I went to see a new exhibition at Beaugeste Gallery here in Shanghai, the gallery in Taikang road offer always an interesting look on Chinese and European Photography. The gallery supervised by Jean Loh is small but has a great intent to show good quality photographic work in a city dominated by Digital-photoshop-Photography. The gallery will display until the end of march the work of Wang Fuchun , from him i have seen his earlier famous project on Chinese train which was widely exhibited and which received many recognitions. I have also met by chance Wang Fuchun in Beijing, I was on assignment in Beijing and i was sitting in the metro coming back from the outskirt of the city, suddenly I saw a man taking photos of the people in the metro including me... I went to talk to him with my tragical chinese and he communicate to me with his tragical english... when we exchanged the business card I could read I was sitting close to him, well it was funny....
But more on the exhibition here
Here some note from the statement:
The Northeast Men
Born in the Black Land, Wang Fuchun has two loves: one is the railroad, with its steam locomotives and its “Chinese on the train” he so often encounters; the other his own countrymen of the Northeast. The “Northeast Men” photographs, exhibited here for the first time in Shanghai, might well be a bowl of fresh air thrown in our faces: There is no urban hassle, no pollution, no financial meltdown, no god’s warriors in this “White Land” of Wang Fuchun’s. It is a completely stress-free, pure and innocent world, filled with image d’Épinal, the sort of farmers’ new year paintings, the kind of too-real-to-be-true folk art that reminds us of our original Garden of Eden, where animals, birds and fish are man’s best friends.
Wang Fuchun carried his heavy, large-format 8x10 view camera guiding us to his home country, to share with us the love he has for his countrymen, the hospitality of his brothers and sisters, even the seldom seen ethnic minorities of the Great Northeast.
These greeting cards for the New Year give us a lesson in the rewards of optimism and also impart the vital energy that should prove indispensable for overcoming the many challenges of the New Year ahead.
Large Format Black & White Photography by Wang Fuchun
Publication of a hard cover book:
Wang Fuchun : Northeast Men (2009) – B&W photography duotone 102p, Beaugeste Photo Gallery – from 17th of January till 25th of March 2009 210 Taikang road – building 5 space 519 Shanghai
