| About | Biography | Artists Represented | Wenda Gu
United Nations (an ongoing global art project for the twenty-first century since 1993)
Completed national monuments
| 1997 |
"United Nations - Africa Monument: The Praying
Wall", a site specific installation and performance with Nomsa Manaka, 2nd
Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa. |
| 1997 |
"United Nations - Hong Kong Monument: The
historical clash", a site specific installation and a performance "blackness", Han
Art Gallaery, Hong Kong. |
| 1997 | "United Nations - Hong Kong
Monument: The historical clash", a site specific installation and a performance
"Blackness", Han Art Gallaery, Taiwan. |
| 1996 |
"United Nations - USA Monument 2: dreamerica,
a site specific installation, Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, Songe Museum of
Contemporary Art, Korea. |
| 1996 | "United Nations - Britain Monument:
The Maze", a site specific installation, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, Camerawork
Gallery, London, England. |
| 1996 | "United Nations-Sweden & Russia
Monument: Interpol", Center for Contemporary & Architecture, Stockholm, Centemporary
Art Center of Moscow, Russia. |
| 1995 | "United Nations-Israel Monument:
The Holy Land", a permanent landart in Mitzpah Ramon, Israeli Cultural Minister
and the Artists’ Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel. |
| 1995 | "United Nations-USA Monument
1: Post-cmoellotniinaglopiostsm, a site-specific installation, Space Untitled Gallery,
New York, USA. |
| 1994 | "United Nations-Holland Monument:
V.O.C.-W.I.C., a site-specific installation, The Kroller-Muller Museum, The Netherlands. |
| 1994 | "United Nations-Italy Monument:
God & Children", a site specific installation, Enrico Gariboldi Arte Contemporanea,
Milan, Italy. |
| 1993 | "United Nations-Poland Monument:
Hospitalized History Museum, a site specific installation, History Museum of Lodz,
The Artists’ Museum, Poland. |
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions:
| Selected Solo Exhibitons | |
| 1997 | Mythos of Lost Dynasties, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 1997 | Dynasty, Benith Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| 1996 | Dreamerica, Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, USA |
| 1995 | United Nations - American Dicision, Spave Untited, New York, USA |
| 1994 | United - Italian Division, Enrico Garibaldi Arte Contemporanea, Milan |
| 1994 | Contemporanea, Milan |
| 1994 | Enigma Beyond Joy and Sin, Berlin Sharfire Gallery, New York, USA |
| 1992 | Enrico Garabaldi Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy |
| 1992 | Two Thousand Natural Deaths, Hatley Martin Gallery, San Grancisco, USA |
| 1992 | Red Black White Desert, Unicersity Art MUseaum, California State University, Long Beach USA |
| 1985 | The Dangerous Chessboard Leaves the Ground, University Art Gallery, York University, Toronto |
| Selected Group Exhibitions | |
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1999- 1998 |
Inside Out, Asia Society, New York San Francisco MOMA; Museo de Arte Contemporneo, Monterrey, Mexico; Tacoma Art Museum and Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, USA |
| 1998 | 4696/1998 Lehmnan Maupin Gallery, New York, YSA, Art Beatus, Vancouver Canada |
| 1998 | Jingnan, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, UBC, Art Beatus, Vancouver, Canada |
| 1997 | 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 1996 | 1st Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China |
| 1995 | New Art in China 1990-1994, Vancouver Art Gallery |
| 1995 | Tradition and Innovation - 20th Century Painting in China, Museum |
| 1995 | Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, British Museum, London, UK |
| 1995 | Mao goes Pop, China Post - 1989, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia |
| 1995 | Silent Energy, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK |
| 1989 | China Avante Garde - No U turn, China National Art Gallery, Beijing, China |
| Other Exhibitions | |
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University Art Museum, California State University, California, USA Los Angelas Festival 1990, California, USA Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England HanArt Gallery, Hong Kong Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea Exit Art, New York, USA Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, USA Angel row Gallery, Nottingham, England The Kroller-Muller Museum, The Netherlands The Binet Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel The Alternative Museum, New York, USA Space Untitled Gallery, New York, USA In-Khan Gallery, New York, USA Main Gallery, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island, USA Enrico Gariboldi Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy Berlin Shafire Gallery, New York, USA Walace Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State University, USA Halley Martin Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA DP Fong Gallery, San Jose, USA Yangtze Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada Xian Artist’s Gallery, China @nd Johannesburg Bienalle, South Africa Hong Kong New Convention Centre, Hong Kong Koln Art Museum, Germany Ida Gallery, York University, Toronto, Canada Salina Art Center, Santa Fe, USA Artopia Gallery, New York, USA San Jose Museum, California, USA Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, USA Center for Contemporary Art & Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden Thread Waxing Space, New York, USA The British Museum, London, England The Kemper Museum, Kansa Cit, USA The National Art Museum Singapore, Singapore The University Art Museum,University of Oregon, Oregon, USA Shanghai Museum of Art, China National Museum, Singapore Fort Wayne Museum, USA Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada Hong Kong Museum of Art , Hong Kong The Artists’ Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel Art Gallery of Western Austrailia, Perth, Australia The Artists’ Project, England The Discover Museum, Connecticut, Connecticut, USA The Belcher Studio Gallery , San Francisco, USA Here Foundation New York, USA The Wexner Center for The Arts, USA The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia The Museum of Lodz, Poland Melbourne International Festival 1993, Melbourne, Australia ISE Foundation Gallery, New York, USA SWA Gallery, Ottawa, Canada Artspace, Toronto, Canada Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong Gallery Koerea, New York, USA P.S. 1 Muse4um, New York, USA Museum City Project, Fukuoka, Japan China National Art Museum, Beijing, China neodenfjeldske Kunstindstrinmudem, Norway Saa Gallery, Connecticut, USA La Gleris Dea Arts Lavalin, Montreal, Canada Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland Shanghai Exhibition Hall, China Hanzhou Cultural Center, China Wuhan Exhibition Center, China National Academy of Arts, China Shanghai Arts Museum, China
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Gu Wenda studied ink painting under the great modern
master Lu Yanshao. In the early 1980’s he explored radical extensions of the
traditional technique in a series of large semi-abstract works and environmental
installations. His solo exhibition at York University, Toronto, in 1985
(organized by Bruce Parsons), was one of the first to take place outside China
for an artist of the "new wave" movement. Since moving to New York he has
embarked on an ambitious series of installation works that stress the essential
unity of human experience and community. In the United Nations series, Gu Wenda
uses contributions of human hair to "weave" monumental banners of unreadable
text in various scripts, with the intention of having one work in every country
of the world. When he completes the project in 2003, he expects to have received
hair donations from over a million people. As well as installing the Canadian
portion of United Nations at the Belkin Gallery, Gu Wenda began a new piece in
Vancouver, called Confucius' Diary. This is a performance work that has the
artist in the role of a Tran cultural Confucius, dressed half in Chinese
ceremonial robes and half in tux and tails, leading a donkey through the city as
he meets with leaders of business, politics and vulture to discuss matters of
importance to humankind. Gu Wenda tells the Story. "Once upon a time, when China was made up of many individual countries, Confucius wanted to publicize his doctrine throughout the land. He traveled around these various countries spreading his idea of how to govern until his beliefs were advocated. Coincidentally or not, in the histories of Western religion and literature, riding on a donkey has become symbolic of heroic human destiny: Jesus Christ riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, (though this trip gained him popularity, he was later killed and crucified); Cervantes' Don Quixote riding on a donkey becomes our ceaseless human quest for something larger than ourselves. This theme was repeated by Mao in his Red Army's famous military milestone known as “the 25,000 kilometer long march," which convinced thousands of peasants to support his resolutions. These historical references serve as important metaphors in today's bio/geo/cultural environments." During the course of his peregrinations around the city of Vancouver, Fu Wenda spoke with Professor Jan Walls, Director of the David Lam Centre of International Communications, Daina Augaitis, Chief Curator and Associate Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and investment banker Milton K. Wong President and C.E.O. of M.K. Wong & Associates. Their conversations were videotaped and presented as part of the installation in the gallery. During the course of his peregrinations around the city of Vancouver, Fu Wenda spoke with Professor Jan Walls, Director of the David Lam Centre of International Communications, Daina Augaitis, Chief Curator and Associate Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and investment banker Milton K. Wong President and C.E.O. of M.K. Wong & Associates. Their conversations were videotaped and presented as part of the installation in the gallery. |
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