Liu Zheng 2008
May 15, 2008- June 7, 2008
Reception: May 15, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
511 W 25th St
798 Avant Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition of
Liu Zheng’s highly acclaimed photographic series “The Chinese”. Often drawing comparisons to the epic photographic undertakings of August Sander and Diane Arbus,
Liu Zheng’s photographic work in “The Chinese” offers a powerful representation of the human condition at the fringes of Chinese society. Shot over an eight year period (1994-2002), “The Chinese” embodies tremendous emotional force set against a profoundly Chinese context.
Born in Wuqiang County and raised in the mining town of Datong, in North China,
Liu Zheng’s first encounter with art was in the production of Chinese New Year paintings. Despite
Liu Zheng’s affinity for painting his parents were strongly against there son pursuing a career as an artist. On a fluke opportunity
Liu Zheng enrolled in a rudimentary photography class in University and immediately new he’d found his medium. In 1991 he began work as a photo journalist for the Worker’s Daily. In 1997, under intense personal pressure to pursue his own artistic ambitions, he gave up his position as a photojournalist, returned his cameras and forfeited his salary. The decision both broke him financially and freed him of his obligations as a photographer of the state.
“With astonishingly condensed visual force,
Liu Zheng’s photographs bring home the ways that the ambivalent heritage of China’s past survives in the twenty-first century, suddenly surfacing in the guise of everyday tragedy or absurdity.”
-Christopher Phillips, Director of the Independent Center of Photography,
from
Liu Zheng, “The Chinese”.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show| Location | map | | Address | 511 W 25th St, #502 New York (Chelsea) NY, 10001 United States | | Phone | 212-216-9018 | | Fax | 212-807-8268 | | Hours | Tue-Sat 11-6 | | | |
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