Page 24 - Masters

master

SHAO FAN

Lives and works in Beijing, China

SEARCH THE ARTIST ONLINE Contrasts gallery, Shanghai, China www.contrastsgallery.com/

Design-the skillful use of materials to frame view his final products as either a critique
new ideas and innovative forms-may be a or an improvement over the original Ming
fundamental aspect of every culture, but it furnishings that inspire his craft. Trained as a
has become a field of contention in present- painter at the Beijing Arts and Crafts College,
day China. In the west, most concede that he began to explore three-dimensional work
China is a leader in world manufacturing, and after graduating in 1984. Ten years later, in a
praise its ability to produce and reproduce, but Beijing of unparalleled artistic freedom but
this is a “back-handed” compliment. Because filled with a burgeoning counterfeit antiquity
amidst this praise is the more subtle criticism trade, Shao Fan made his first works using
that China can only mindlessly reproduce parts of Ming chairs, to both underscore
without the ability to come up with its own the destructiveness of commodifying these
original designs. As if “manufacturing” and rare cultural artifacts and to celebrate the
“designing” are two inherently opposing forces, craftsmanship of the originals. He investigated
they grant China high marks in one arena while the joinery of Ming furniture, the sophisticated
disqualifying the entire country from the other. way that this furniture was put together without
Conscious of this criticism, a new generation of nails or glue. In the 16th century, when these
contemporary artists have set out to challenge objects were first created, this practice of
this presumption, not only by creating works invisible carpentry was in fact inspired by the
of art brimming with originality but also with ideas of scholars and intellectuals of the period,
highly conceptual works of art that turn the looking for ways to incorporate the simplicity
very accusation on its head. and grace of Buddhist beliefs into everyday
life. Likewise, this artist reinvigorates the
The pioneer of this trend is Shao Fan, an artist notion of gracefulness-an aesthetic that has
who since the mid-1990s has been making been trampled upon in China’s rush towards
works that defy the categories of “design” and modernization-by combining the fluid wooden
“art” by combining both agendas seamlessly. forms of Ming furniture with the harsh, sharp
Born in Beijing in 1963 to a family of renowned edges of new materials, especially Plexiglas.
artists, Shao Fan recalls a time when art was
not merely a free-form means of expression, So though Shao Fan’s work incapsulates
but was supposed to fulfill social and political converging values-past and present, East and
purposes, for better or for worse. Alternatively, west, art and design-it is really a well-honed,
he has lived through the transformation of highly-condensed, parable of the essentials
China over the past two decades, watching of existence. Like the Buddhist philosophy
treasured objects, particularly classical Ming that originally inspired the creation of the
furniture, be churned out as bad replicas for Ming chair, Shao Fan makes us wonder about
a growing consumer market. As one China what is the bare essentials of “chair”, and by
replaced the other, Shao Fan sought out a doing this, “ourselves.” In a country where the
means of demonstrating this transformation very definition of “being Chinese” is evolving
and the way it has redefined such basic terms every day, Shao Fan makes us contemplate
as “art”, “function”, “purpose” and “design”. The the essentials of identity and to separate
result is his series of works that are impossible the necessities of life from the superficial
to label as mere sculptures, combining consumerism that now defines so much of life.
elements of Ming furniture with new materials He invites us to sit, or to think about sitting,
in ever more imaginative ways. while all the world expects us to rush forward.
By so doing, he grants us a moment of grace,
Some call his work “deconstruction”. Others or gracefulness, which was the very purpose
prefer “reconstruction.” But it is probably of a classic Ming chair.
better to forget both ideas, since he does not Excerpted from essay by Barbara Pollack
 WOrK NO. 1 OF Year 2004, ACRYLIC, ELM 60x45x40 IN. / 150x110x100 CM. 20
 BIrDCaGe, 2006 STAINLESS STEEL 70x60x20 IN. / 180x150x50 CM. masters of today