Tara Downs

Feb 02 – Mar 11, 2023

424 Broadway, 3rd Floor

Phantoms

Jiang Cheng

Press Release

Exhibition view of Jiang Cheng: Phantoms. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.

Jiang Cheng, e-97, 2021. Oil on canvas, 37 1/2 × 33 1/2 in / 95 × 85 cm

Jiang Cheng, e-97, 2021 (detail). Oil on canvas, 37 1/2 × 33 1/2 in / 95 × 85 cm

Exhibition view of Jiang Cheng: Phantoms. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.

Jiang Cheng, e-94 Paris, 2021. Oil on canvas, 49 1/4 × 43 1/4 in / 125 × 110 cm

Jiang Cheng, e-94 Paris, 2021 (detail). Oil on canvas, 49 1/4 × 43 1/4 in / 125 × 110 cm

Exhibition view of Jiang Cheng: Phantoms. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.

Jiang Cheng, e-125, 2022. Oil on canvas, 43 1/4 × 35 1/2 in / 110 × 90 cm

Exhibition view of Jiang Cheng: Phantoms. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.

Jiang Cheng, e-134, 2022. Oil on canvas, 45 1/4 × 41 1/4 in / 115 × 105 cm

Jiang Cheng, e-134, 2022 (detail). Oil on canvas, 45 1/4 × 41 1/4 in / 115 × 105 cm

Exhibition view of Jiang Cheng: Phantoms. Tara Downs, New York, 2023.

Jiang Cheng, e-135, 2022. Oil on canvas, 45 1/4 × 41 1/4 in / 115 × 105 cm

Jiang Cheng, e-126 Athena, 2022. Oil on canvas, 43 1/4 × 35 1/2 in / 110 × 90 cm

My work always revolves around the theme of viewing and the frameworks it produces.

Unlike the “U” series, the “e” series leaves me unable to escape from the overall picture during the creative process, due to its perspective and scale. To maintain freedom of motion, despite being bound by small-scale canvases and the distractions of viewing, I have to keep myself in the dangerous moments between “seeing” and “not seeing” (the shiver). At the same time, I am constantly confronted with and identify myself from the momentum of habits — that of my own, and that which originate from art history and its status quo — so as to reconstruct the structure of the subject and object.

The “e” in the “e series” is taken from the last letter in she and he, and the series encapsulates how my gaze is directed toward “he/she”.

Is painting the art of “seeing?” Seeing produces he/she (the image or the object) within painting and focuses the subject within the present. Seeing brings about a structure, introduces a plot, and connects us.

“I” is constituted by the phantoms that arise as shadow follows the body, these are ghosts that wander on the boundary between temporal realms. Seeing, we become “them,” but we also remain ourselves. “They” morph into a symbol, and we subject this symbol to a plot. “The Other” are phantoms.

As Hermann Quitt, in They are Dying Out, sang:
“…and what I’ve just imagined, with a sigh, as my life
are only blisters on my body
which sigh when they burst.”

Jiang Cheng
December 13, 2022

Jiang Cheng (b. 1985, Quzhou, China) lives and works in Shanghai, China. Solo exhibitions include: “Phantoms”, Tara Downs, New York, US (2023); “The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other,” AIKE, Shanghai, CN (2022); “U,” Tara Downs, New York, US (2021); “U,” AIKE, Shanghai, CN (2020); “Vertigo,” A+ Contemporary, Shanghai, CN (2019); “Post Meridiem,” A+ Contemporary, Shanghai, CN. Jiang Cheng’s paintings have been presented in group exhibitions including: Gagosian, Hong Kong, HK (2023) (upcoming); The Margulies Collection, Miami, US (2022); “Regarde-moi”, Perrotin, Paris, FR (2022); “The Man of the Crowd,” AIKE, Shanghai, CN (2020); “Qubeiping: Beijing Spring,” Ying Space, Beijing, CN (2017); “The Dilemmas of Painting,” A+ Contemporary, Beijing, CN (2017); “LA CHAIR,” A+ Contemporary, Shanghai, CN (2016); “Rundgang,” The Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, DE (2011); “Young Artists Group Exhibition,” Uferhallen Kulturstandort, Berlin, DE (2011). The artist had a solo presentation at Independent Art Fair, with Tara Downs, in 2022. The artist completed his MFA at the Berlin University of the Arts (UDK Berlin) in 2012, and received his BA from China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, in 2008. His works are included in significant private and public collections, including: ICA Miami; Dangxia Beijing; Long Museum, Shanghai; M Woods, Beijing; Sifang Museum, Nanjing; X Museum, Beijing; COMMA Foundation, Belgium. Jiang Cheng’s first US museum solo at ICA Miami is on view until May 7, 2023.