Gallery Crawl

Although it’s only May, it might as well be summer and this weekend promises to be a scorcher. What better plan, then, than to take refuge in some nice cool galleries? There’s plenty on, whether you stick to the well worn avenues of 798 or head for its nearby rival of Caochangdi, and in fact this weekend there is a high-profile opening at each location, so why not try both?

Opening on Saturday at 798, the long awaited solo show “Comercina” by founding father of Chinese contemporary art, Huang Rui, (check Chinese Contemporary, from 3-6pm). Huang is taking on the commercialization of China in paint, in installation, and even with his own version of hopscotch. Kids will be on hand to play the game at the opening, so bring your own or borrow some and come along. Huang Rui’s shows are always to the point, with witty and stimulating ideas married to beautiful technique. He is also, of course, one of the legendary figures on the local scene, an alumnus of The Stars group of contemporary artists, whose first exhibition thirty years ago marks the beginning of contemporary art history in China. (Other Stars alumni include our favorite grump, Ai Weiwei, Wang Keping, Ma Desheng and reclusive and fascinating woman artist, Shao Fei).

If you want to make a day of it, other shows worth a look at 798 include Qiu Zhijie’s installation show “Breaking Through the Ice” (ending this weekend), at the UCCA, which is showing there alongside the fun and games of Thai artist, Navin Rawanchaikul,'s interactive “Super China!” and Shen Yuan’s “Hurried Words”. Round the corner, the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art shows the strange, yet haunting work of Gao Shiqiang and Dong Wensheng, who both hail from Southern art hub, Hangzhou. Iberia is off the main drag at 798, but is quietly establishing a reputation for interesting and thoughtful shows, especially those drawing on its strong relationship with the independent film making community.

Meanwhile, over at Caochangdi, controversial artist Sheng Qi opens his show “Power of the People” at F2 Gallery on Saturday afternoon too. Sheng started out as a performance artist in the mid 1980s, staging shows at Beijing University and on the Great Wall that were considered provocative even by fellow artists. He later established his reputation in Europe, famously collaborating with Stellarc, before returning to Beijing in 2000. Lately he has devoted himself to painting and the canvases he is showing here well up from long days observing the mass of humanity pushing their way through the streets of China, and long nights observing individual tragedies playing out as crime stories on the internet. The artist will be attending his opening too, so if you haven’t tried Caochangdi yet, make this Saturday the time.