CHENG Ran: 沉默影院 The Cinema of Silence

Arario Gallery Seoul Samcheong is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Cheng Ran (b.1981) from July 10th to August 12th, 2012. This exhibition features 6 new video and photography works by the young Chinese artist, who was born in Mongolia and currently lives and works in Hangzhou, China.

Media art is in the spotlight in the art scene in China. Observing the rapidly changing society since China’s economic reform and opening up, Chinese artists are embracing new media as an artistic tool that casts and honest reflection on the realities of China. In such turning point in Chinese contemporary art, Cheng Ran is celebrated for his media art works that observe the everydayness of Chinese society as well as capture beautiful images combined with films. Cheng Ran has persistently exhibited his work at Arario Gallery through the group exhibition Daybreak at Arario Gallery Cheonan and Memento Mori in Arario Gallery Beijing in 2011. Displaying Cheng’s new works and photographs from 2012, The Cinema of Silence is Cheng’s first solo exhibition in Korea.

Mainly producing new media works, Cheng’s oeuvre mostly consists of video and film, as well as photography and installation works. Cheng’s video works are praised for its eclectic form in which films are integrated into the poetic culture of contemporary age. His works convey a young perspective on the unsolvable issues in life, such as problems regarding identity, and life and death, and the anguish felt by young Chinese people living through the globalized Chinese culture and cultural policy. Cheng applies basic cinematic techniques to his work like cutting, rearranging and montage, but his works do not have a coherent narrative like in films. Cheng also applies classic films that inspired him, or symbolic elements of contemporary re-make of the classic films. In addition, the artist also often balances contradictory ideas or points of view in different films to create a new film. Cheng creates his own filmic language through various expressions, such as introducing rock n’ roll or electronic music to complement the aesthetic qualities of Chinese ink paintings.

In Cheng’s recent work Ghost (Hamlet) produced in 2012, three single-channel videos are projected at the same time. In each of the three videos that are 22 minutes long, a man and a woman start dancing in a space with a chandelier and a table. Dressed in modern Western attire, they respond to each other in body language by dancing passionately or slowly. Completely removed of all other sounds, the spaces in the video are filled with sounds created through the dancing bodies alone. After repeating gestures that tangle with each other or displaying improvised expressions, the dancers jump in the water either voluntarily or involuntarily. The space in the water is staged in the same setting as the space out of the water, and the dancers continue on with their gestures in the water.

About Artist
Born in Mongolia in 1981, Cheng Ran majored in Painting in China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Kicking off his art practice in 2003, Cheng has worked in an artist theater as an actor as well as working as a director for video works. Cheng freely crosses over boundaries of different genres from painting to performing arts and video production, and such interdisciplinary nature has become a catalyst in his art practice.

Cheng has held numerous solo exhibitions, including at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2009 and in Galerie Urs Meile and Leo Xu Projects in Beijing in 2011. He has also participated in many group exhibitions in galleries and institutions in China and abroad, including James Cohan Gallery and Meulensteen Gallery in U.S. in 2011. In 2011, Cheng won the Bes Video Artist Award held by online art magazine Randian.