Artist: Li Gang
Exhibition title: Complexion
Venue: Rolando Anselmi, Rome, Italy
Date: June 26 – September 30, 2017
Photography: Studio Boys, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Rolando Anselmi, Berlin/Rome
Rolando Anselmi is delighted to present Complexion, the first solo show by the Chinese artist Li Gang in its space in Rome. For the occasion, Li Gang will present a site specific project on the interaction between people, money and artworks. To achieve the mutual trust between each other, people invented the evidence for credit: currencies. Banknotes, gold, silver, diamonds, are all variations of this credit evidence based on the mutual trust between each other. International A4 is a specific body of works that keeps changing in the process of being shown in different places, using the local banknotes with which those works are realized. The executive person of the project will withdraw banknotes (80 for each value) from the local bank. Scratching the banknotes against the wall and releasing their pigments on its surface, an A4-sized area will be colored (A4 sized paper is the most common media to deliver the information in our daily life). After this process, the executive person needs to save back the banknotes in the bank and the banknotes will circulate again in the market. Following a similar process, Pedestal shows the money’s value as well as its relation with the art market. The title “Pedestal” is a precise reference related to the use of this common object made to differentiates normal things to art works. The distance between the floor and the artwork is also the distance between the money and the effective value of the artworks in general. The visual impact of the color becoming from shallow tune into full color represents the subtle relationship between the money and the art. With the support of the money, the art works could be realized; with the mark of the money, the value system that the mass people have will be manipulated; with the lure of the money, some artists will lose themselves. The relationship between the money and the art is very ambiguous, just like this work. The money left its traces here although you didn’t really see it.
Li Gang (b. 1986 in Dali Yunnan Province, China) lives and works in Beijing, China. He had solo show at : Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki (2017) Galerie Urs Meile Lucerne (2017, 2014, 2011) Galerie Urs Meile Beijing (2016, 2013, 2011). Recent group shows include: YiShu8 Art Foundation (2016, Beijing); Louis Vuitton Foundation Musuem (2016, Paris); Gasometer Kulturzentrum (2016, Liechtenstein); Art Basel Miami Beach (2015, Miami Beach); The 6th Moscow Biennial (2015, Moscow); K11 Art Foundation Pop-up Space (2015, Hong Kong); K11 Art Museum (2015, Shanghai); Palais de Tokyo (2014, Paris).
