Shanghai artist Maleonn's (Chinese: Ma Liang) White on White  is at 18 Gallery this month.  

Maleonn hunted through flea markets for photos, ID pictures and personal letters - relics of other peoples' lives - for his installation. The name, White on White, references old photographs fading to white - the literal loss of memory. 

"Those people in the old photos were forgotten by their relatives, so they were thrown away. It's very sad." Maleonn said.

Some of the photos are displayed in operation plates - the kind surgeons use for organs when they cut them out of a human body.  A sense of loneliness presides over the exhibit. The somber installation contrasts its creator's cheerful demeanor.

"Theme and content are very important for me. I always hope my photography is like a poem, composed of several simple words, but showing extensive intent," he said.

Maleonn has been studying fine art for more than a decade. He spent eight years working in film. And has been focused on making his own art since 2004.

White on White will be at 18 Gallery from now until April 1.  

Painter and illustrator Emilie Record is kicked off her Shanghai debut "Hang Me Up" exhibit tuesday night at The Source.  Her studio-residence is conveniently located across from the editorial office. We were made awares via window manifesto:

We made the long, arduous journey across the alley to have coffee and cookies with Record in the funky home she shares with her fiancee, jazz musician Quentin Baquignon.

Canvasses are stacked against their living room walls, next to jugs full of paint brushes and a piano in the corner. Yeeep, definitely artists living there. 

Hang Me Up is all about trophy women. It's not feminist, Record said, it's about hunting for affection. She'll be showing the same series next month in Berlin.

Originally from France and trained as an architect, Record has devoted herself full-time to painting and design for about a year. She's been in Shanghai three years. Before, she lived in Vancouver and worked as an architect. But she first started exhibiting her art at age 10.

Hang Me Up will be at Source March 9 - 21. Checkout the work on Emilie's website.

Hang Me Up @ The Source, Opening 7:30 pm Tues., March 9

158 Xinle Lu, near Donghu Lu 

徐汇区新乐路158号 

Our new series looks at the people who run Shanghai's art market - the curators. Our second curator in the series is 31-year-old Briton Andrew James who opened Andrew James Art at 39 Maoming Bei Lu in March 2007.

Why did you open your gallery?
It was the natural choice for me, previously I was the gallery manager of an auction in London and wanted to open my own business one day, the gallery was the perfect solution.
 
And why did you choose this location?
I used to live on the corner of West Nanjing Road and North Maoming Road and walking around one day I happened to find this disused colonial Mansion. Location-wise it’s perfect, walking distance to most of the bigger hotels and two of the busiest shopping streets.

What sort of art do you normally show?
All the artists I exhibit come from either China, Japan or Korea.  It has to be contemporary art and the medium of the work can be anything from oil paintings, video, photography or sculpture.

Name a few of the artists you’ve shown in your gallery...
We had a solo show for Sheng Qi in 2008 whose work has been collected by New York’s MoMA. Later this year we will have a solo show for Lady Aiko who is a New York graffiti artist who is also the founding member of the Faile graffiti group. We’ve also shown works by leading Chinese artists such as Zhang Xiaogang and Wang Guangyi.

Our new series looks at the people who run Shanghai's art market - the curators. First up is Cheng Xixing, curator of Don Gallery on Huaihai Lu which she opened in December 2007.

Why did you open your gallery?
I love art, and wanted to figure out a solution to keep a balance between art and business.

And why did you choose its location?
It is one of my favorite parts of Shanghai and also one of the city's most familiar areas - historical, quiet, cultural - which should be a good location for an art house.

What sort of art do you normally show?
Chinese contemporary art (mainly painting and photography) by either established or emerging young artists, like Mou Hoo (in our ongoing exhibition). We also exhibit international artists who reside in Shanghai.

Name a few of the artists you’ve shown in your gallery...
Zhang Yaxin (who is famous for his Cultural Revolutionary Model Operas), Maleonn, Mick Ryan, Liu Ren, Huang Ling and Lore Vanelslande.

Back in the 90s Zhang Huan was the enfant terrible of the Beijing East Village group of performance artists. The baddest of the bad boys. He once covered himself in honey in a filthy Beijing public toilet and remained seated for an hour while flies covered his body. The flies loved him; so did the critics. Photos of his artwork – taken by fellow BEV alumni Rong Rong – would later fetch upward of US$10,000 in New York which Zhang moved to in 1998. Based in Shanghai since 2005, Zhang is still pushing the boundaries of artistic propriety - he now works with incense ash. We caught up with him during his first solo exhibition at Shanghai Art Museum which runs to February 26.

Why do you use incense ash in your art?
The customary way of handling this ash is to scatter it in a lake or bury it in the earth; this is Buddhist custom. But temples today handle it as garbage, so I collect it. I felt the amazing power of incense ash. It seems to have the ability to change people's lives. Young couples go to the temple, burn incense and ask for a baby. They pray and wish for luck or a prosperous job or happiness. It embodies a form of energy, a collection of memories, an array of wishes. So that’s why I use it in my art.

In your early days, you used your own body to express yourself. Why do you now prefer regular art to performance art?
I’m simply trying to expand the boundaries of my artistic creation through different forms and mediums now. My nature has not changed. Form and language are changing, but the essentials remains the same.