Santa's Workshop Shanghai: Selected works, toys and artists' editions
December 12, 2009 – January 30, 2010
Opening reception and Chritmas party: December 18, Friday, 6-8 p.m. Venue: James Cohan Gallery Shanghai 1/F, Building 1, No.170 Yue Yang Rd., Xuhui District (Between Jianguo Xi Rd. and Yong Jia Rd.)
James Cohan Gallery Shanghai is pleased to present its winter exhibition Santa's Workshop Shanghai: Selected works, toys and artists' editions. The exhibition features unique works, sculptures, multiples and editions by international artists.
Capturing the imaginations of children, and in the spirit of Christmas, Santa's workshop has officially announced its relocation from the North Pole to Shanghai. In an effort to help Santa Claus keep up with the global demand for new and usual gifts, a selection of special editions by artists, Ai Weiwei, Francis Alÿs, Olaf Breuning, Pawel Althamer, Mariko Mori, among others, published by the prestigious critical art journal Parkett Editions, will be on view. A special Christmas boutique has been set up inside the gallery, showcasing works made by artists such as Laurie Anderson, Carsten Höller, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Luc Tuymans that cross over various disciplines like fashion, design and music. Also included in this show will be legendary American artist Vito Acconci's large kaleidoscopic puzzle Blown-Up Baby-Doll and a series of silkscreened laser discs by the ground-breaking pioneer of video art Nam June Paik.
As a centerpiece to this exhibition is Shi Jinsong's motorized, stainless steel Christmas tree. Shi's tree, titled Design 2007 • Merry Christmas, turns the traditional holiday symbol into an ominous and elaborately embellished potential weapon. In addition, the gallery has commissioned artists Chen Wei, Guo Hongwei, Li Shurui, Liang Yuanwei, and Qiu Xiaofei to create Santa's Post Office with handmade Christmas cards—drawings, photographs, collages—which revisit the special moment when the celebration of Christmas, and the huge consumption of Christmas cards, by young Chinese was initially deemed as major components of massive western cultural imports in the late 1980s. Visitors will also be able to write and send cards directly to Santa's workshop using an edition of special postcards which will be available during the exhibition.
Other works on view will include photographs from the 1970s by the American photographer Bill Owens, whose images of American suburban life (and during the holiday season) have become cult classics. Two extraordinary contemporary tapestries by Fred Tomaselli and Beatriz Milhazes, debuted at this year's ShContemporary fair, will also be on view.
