The project Merry Goround deals with the debris of everyday life, the remains or leftovers found in the street, investigating the character, purpose and poetic dimension of these objects, and giving these observations shape in various media.
Mr Hagen explains: “All of the drawings, photographs, and photo-paintings presented in the current exhibition are related to objects that I found during my daily excursions into the urban zones of Beijing, visiting local parks, playgrounds, and other public spaces which feature as sites of recreation for the local population in this vast mega-city”.
“These objects, often adapting western-style forms and figures, appeared to me both familiar and strange: representing hybrid constructs that are not really Chinese and not really western. The transformations of western forms and icons fascinated me because they created an interesting contradiction to the Chinese iconography and aesthetics of daily life, as if a progressive alienation of Chinese culture were hiding inside these harmless and sometimes even cute manifestations of amusement and leisure”.
Gallery details:
LINE GALLERY
1st Floor, Yanhuang Art Museum,
9 Huizhong Road, Yayuncun
Beijing 100101, VRChina
Tel: +86 10 64966933
Fax: +86 10 64968537
E-mail: art@line-gallery.com