Preface
For a long time, painting that sincerely depicts the world around us has become increasingly rare. In the early 1990s, such depictions of familiar people and objects emerged under a specific art historical context, typically, a group of then new-generation of young artists who adopted a "close distance" painting style. As Wang Huaxiang put it, “After the clamorous New Wave art, people had grown weary of conceptual things—artists wanted to return to their own specific and unexaggerated lives.”
Although “conceptual art" is a somewhat ambiguous and messy term, at the time it generally referred to "philosophy," "thought," or "soul"—in short, those things deemed more important than art itself. In this sense, "close distance" meant returning to life in one's proximity and to the canvas before one's eyes—to confront the "essence" of art by beginning with the tangible elements of painting language.
The title of this exhibition, "Still Distance," plays on the homophone of "Close Distance" precisely because, more than thirty years later, those ideologies that always claimed to be more important than art have made somewhat of a comeback. Yet today, many artists still practice the new realism of the ‘New Generation’ from back then.
Artists Jiang Jianjun, Jiang Huajun, and Yu Yiwen share similar backgrounds: they are close in age, were born in the countryside, grew up in small towns, and came to the big city for art school. This sequence of events is perhaps the most ordinary—and thus standard—life trajectory of the generation born in the 1970s and 1980s. Their painting styles also evolved from the most foundational and widely practiced modes taught in the Chinese art academies. In fact, Jiang Jianjun still teaches basic courses at an art academy, Yu Yiwen graduated from the foundational courses at the academy, and Jiang Huajun has authored several textbooks for fine arts entrance exams. Whether in speech or painting, they carry regional accents and maintain the farthest possible distance from all things trendy as people and in their work.
Yet this "ordinariness" in subject matter and language grants their works an emotive power—one that arises from the everyday experience in China, which has rarely been seen in contemporary painting. They depict the accidental and the mundane as still-life, using backgrounds so plain they verge on flat fills, close-up compositions, and nagging repetitions that eventually generate symbolic power from daily life: the gaze and an act of praise.
Of course, each of their works has its specific character. Jiang Jianjun paints scenes, objects, and people that are common but rarely depicted, often based on casually snapped phone photos—children's hands and feet, the bulky backs of passersby, and heaps of miscellaneous items. Each painting compresses its color range into a dominant tone, creating a lyrical atmosphere under a chromatic filter. Jiang Huajun, through a resolute insistence on facsimile depiction and constant layering, lends contemplative weight to otherwise inconspicuous fragments of life. Yu Yiwen focuses on rural people and objects, using tightly cropped and tension-filled compositions, deliberate distortions, and large swathes of dark tones to evoke a commemorative quality.
In the rapidly renewing flow of everyday life, novelty and surprise are always more likely to be pushed to the fore. But when trends eventually become history, those inadvertent, everyday fragments may reveal the actual contours of a historical riverbed. Years from now, when people look back and ask what life in this era was like, will they turn to the trending topics and filtered images of the day's social media—or will they look to these still works and return to that reality?
By Bao Dong
Still Distance
Jiang Huajun, Jiang Jianjun, Yu Yiwen
Curated by Bao Dong
Duration: May 11 - June 22, 2025
Venue: PIFO Gallery, Beijing
About the Artists
Jiang Huajun
born in 1979 in Hunan Province, graduated from Art Institute of Hunan Province in 1997, graduated from Central Academy of Fine Art in 2007. Currently lives and works in Beijing.
Jiang Jianjun
born in Guilin, Guangxi province in 1974. studied fine art education at Guangxi Normal University from 1992 to 1995, and studied oil painting at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute from 2001 to 2004, earning a master's degree. Currently teachs at Sichuan Fine Arts institute, workS and lives in Chongqing.
Yu Yiwen
born in 1980, Shaoyang, Hunan Province. completed her BA (2007), MA (2013), Currently an Associate Professor and Department Director at HIFA.
About the CURATOR
Bao Dong
born in Anhui in 1979, graduated from the Art History Department of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2006. He is an active art critic and curator of the new generation in China, co-founder and artistic director of Beijing Contemporary Art Fair.