to make the canvas, practiced sketching, and created during my free time.” This may perfectly encapsulate what drew this beginner to art.
The exhibition primarily follows Chinese contemporary art in the 1990s, a period from which Zhuang presents large numbers of photographs, documents, and recordings that allow people to see an early burst of energy in contemporary art. Showing the exhibition in the DRC.12 brings people back to that past, but not so distant, era and once again casts the complex’s function in a historical light.
Art has a strong stylistic tension, and Zhuang Hui uses brightly colored paper, old linoleum, and tinted acrylic covers to bring this history alive for viewers so that the archival documents do not fall into the historical trap of becoming mere nostalgia.
The project will run for three months, ending in December 16, 2023.
2023年9月17日庄辉个人项目“自学之路”在新搬入11号楼的外交公寓12号开展。
入口处挂有一张黑白原始照片，庄辉写道：“1963，癸卯，阴历兔年。这是一张标注‘63年春节留念’字样的家庭合影照片。在照片拍摄两个多月后，4月9日我降生在西北这座荒凉的小镇玉门，成为充满着暖意的家中一员。这一年，共和国刚刚经历了三年灾害。命运也将带我经历一个贫乏、彷徨、不安的岁月”
60年后的今天整整一个甲子，我们又一次共同度过了疫情三年，现实仍然令人们困顿、迷乱、惶恐不安。
缘于收集癖好，庄辉为大家复现了自学绘画之初的经历、美术样稿、写生作品、早期原始照片等。其中在一幅标题为“第一台拖拉机诞生”的文字中描述：“上个世纪五十年代，岳西岩老师从西藏部队复员后，被分配在洛阳拖拉机厂当工人。工作之余，他一直没有放弃手中的画笔。1961年，他用粗布床单制作成画布，在居住的单身宿舍，创作出了这幅《第一台拖拉机的诞生》的油画作品。我在学习画画时，也模仿了岳西岩老师的制作方式，用工厂擦拭机床的粗布制作画布，利用业余时间练习写生和创作”，或许这就是艺术对一个初学者的诱惑力。
这次展览项目，庄辉以九十年代中国当代艺术的发生为主线，大量的照片、文献、早期录像为人们回朔当代艺术最初的力量提供证物。展览在外交公寓12号内发生，也将观众的视线再一次带回到了曾经并不遥远的时代，也使外交公寓的功能又一次历史性地凸显。
艺术拥有自身强大的语言张力，为了不使文献坠入历史的陷阱，避免出现怀旧迷惑的困局，庄辉采用色彩鲜艳的纸张、旧漆布、彩色亚克力罩等，力求使证物将观众带入一个鲜活的历史。
展览为期三个月整，2023年12月16日结束。
WORKS
OPENING SCENE
