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Mining Nature

New York based gallery comes to Shanghai - By Melanie, Jul 07, 08

(Wim Wenders, Lake Galilee Before Sunrise, 2000)

It's the fourth week of unrelenting rain and I'm trudging through the muddy grit of a steamy alleyway to Shanghai's newest art gallery, James Cohan. First established in New York in 1999, the second branch is tucked into an early 20th century mansion. Just inside the deco doors I see a workman and the gallery assistant conversing hurriedly while examining one of the gallery's walls. Large black lettering reads "Mining Nature," the upcoming exhibition's title. The letters are slightly off kilter.

It's eight days from the inaugural show and Arthur Solway, longtime director of the gallery, who relocated permanently from Manhattan to oversee James Cohan is flustered. Shipments of art have been delayed due to Olympic-related customs hassles and the workmen turned up at the gallery without levels, resulting in the uneven lettering. Solway is explaining to his assistant that the gleaming white walls must be repainted and the lettering reapplied. The necessity of this repainting and the fact that it will happen before opening day do not appear to resonate.

The discussion comes to a close and Solway promptly lights a cigarette. "This is the real story here," he says abruptly. "Just how difficult it is to host a show with international art and at international standards." Despite the newness of the gallery, Solway is no stranger to Shanghai. He represented James Cohan Gallery at SHContemporary last fall and has been in and out of the country for the past year becoming acquainted with Shanghai's underpinnings while unearthing the right space for his gallery. Nevertheless, the obstacles confronting an international art exhibition in China may not have appeared quite so vividly until now.

During my 15 months in Shanghai I've witnessed galleries with extremely high hopes compromise, caving to the diverse nuisances inherent in getting things just so - from spelling mistakes to catered food arriving late at an opening because someone left it to ferment on the ground outside. Solway doesn't seem daunted at the mention of these failings: "I'm cursed by perfectionism," he responds swiftly. The language of compromise does not come into my vocabulary. Accomplishing something in China is often a question of when and of how many tries it takes to get it right, but precision is always possible."

The first question off many lips may be why did James Cohan Gallery choose to open its Asian branch amidst Shanghai's somewhat half-baked art scene? Beijing thrives in comparison, at least in terms of the arts. But Solway felt that what he brings will be more effectively absorbed here: "My hope is that Shanghai will welcome what we have to offer. One idea I’d like to communicate is that a gallery is not just a commercial space, it’s also a think-tank. The gallery should be a space that generates ideas in the minds of the visitors." Additionally, Solway prefers Shanghai to Beijing on a personal level. "I find this city studded with pockets of authenticity everywhere you look," unlike Beijing, which he likens to "Los Angeles on steroids."

Shanghai has always been an international city, a fact that parallels Solway's perspective on Chinese Contemporary art - he's not interested in it as such. Not that Solway disdains art emerging from China, he's just not particularly concerned with an artist's geographical origins: "I don't care where you're from, I care about what you do, what you're thinking and how you're going to elicit a discussion about the human condition."

The imminent show, "Mining Nature," displays artists exploring man's ever-changing relationship with his surroundings. In this age of environmentalism one might expect that a show with nature in the title would put forth a particular message, but Solway denies agenda pushing. "I have no desire to implant a particular thought in viewer's minds. I want to curate a show that generates contemplation so visitors use their own voices to bring meaning to the work."

One highlight of the show is Bill Viola's Old Oak Study (2005), a time-lapse video on LCD panel that compresses 24 hours segments of footage of a tree into a single 30-minute film (main image). Very much an artist of the times, Viola is celebrated for implementing technology to discuss the human condition. Old Oak Study offers a vision of a sped-up life cycle. Natural light illuminates the screen and then fades back into nighttime at a rapid rate, altering the viewer's perception of time.

Filmmaker, photographer and poet Wim Wenders (who self-describes as "traveler") will be represented by a 14-foot panoramic print Lake Galilee Before Sunrise (2000), pictured above. It is tempting to assign meaning to this sweeping image of Israel's largest freshwater lake. Although Galilee is laden with biblical allusions, in recent times the site has become a heavily populated tourist spot. At its core however, Galilee is quite simply a beautiful body of water.

Visitors to the gallery should expect any variety of artistic media. Solway happened upon a location with outdoor space and plans to make full use of the garden for sculpture and performances, both musical and otherwise. Embracing culture in its many forms, James Cohan Gallery will join a few pioneers in Shanghai that are developing projects in this vein, where a single location becomes a hub for various types of creative projects.

Mining Nature runs from July 10th - August 31 at James Cohan Gallery

Image Credits:

Main Image:
BILL VIOLA
Old Oak (Study), 2005
Color high-definition video on LCD panel mounted on wall
14 X 24 3/4 in
35.6 X 62.9 cm
Edition of 12
Photo: Kira Perov
Copyright the artist

Article Image
WIM WENDERS
Lake Galilee before Sunrise, 2000
C-print
70 1/8 X 176 in
178.1 X 447 cm
Edition of 6
Copyright the artist

Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai

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