the qi peng dynasty (we are duchampions) at envoy enterprises

alexis granwell panel 1 (2009), ink on paper, 8.5” x 11" by qi peng

envoy enterprises is currently preparing for an exhibit involving the work of conceptual artist qi peng. The exhibit, titled the qi peng dynasty (we are duchampions), will involve a complex installation featuring a hybrid fusion between traditional works on paper and painting and cutting-edge new media art. The installation has been described as being based on the idea of autobiography loosely based on James Joyce’s novel “A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man” smashed with Facebook and Xerox.

qi peng combines selected “interview portraits,” which he has published through www.examiner.com as an online art project, between art professionals which he has met in real life or Facebook or Twitter or other social networking websites into a larger installation project. By delivering a cross section of the international art world, focusing on New York City and Los Angeles mostly with a small dose of his current hometown of Salt Lake City, the artist attempts to democratize how the public perceives any particular individual within this complex web of artists, art dealers, museum curators, art workers, and “slaves” who comprise this whole system of people who put together contemporary
art for the audience. By displaying offset prints of these portraits like a digital version of August Sander photographs, peng attempts to humanize the art world as an antithesis to the glossy art market and blue chip players portrayed by the magazines.

edward winkleman panel 2 (2009), ink on paper, 8.5” x 11" by qi peng

This installation piece will present secondary documents that will reflect on how the artist’s first solo show in New York City became extant at envoy enterprises. Mixing together proposals, acceptance and rejection letters, critiques, as well some surprising documents that feature a Chelsea gallery, and a painting that is based on a prominent Brooklyn artist with overtones of the idea of “WWPD,” this work becomes a brave exploration of the politics of how exhibitions are created and galleries are curated.

This is a fairly dispassionate view of the artist’s subjective journey from a virtually unknown artist as a displaced New Yorker located in Utah into a slowly emerging artist as a small player within the international art world. He also highlights the challenges of an atypical Utah conceptual artist attaining both “critical affirmation” and “artistic defiance” with and against the somewhat insular New York contemporary art world reframed as the Garden of Eden.

qi peng states that there will be a surprise ending to the whole installation and a possible inclusion of the following events: an artist book signing at a table, an unexpected appearance of the Zero Dollar project by Laura Gilbert, a performance duel between Rick Herron and the artist himself, and guest appearances by famed bootlegger Eric Doeringer and collaborating artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton.

william powhida panel 1 (2009), ink on paper, 8.5” x 11" by qi peng

“the qi peng dynasty (we are duchampions)” is qi peng’s first solo exhibit in New York City. qi peng was born in 1976 in Queens, New York City. He lives and works mostly in Salt Lake City and sometimes in New York. His work has been exhibited at The Lab at Belmar, Anna Kustera, James Cohen/NURTUREART, Metro Pictures/Visual AIDS, modern8 gallery, and Projects Gallery. Currently he is represented by The Barbara Ann Levy Gallery in West Palm Beach, Florida.

envoy enterprises is a contemporary art space dedicated to the generation, presentation and promotion of contemporary visual arts practice. envoy enterprises' dynamic program of exhibitions, performances, concerts, artists' talks, publications, video and movie screenings, aims to provide opportunities for artists to exhibit their work within a context of current national and international practice. For more information visit, www.envoyenterprises.com

For more information about the exhibit visit www.envoyenterprises.com or www.qipeng.net



Link of Interest:

Myartspace.com interview with qi peng
www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/04/art-space-talk-qi-peng-part-1.html