On view from May 12 to July 11, 2020, Cai Zebin’s second solo exhibition, “A Revisit at 2 bis rue Perrel” at Capsule Shanghai consists of the artist's most recent paintings, small drawings, and installations, that extend from the artist’s continuous fascination with the relationship between the symbolic, the imaginary, and the real in creativity.
The title of this exhibition, “A Revisit at 2 bis rue Perrel” draws from Victor Brauner’s (1903-1966) eponymous painting whose work paid tribute to Henri Rousseau while living in his former residence. In Brauner’s painting, not only do we find the artist’s appropriation of Rousseau’s famous work, The Snake Charmer (1907), but also a surrealist icon of many limbs that be known as uniquely his. Hence, Cai’s adoption of this title demonstrates the artist’s intention to reveal the genealogy of images and visual resources that inform his practice, as well as asserting his position to this approach for creativity.
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Video tour of the exhibition
Please note: The video above requires VPN to be accessed within China.
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Room 1
The works in the first room are concerned with an artist's environment and studio as a point of inspiration. These works closely reference Henri Rousseau’s work created towards the end of the 19th century and beginning 20th century.
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Room 2 - The Sketches Room
“How does a work of art come into being?” - A Reflection on Self-PortraitIn the adjacent room are two mirror works. Mirrors act as a conceptual idea on how to paint a self-portrait. Cai thought of ideas of how to create an image that reflected this conceptual idea or process of thinking. The self-portrait brings together the idea of a person, a mirror, a palette, painting brushes, and tools. Cai thought of the question, ”Can I make a painter’s palette a mirror?” Combining these self-portrait requirements, he created his own version of a self-portrait.
Moreover, the palette-shape mirror, the most subtle yet pivotal device in this exhibition, not only references to the one Henri Rousseau holds in his self-portrait in front of the Eiffel Tower but also projects what Jacque Lacan defines the functions of the mirror for bringing together the real, the symbolic and the imaginary. In other words, our reflection in the mirror, as artist and viewer, continues to relay as we explore the evolution of creativity with the understanding of the context in which we inhabit.
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Manuscripts
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ROOM 3
How to translate and transfigure all of these visual resources available on to the canvas?For this exhibition, the scope of the artist’s visual resources expands to include a broader spectrum of visual culture, ranging from the classical paintings to pop cultural icons of the present. Furthering what Henri Rousseau stated in the early 20th Century on taking nature as his realm of inspiration. For Cai Zebin, "Imagination is the sum of all my visual experiences from reality” written on a small painting among the many revealed to his viewers. This statement is also considered a prism to the condition of artistic practice today.
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Serpentine shapes
In the middle room adjacent to Revisit, we are confronted with a group of paintings that take serpentine forms and snakes as a leitmotif. Cai's fascination with the theme of the snake started with an earlier work, The Snake Charmer (2019), previously exhibited at his solo project Laval at Paris Internationale in 2019. The inspiration for this works comes from André Derain's The Dance (1906). On this painting, Cai resarched on the affinities between Derain and Rousseau's works, particularly the scenes of jungle inhabited by people and wild animals, to project a sense of naiveté.
The Snake Charmer #2 (2019) references to the iconography of Medusa, winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair, turning to stone those who gaze into her eyes. The artist converted the image to a central portrait with a single snake. From a distance, the snake looks like black hair. Cai created an image of a snake atop a head with an exaggerated facial expression, the facial features resembling portraits of ancient Roman frescos.
The Snake Charmer #3 is derived from the previous image but now with multiple snakes, still referencing Medusa’s form., the snakes are handled in a contemporary manner referencing modern fashion brands. The yellow snake is Gucci’s imagery of a snake and the blue snake is from an automobile brand.
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Adam, Eve, the Indigenous, and Surrealism
Biblical icons of the serpent and the apple or contemporary icons such as Snow White and the witch tempting her with the poisonous apple, metamorphize in Cai's works, shedding light on the mind of the artist. Each visual cue embedded with many layers of meanings, as well as their evolution from the context in which they first emerged, influences how we perceive them today. Hence, their coming together on canvas opens up the potential for their reception now.
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ROOM 4
Images evolvingThe last of the room hosts three paintings: Breeze #2, Dedicated to the Glimmer #3 and Confusion in the Midnight.
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PRESS & MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST
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Art Asia Pacific | What's Up in Shanghai: May 2020
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Cai Zebin on Contemporary Art Daily
May 24, 2020 -
Artforum Critics' Picks | Cai Zebin
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Artshard | Without Evading the Influence of Classical Paintings
May 20, 2020For this post, we talked to Cai Zebin about his thoughts on the history of painting presented in his recently mounted solo exhibition at Capsule Shanghai, his notion of space... -
Cai Zebin | Group Show at Guangdong Museum of Art
2020.06.02 - 07.05 June 2, 2020Capsule Shanghai is pleased to announce Cai Zebin's participation in the group show Exhibition of Young Power at the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou. Dates: June 2, 2020 to... -
Neocha | Original Derivatives
June 29, 2020Chinese artist Cai Zebin deals in the fantastical. At times, it can be difficult to discern whether his work is mocking satire or fine art. Take, for example, the oversized...
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