Curator: Zhu Jinjing: Cut the Timing
Artists: Gu Changwei, Gao Weizhe, Song Xiaofei, Wang Yu, Yu Liwei, Zhu Jinjing Zhang Xigui, Zhao Xiaoshi, Li Ran
"The cinema is truth 24 times per second." --- Jean-Luc Godard
Still photography is the key to artistic inspiration for the exhibited cinematographers. The grand narrative landscape in the world of cinema only gives these artists very limited room to explore. Each of them experiences endless pain and pleasure in the process of making the still image move and flow. Within the form of cinematography is an inherent possibility to retake, which brings great pressure to the act of movie-making. The images in this exhibition are different from ordinary photography. Photography solved the issue of concreteness in painting, and the concreteness of single-frame images offers new possibilities to be abstract, poetic, and create a sense of punctuation. Still photography at its most diverse is unable to overcome the scarcity of accurate narration, expression of emotions, or logical explanation etc. Even the addition of text and context in installation cannot create a perfect aesthetic cycle independently. The unexpressed in still photography often finds its route to expression in cinema.
In terms of narration, cinematographers leverage this visual weapon to step into an expansive visual field. But the challenge remains: is this yet another "narrative barrier"? Beyond the perfection achieved in narration and expression, what about the basic grammar and analytical capability of abstraction in photography? Did we forget or ignore them? Or do we still stick to them subconsciously? Are we using them to create a more unique visual style? The works exhibited here offer a few different perspectives on these questions.
The big screen is not the only platform for moving image.
So often the importance of the cinematographer's work has been over looked by both audiences and artists alike. Their well-rounded artistic abilities and unique individual perspective, empowered by capital investment, have enabled cinematographers to create the "material world" of cinema. The time wherein people's understanding of the world and China has been shaped principally by journalism and the news is slowly being transformed and replaced by a worldview presented by creatives 262 in cinema and the gaming industry. The "world", and specifically "China", as shown in this exhibition, are seen through the eyes of cinematographers.
In the field of still photography, we've seen plenty of poetic creations from cinematographers. Photography as an art form belongs to anyone who has their own unique understanding of the image. That understanding is, in turn, tested by societal influences and modern values. To further extend the author metaphor, this exhibition is a selection of short poems taken from the collective works of novelists.
