Zhao Dewei  City Pixels

Zhao Dewei was born in 1960 in Shanghai. However, his artistic life really began in Qingdao in the 1980’s.

At the time, a very active art scene was beginning to emerge from every corner of the country. The movement that is now referred to as the ’85 New Wave. Conferences and exhibitions were organized all over the country, bringing together artists from different cities, critics, curators and all the people who felt involved in the development of a modern art medium in China.

In Qingdao, Zhao Dewei was considered as a leader of the movement, actively defending the cause of free creation. At the head of the local Young Artists Association, he organized outdoor exhibitions every Sunday for over a period of three years, giving Qingdaos’s artists a chance to showcase their works to the local audience.

The 1980’s were, for the artist, a period of abstract research. Combining the influence of Chinese philosophies and the will to radically challenge academic canons, Zhao Dewei was looking inside himself to find the right lines as a means of expression. One of his leitmotivs in the 1980’s was the form of Chinese characters from which his abstract curves were directly drawn.

Today, Zhao Dewei has turned towards the outside world for inspiration. The changes within the city and the urban way of life impregnate his creation. If his technique has evolved since his early paintings, the concept of his work remains the same: What Zhao Dewei lets us see on the canvas is not a representation of reality but a feeling.

To express this individual feeling Zhao Dewei has developed his own singular way of painting by projecting colours onto the frame.

This is why Zhao Dewei’s works are done on such a grand scale. Only by stepping back from the frame can the artist’s vision fully be appreciated.

For this exhibition, TS1 has made a selection of urban landscape paintings. Not only his technique of painting, but also the points of view the artist has chosen on the town are similar to city sequins spread all over the frame like pixels on the screen.  

 

 

 

 

 

赵德伟  城市像素

    赵德伟出生于1960年上海。 他的艺术生涯真正开始于80年代的青岛。

那时，艺术活动开始活跃欲于中国各个角落，被今天称之为“85新潮”。各种活动及展览的出现使艺术家，批评家，策展人等与艺术领域相关的人士汇聚在一起推动了中国现代艺术形式的发展。

在青岛，他是倡导并坚持自由艺术创作的带头人。作为青年美术家协会的会长，他在每个星期天组织一次露天展览为期长达三年，为青岛的艺术家提供了一个展示自己作品的机会。

整个80年代对于赵德伟来说是一个对抽象艺术的探索时期。结合了中国哲学影响与对理论教条挑战的愿望，赵德伟一直在寻找一个属于自己的表达方式。在80年代他的目标是把中国书法用西方的绘画方式来表现。 

    今天，赵德伟转向外面的世界去寻找灵感。城市的变化与生活方式孕育了赵德伟的创作。他早期与现在的作品虽然在绘画技巧上有所不同但是作品所传达的思想与概念是相同的 ：赵德伟在画布上为我们展示的不是一个具象事物而是一种情绪。

    为了表达这种自我情绪，赵德伟形成了他独特的泼色画法。

    这也是为什么赵德伟的作品画幅较大。 只要后退几步观看作品便可以清楚地看出作品的内容。

    在这次展览中，壹空间画廊特别挑选了他的城市景像系列。独特的绘画技巧与艺术家的思想观念把城市的缩影有如像素在屏幕上般呈现于画布之上。