Wang Mai: Gateway of Infinite Wonders

Location: 25000 Cultural Transmission Center, Beijing

Duration: April 24 – May 16, 2004

The Long March Space has not done a one-man exhibition in ages...how exactly do we do one again? I suppose it depends on who is doing the exhibition. A one man exhibition is the most fundamental of exhibitions, it is the essence of exhibitions, it is the most extreme of exhibitions, it is fullest of exhibitions, and it is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest of exhibitions. Wang Mai’s one-man exhibition, “Gateway of Infinite Wonders” is an examination of 10 years of his work; it is also a new starting point. In an era where large exhibitions are the norm, the exhibition “revisits” the question, what can one individual’s work placed in a defined space tell us?

Wang Mai is not the only artist whose work spans all sorts of media including performance, photography, film, drawings, installations, and writings. However, his forays into the several art forms listed above does not arise from avarice and arrogance, nor is he seeking to make media a scapegoat for other problems. Wang Mai’s ten years of work is a process of constructing a “holistic art;” and so, we must look “holistically” at the different styles and the materials of his works. It is an enormous body of work that was constructed piece by piece. To see Wang Mai’s one-man show is to see the “Gateway of Infinite Wonders” in his work.

The Long March Space has not done a one-man exhibition in ages...how exactly do we do one again? I suppose it depends on who is doing the exhibition. A one man exhibition is the most fundamental of exhibitions, it is the essence of exhibitions, it is the most extreme of exhibitions, it is fullest of exhibitions, and it is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest of exhibitions. Wang Mai’s one-man exhibition, “Gateway of Infinite Wonders” is an examination of 10 years of his work; it is also a new starting point. In an era where large exhibitions are the norm, the exhibition “revisits” the question, what can one individual’s work placed in a defined space tell us?

Wang Mai is not the only artist whose work spans all sorts of media including performance, photography, film, drawings, installations, and writings. However, his forays into the several art forms listed above does not arise from avarice and arrogance, nor is he seeking to make media a scapegoat for other problems. Wang Mai’s ten years of work is a process of constructing a “holistic art;” and so, we must look “holistically” at the different styles and the materials of his works. It is an enormous body of work that was constructed piece by piece. To see Wang Mai’s one-man show is to see the “Gateway of Infinite Wonders” in his work.