FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION FOR YUN-FEI JI IN BEIJING

Special collaborative performance by The Philadelphia Orchestra Quartet

YUN-FEI JI: WATER WORK

Long Gallery, June 3 – July 15 2012

Tuesday – Sunday, 10:00 -19:00

UCCA, 798 Art District, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China 100015

www.ucca.org.cn

The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) will present the first solo exhibition of artist Yun-Fei Ji, Water Work, in Beijing, the city in which he was born, opening Sunday 3 June. This exhibition features new commissions and key works from the last decade, including several scroll paintings over ten meters long, some which have never been seen together. In this exhibition Yun-Fei Ji examines historical developments in contemporary America and China focusing on the effects of grand infrastructural projects and water-related natural disasters on ordinary people.

Born and raised in Beijing, and trained in oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Yun-Fei Ji made his artistic name in the 1990s as a painter working in Brooklyn, in the United States, showing in a thoroughly international context. His practice is rooted in observation and the passage of time, using classical materials such as Chinese ink with watercolor, pencil, woodblock, and etching on paper.

His painterly lens switches freely between his two homelands, with some works addressing American events such as Hurricane Katrina while others look at projects and events in China such as the Three Gorges Dam and the North-South Aqueduct. Combining personal research with fictionalised elements, Yun-Fei Ji ‘s work is a socio-environmental document of change and progress, using Chinese symbolism to make universal statements. He deals with loss and human displacement, often adding a mythological dimension to recent happenings.

A special collaborative performance will take place in conjunction with Water Work, led by the string quartet of The Philadelphia Orchestra on Saturday 2 June, 16:00-17:00. Inspired by Yun-Fei Ji’s work, the quartet will perform two pieces, Antonín Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 (1893) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 4, Opus 83 (1949), in response to Yun-Fei Ji’s solo exhibition, “Water Work”, which deftly handles issues of disaster, displacement and social memory through the quiet voice of Chinese ink and unfolding scrolls. This event is part of The Philadelphia Orchestra Residency Week and Tour of China in 2012, in conjunction with the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing. The weeklong residency in Beijing marks the first time any U.S. orchestra has co-created a long-term residency in China. This is also the first time a musical performance directly inspired by an exhibition will take place at UCCA.

Yun-Fei Ji has been involved in a number of important exhibitions internationally, including the 18^th Sydney Biennale (2012) and the 11^th Biennale de Lyon (2011), as well as shows at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the British Museum, London.

Education and public programs relating to the exhibition will include a children’s workshop that will lead kids through the exhibition on June 9.

This exhibition is made possible with loans from the American Embassy in Beijing.

(Media conference and press guided tour held Saturday 2 June, 14:00 – 16:00).

PRESS ENQUIRIES

Sybella Chow, UCCA, +86 10 5780 0253, sybella.chow@ucca.org.cn

Jade Ouk / Billy Tam, Sutton PR Asia, +852 2528 0792, jade@suttonprasia.com / billy@suttonparasia.com

季云飞：水利工程

展览时间

2012年6月3日至2012年7月15日

尤伦斯当代艺术中心(UCCA)于2012年6月3日至2012年7月15日（预展：6月2日）期间举办“季云飞：水利工程”展览。

此次展览带来季云飞的诸多主要作品，其中包括若干幅超过十米的长卷，这些长卷也是首次共同展出。本展中的作品大多创作于过去十年间，同时包括部分为此次展览专门创作的作品。季云飞以中国水墨为媒介，呈现历史记忆和当代社会的发展。

季云飞生长在中国，而过去的二十年在美国度过。他的绘画实践植根于对生活的观察和时间的推移，他对大型的人为工程和自然灾害对普通人的影响有着浓厚的兴趣。他曾在北京的中央美术学院学习油画，从那时起，他开始使用传统材料作画，以对当代问题发表评论，这些材料包括中国水墨、水彩、铅笔、木刻、纸板蚀刻等。季云飞的创作主题包括自然灾害和人类流离失所境遇，并在当时发生的事件中加入了一些神话色彩。

毕业后，季云飞在20世纪80年代末移居美国，他在美国布鲁克林区因其艺术创作而开始在艺术界中名声鹊起，从此登上国际舞台。他的绘画视野在中美之间自由切换，一些作品展现美国的大事件，诸如卡特里娜飓风，另一些则关注中国的三峡大坝和南水北调工程。他的作品把个人研究与虚构元素相结合，用中国的象征主义来描绘世界，反映了社会环境的变化和进步。

季云飞曾参与了一些重要的国际展览，包括第18届悉尼双年展（2012年）和第11届里昂双年展（2011年），以及在纽约现代艺术博物馆、在伦敦大英博物馆的展览。

配合这个展览的文化教育和公共项目包括：6月2日与费城弦乐四重奏团的合作演出，一场属于“smart 系列艺术家讲座”的艺术家对话，以及一场儿童工作坊活动。

本次展览因美国驻北京大使馆的赞助而成为可能。

www.ucca.org.cn