Han Bing: Urban Amber
ARTNET
October 2016
Contemporary artist Han Bing, now represented by FitzGerald Fine Arts, possesses an impressive exhibition and publication record worldwide.
His solo show entitled Urban Amber is a series of roughly twenty photographs (c-prints on aluminum) and four transparency light box units, all of which were taken over the course of six years and will be on exhibit at FitzGerald Fine Arts gallery at Wooster Street in Manhattan with a dedicated evening reception on September 23rd.
Han Bing’s photography series: Urban Amber looks to visualize the drama of China’s transformations as the nation is caught up in what he calls the “theatre of modernization.”
The fact that these photos are single exposures is surprising at first glance, because of their digitized look, which today tends to indicate the use of digital editing. Bing's shots are taken from reflections in toxic waters and cesspools, but offer a subtle beauty and serenity in their juxtapositions of material and metaphysical forms. Intentional distortions of direction and form are commentary on photography's own identity in the digital era. Urban Amber highlights the detritus of a society fixated on industrialization, not stopping to look at its own morphing reflection.
“We have been informed that we are on the road to happiness, striding from the deceptive fantasies of the past into a feverish frenzy of economic modernization. The effects of so-called globalization and modernization rain down on us like blows to the face as we hurtle from one world toward another, rushing towards the mirage of a make-believe China, bloated with decadence and grotesque with vulgar self-indulgence. The view of history and the yearning for a new life are concentrated in China's pursuit of so-called modernity,” states Han Bing.
In addition to his ongoing photography projects, Han Bing has found great success with multimedia projects, performance art, film & documentary, site-specific installations, painting and social art projects. He grew up in an impoverished village in rural China, but currently lives and works in Beijing. The artist has had influential solo shows at the Pompidou Arts Centre, Columbia Museum of Art, IEAS Center, National Art Museum of China, Guangzhou Art Museum and Beursschouwburg Art Center.