Artist   

Lois Conner 

News Release  

"Conlance China Photography - Lotus Imagination: Lotus Pond, landscape and ancient trees" will open at 3:00 PM on January 21, 2020 (Tuesday) at Hanyang Art Center of Huanglong Hotel, Hangzhou.

Concord has a strong connection with China, and her style of photography is deeply inspired by Chinese scroll paintings. Since winning the Guggenheim Prize in 1984, she has returned to China to film almost every year. Carrying a hundred pounds of equipment, ascetic monk - style across the river, urban and rural deserts, to explore and witness the transformation and extinction of China. Under her huge eyes and lens, all things in the land of China were frozen for a moment, platinum showed their phases and engraved into an epic poem. This is the 64th exhibition held by Hanyang Art Center in the Gallery of Huanglong Hotel.

The exhibition will be divided into three main parts, lotus, landscape and ancient trees, presenting more than 10 pieces of work that Conran has taken in China over the past three decades since the 1980s. The extension will last until March 13, 2020.

Foreword

Lotus thought: lotus pond, landscape, ancient trees

Gu Has been photography in China for 35 years. The lotus pond is brimming with water. Carrying a hundred pounds of equipment, ascetic monk - style across the river, urban and rural desert, to explore and witness the transformation and disappearing of China. Under her huge eyes and lens, all things in the land of China were frozen for a moment, platinum showed their phases and engraved into an epic poem.

Her works, theme, style, rich and diverse. Time and space crisscrosses, personnel scenery, like water, eternal eternal. In the conflict and confrontation, the cutting edge meaningful; Between the ancient wasteland rate, vigorous development. The truth is free but the tension is infinite. Keen and unique perspective, perfect and professional artistic expression, dazzling eyes, lingering, evocative. And especially miss her empty poetic Jiangnan, lotus pond, ancient trees.

Landscape, or jiangnan landscape, is the original heart, but also love. And it all came about because of her experience at Yale.

In 1982, when She was a graduate student at Yale university, She happened to meet Mr. Ben Zonghua, an expert in landscape painting, and was greatly inspired by the amazing beauty of Chinese landscape painting and the unique opening, opening and narrative viewing form of the horizontal long hand scroll. Having a particular interest in landscape photography, she found that the 7 x 17 inch banquet camera and platinum printing were particularly suitable for the expression of Chinese poetic landscape and ink painting. In 1984, under guggenhanji's blessing, she set foot on The land of China for the first time and went straight to guilin and Yangshuo, which have the most beautiful mountains and rivers in the world. Then I came to the west Lake in Hangzhou, a paradise on earth, and I have been bound to China ever since.

Yale also got to know Conran. In 1986, when I was studying for a PhD at Yale university, I heard about her legend in the department of Art and Art History and saw her works at first sight. It was amazing and naturally became her long-time fan. The original intention and inspiration of Conran's Chinese photography, even though we are all familiar with the beautiful story of her encounter with Chinese landscape painting at Yale. However, in addition to the narrative nature of the horizontal length ruler of banquet camera and platinum print and the extended hand scroll of calligraphy and painting, in addition to the similarity in form, the internal correspondence between her and Chinese landscape painting in aesthetics and rules, especially the control of emptiness is the key point, but it is rarely mentioned.

The combination of reality and reality, hardness and softness is the basic principle of Chinese landscape painting composition and creation. Whether it is the monumental mountains and rivers of the Northern Song, the poetic south of the Southern Song, or the clouds and smoke on the paper since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it is true that there is truth in emptiness and there is emptiness in reality. In the contrast between the virtual and the real, there is an endless landscape painting mirror. Conlans appreciates the mystery of this, especially the Chinese aesthetics with god's heart in the empty space, which is a direct dialogue with the current Chinese landscape because of the unique treatment of merging with the emptiness on the space. In addition, she excellently controls the light source and shadow characteristics of photography art, can strengthen the contrast between light and shadow at the right time, adjust the subtle and blurred grey gradation, and create a meaningful fantasy beyond time and space.

Besides the beautiful and poetic painting, what is more attractive is the gentle and domainous spirit shown in Conlance's works. Examining each of her works, we can see an abstract modern horizontal, straight, diagonal, or curved lines, crisscrossing and weaving into the basic structure of the vision. This is especially evident in her urban photography, but it is also unquestionably implicit in all landscapes and compositions. This powerful structure, natural but full of tension, reminds us of the dragon vein view in Chinese landscape science. It is the breath and pulse connecting the undulating flow of mountains and rivers, the spine of the earth and the base column. In the rational composition of the girders, the veins of dragons are permeated with delicate and subtle emotional expression, and a series of attractive cosmic skies are constructed. As her table child wan, li Zi domineer personality. In the combination of hardness and softness, strength and beauty are framed together.

In terms of artistic thinking, Conran also happens to coincide with the Chinese philosophy of the unity of man and nature. She often emphasizes the creation of aesthetically poetic painting scene, or objective and real scenery reproduction, is definitely not her ultimate pursuit. Everything belongs to her, which is the embodiment of history and culture in specific time and space. Like her true artistic statement:

Landscape as the embodiment of culture is my topic. Untouchable or otherworldly worlds are not my interest. Through the medium of photography, in a deliberate but subtle way, I wanted to show a sense of history. Through photographic works, the relationship between the individual and the other, tangible and imaginary, real and imaginary.

Natural landscape, urban landscape, human beings and all things are witnesses of time and space; It is a moment and an eternity.

For a long time, she has been among the numerous and avant-garde art environments in New York. Her works are widely exhibited and collected in world-class museums, and she teaches in ivy League universities where New England academic elites gather in the United States. She has a profound cultural background and a rigorous and solid professional spirit. Across the sea to China, hiking, equipped with cameras, shoulder-shoulder-shoulder-shoulder-never leave, nor appoint people. Long journey, careful experience, do everything yourself. In order to find the ideal light and shadow effect and composition Angle, I always look at it day and night, day and night, and obsessively observe it. Even when I forget myself and run into many dangers, I will surely capture the perfect moment. In the spare time of travel shooting, writing exhibition, teaching and research, I shut myself away from the duchi studio in New York City to make a series of platinum prints full of colorful hands in meditation.

Laurel golden autumn, edge gather Hangzhou West Lake, bear double GUI xuan host good idea, because of "lotus think" rise proposition, in order to hang lake lotus pond narcissi, and enjoy the same. One of the lotus thoughts: jiangnan landscape, is in the ground, is also the photographer's original intention. Lotus thought 2: lotus pond. Every lotus, every lotus, every stalk lotus root; No matter rain or shine rain or snow, the four seasons open and fall, is the vast world of corans and love. Lotus thought three: ancient wood, is a recent work. Trees, like people, have different looks and expressions. It's a portrait of all the people in the world. These thousands of years of ancient trees, is the autumn we together in the North Of Sichuan, searching for shu road. Thousands of ancient cypresses with lush green cloud corridors stand tenaciously beside the deserted bluestone ancient road. Thousand-year root wrong knot, the ancient cypress of the craggy branches, through her magic lens and the platinum printing of the wonderful work of heaven, show phase rebirth, immortal. Thanks to the spirit of the tree, we are all in the mirror!

Li Huishu

In The fall of 2019 in The City of the Dead in California

The exhibition works