“Formless – Tong Yanrunan Solo Exhibition” will be held in Suzhou Museum from April 1st to June 25th, 2023, co-organized by School of Philosophy Fudan University and Galleria d’Arte Maggiore of Italy, with Ji Yunfei as the curator.
本次展览将是童雁汝南近年继意大利威尼斯奎里斯坦帕利亚基金会博物馆、德国哈根国立欧斯特豪斯美术馆、中国广东美术馆、圣马力诺国家现代艺术博物馆“Face to Face系列个展”之后又一次重要个展。此次苏博“无相”将是一个重要节点,也是对此系列的深化和进一步拓展。The exhibition will be another prominent solo exhibition of Tong Yanrunan in recent years following “FACE TO FACE” series solo exhibitions held in the Fondazione Querini Stampalia Museum in Venice, Italy, the Osthaus Museum Hagen, Germany, the Guangdong Museum of Art in China, and the Pallazzo Della Mutuo Soccorso in San Marino. “Formless” will be marked as an important node, as well as the deepening and expansion of his series exhibition.三年疫情,加速反省。艺术家恰恰用肖像画,试着反思希腊和文艺复兴以来,人类在所谓文明发展单行道上快速发展,过度放大描绘无所不能的人性光辉。模特不再是被塑造出来的,反而是化掉己知人为的造作,是主体隐退后的感性完满与虚无,回到天地之初的混沌。Face to face,安于每个当下,每一个心跳,每一次呼吸,都来自于天地的开启和生命的力量。此时肖像画,俨然是的一尊可以内观的太湖石,是可游可居的山水,是安身立命的精神家园。Introspection has been accelerated over the past three years of the epidemic. Portraits, a way of rethink profoundly, the artists try to reflect on the rapid development of mankind on the so-called one-way road of civilization since Greece and the Renaissance, and exaggerated the omnipotent human brilliance. Not any given models artificially, the portrait model presents perceptual perfection and nihility after the subject retreats as if he returns to the chaos at the beginning of the universe. Face to face, be content with every moment, every heartbeat, every breath, all come from the opening of heaven and earth and the power of life. At this time, the portrait is like the Taihu Stone that can be viewed internally, a landscape that can be visited and lived, and a spiritual home to settle down. 展览将在苏州博物馆本馆-现代艺术厅呈现。共分四个部分,东回廊是文献部分。展厅走廊,表现独特的“面孔如石”部分,太湖石与肖像画之间相互呼应,驻足天地,俯仰之间,与天地相关照,与宇宙相晤谈,反观自我。第一、第二展厅为“Face to Face 在苏州”部分,艺术家Face to Face直面的写生方式进行创作,是艺术家的世界观直接的感性表达,是对在地精神的凝聚。艺术家春节后在苏州开展为期2个多月的驻地创作,参与的模特有苏州政企精英、全国人大代表政协委员、中国工艺美术大师、非遗传承人、博物馆美术馆馆长、策展人、收藏家、企业家、律师等。不论是德高望重的老先生,还是充满激情的新生代,共同构筑起生生不息的独属在地性。The exhibition will be presented in the Modern Art Hall of Suzhou Museum. It is divided into four parts. The east corridor is the literature part. The unique “Face Like Stone” part will be presented at the corridor of the exhibition hall where the audience will find the decorative stones and portraits echo each other. Stop here, as if between the heaven and earth; enjoy the the sight of portraits, as if have a connection with the heaven and earth, talk with the universe, thus reflect on oneself. No.1 and No.2 Halls are the part of “FACE TO FACE IN SUZHOU”. The face-to-face creation is the direct emotional expression of the artist’s world view and the condensation of local spirits. After the Spring Festival, Tong Yanrunan has made creation in Suzhou for more than two months. His models involved include Suzhou political and enterprise elites, members of the CPPCC National People’s Congress, Chinese arts and crafts masters, inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, curators of museums and galleries, curators, collectors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, etc. No matter the respected old gentleman or the new generation full of passion, they have jointly built up the ever-growing local uniqueness.第三展厅“无相”部分,为展览核心。童雁汝南二十余年如一日,跨越欧、美、亚、非、拉多个地区,修行式面对各族面孔创作,不变的题材、尺寸、构图、甚至技法,这在单行道上快速翻新的的当代艺术界是个特殊个案。“无相”部分,精选了艺术家近26年来(1997-2023年)的285件经典之作,是跨越时间与空间的劳作痕迹结晶。当不同国家、不同种族、不同职业、不同年龄的人物形象在一个厅集中展出,肖像画已经不仅有“肖像画”原本的意义,意义更在消解每个生命个体执着,超越形象身份和认知。归同了异,无同无异。众生相,无我相,人相,凡能有相,皆是虚妄。十方一切众生相,非相。The “Formless” part in No. 3 Hall is the core of the exhibition. For more than 20 years, Tong Yanrunan has constantly practiced portraits of different faces from different races by travelling over Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa and Latin America, with the same theme, size, composition, and even techniques. He is a special case nowadays when all live in the contemporary art world that is rapidly renovated on the one-way street. The “Formless” part, which selects 285 classic works of Tong Yanrunan in the past 26 years (1997-2023), is the crystallization of labor traces spanning time and space. When the images of people of different countries, races, occupations and ages are displayed in one hall, portrait painting is not only a “portrait”, but also illustrates the meaning of dispelling the persistence of each individual life, beyond image identity and cognition. There is no difference. As the Buddhist saying goes, all sentient beings with varied faces, no one has an immutable face, and all are changeable. All we see in the surface is not the one.展览期间,苏州博物馆也将携手复旦大学哲学院开展一系利的研究、创作、教学、讲座论坛出版等活动。邀请深耕艺术、哲学、宗教、历史等各领域专家学者,与策展人、艺术家共同深入探讨艺术个案及当今社会及人类本身的意义。A series of research, creation, education, academic lecture, forum, publishing and other activities will meet the audience at the same time, with the joint work of Suzhou Museum and School of Philosophy Fudan University. They will invite experts and scholars from various fields such as art, philosophy, religion and history etc., and the discussion of the significance of art cases and contemporary society and human beings together with the curator and the artist, Tong Yanrunan is expected.