The Long Museum’s tenth anniversary coincides with a time when we have been unable to be in the world. The Covid pandemic has led to societies around the globe being in confinement. This exhibition is conceived in response to our yearning for social encounters and for being in the world – all through the prism of the artist’s eye.
The human figure dominates. The assembled paintings and installations encompass artists’ self-portraits, family albums, strangers in surreal scenarios, groups gathered in social activities.
Being in the World takes us on a journey through four ‘episodes’ each themed after one work. Episode One focuses on the single figure, on artists’ self portraits and the relation between artist and model. The paintings in Episode Two capture the dynamics of families, friends and lovers. Episode Three features depictions of groups who may be strangers or colleagues, workers or revellers.
Episode Four takes us into the realm of abstraction where artists use colour, light and form to generate sensory environments. We move from looking at the body from outside, to occupying the body from inside, in order to encounter the material reality.
There may be one dominant subject – the human – but there are a multitude of aesthetic approaches. Ranging from collage to hyperrealism, they reflect major movements in modern and contemporary art.
Iwona Blazwick
13 November 2022 – 12 Febuary 2023
Long Museum West Bund
Curator Iwona Blazwick
SHIH Yung Chun, Ai Xuan, Rita Ackermann, Marina Abramović, Mamma Andersson, Lucas Arruda, Tony Bevan, Michaël Borremans, Huma Bhabha, Sarah Ball, Bae Yoon-Hwan, Chao Ge, Chang Qing, Chen Zhen, Miriam Cahn, George Condo, Chang Shuhong, Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Danqing, Chen Fei, Chiu Ya-Tsai, John Currin, Chua Soobin, Ding Yanyong, Duan Jianwei, Marlene Dumas, Mimosa Echard, Tracey Emin, Mandy El-Sayegh, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, Fei Yifu, Maria Farrar, Dan Flavin, Raphaël Fenice, Paul Gauguin, Antony Gormley, Geng Jianyi, Guo Runwen, Theaster Gates, He Duoling, Hu Shanyu, Grace Hartigan, Han Young-Wook, Shara Hughes, Thomas Houseago, Jenny Holzer, Barkley L. Hendricks, Hu Jiancheng, David Hockney, Huang Rui, Loie Hollowell, Shirazeh Houshiary, Tetsuya Ishida, Rashid Johnson, Ji Xin, Jin Shangyi, Rachel Jones, Yayoi Kusama, Izumi Kato, Scott Kahn, Alex Katz, Luo Zhongli, Li Tianyuan, Luo Erchun, Li Jikai, Liu Xiaodong, Lee Ufan, Liu Wei, Lee Jin-Woo, Lee Kun-Yong, Amedeo Modigliani, René Magritte, Ana Mendieta, Kerry James Marshall, Mao Yan, Zanele Muholi, Ouyang Chun, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Pan Yuliang, Pang Maokun, Gatot Pujiarto, Otto Piene, Qi Zhilong, Qin Yifeng, Neo Rauch, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Su Tianci, Shen Ling, Song Kun, Shen Xiaotong, Amy Sherald, Shang Yang, Dana Schutz, Jenny Saville, Tang Yunyu, Emmanuel Taku, Wolfgang Tillmans, Peter Uka, Ulay, Adrián Villar Rojas, Wang Chuan, Wang Huaiqing, Wang Yin, Wang Qiang, Wei Ershen, Wei Rong, Wang Jinsong, Xu Mangyao, Xie Nanxing, Xiong Yu, Xu Beihong, Xia Junna, Xia Xiaowan, Yang Liguang, Yan Li, Yu Hong, Yan Lei, Yang Feiyun, Yang Fudong, Yin Zhaoyang, Yunizar, Yu Youhan, Zhang Qianying, Zhang Jian, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Enli, Zhao Shou, Zhao Zhao.
