Johansson's Jubilee Exhibition

Janeric Johansson's exhibition “Light Fight Night” is presented April 17 – May 8, 2010 at TCG Nordica, Kunming, and is on of the culture center's 10 years anniversary jubilee arrangements.

Janeric Johansson came to Kunming for the first time in 1999, and has since been a central figure in the work of TCG Nordica and ArtsNordica alike.

The theme of his current exhibition is darkness and light, and the unceasing struggle between them. The 25 art pieces in this exhibition have all been created by Janeric Johansson in the last two years at his studio in Kunming’s Loft area.

Here he discusses his more than a decade of involvement in the Chinese art scene: Eleven years in Yunnan
Eleven years ago I was invited to take part in the First International Festival of Arts in Kunming. The Festival took place the first week of June, but I decided to come 1 month earlier to make a project with 10 students at the Yunnan Arts Institute. At that time no one had heard about Kunming in Sweden. But my friend Anna Mellergård had moved here a year before and she also took part in this project.

The same month I was also invited to present a solo exhibition at the Upriver Gallery in Kunming, one of few avant-garde galleries in China at the time. I didn’t realize how important that exhibition would be. I was the first international artist to hold an exhibition there and for many art students it was the first opening they had ever attended. Most of the Kunming artist attended the opening, including Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun from Beijing. I expected this to be a very local event, far away from Beijing, but suddenly I found myself in the most inspiring and developing art world.

When the 250 artists, musicians and dancers from 40 countries arrived a month later, I was waiting together with my Chinese students and artist friends at the courtyard of the Art Institute. I was supposed to be a part of this international group, but when they were coming out of the buses I realized that I belonged more to the Chinese group. And that feeling has remained with me ever since, and I have kept coming back to China for ten years now.

When T/Café Gallery opened a year later, I was the first artist to exhibit there. For a year, 2004-05, I lived in Kunming together with my wife Eva, and since then I have been coming two times per year. Since 2007 I have also been sharing a studio with Liu Lifen in Kunming Loft.
Three years ago, I was honored to represent Yunnan Province at The Third Guiyang Art Biennal in Guizhou Province.

Kunming has become my second home, mostly because of TCG Nordica and the deep friendships I have developed with many people in Kunming.

Today, Kunming is no longer a blind spot in Sweden. TCG Nordica has put it on the map. Most of the Chinese artists who have been involved in exhibitions and project in Scandinavia have also visited our home in Sweden. This has been a pleasure for my wife and me, and the friendships has been even deeper.

All the paintings in this exhibition are produced in my studio here in Kunming. They are dealing with different topics that have filled my mind the last years. They are an attempt to bridge the gap between east and west through asking questions and trying to understand the different cultures. In my works, I describe people – represented by horses – as they are searching for meaning in life, dealing with darkness and light, western and Chinese thinking. The different angles in my paintings force you to see and change your mind when you are moving in the room.

I hope that the questions I ask and the things that have been interesting to me during the work in the studio, also can be of interest to you as a visitor. You are important to me, because my paintings are not finished until they have met their audience.

- Janeric Johansson, Artist. Kunming April 2010 Light - Fight - Night_Exhibition Information
TCG Nordica Gallery

Opening: 2010.04.17, Saturday, 20:00
Duration: 2010.04.17-05.08

Tel: 0871-4114962
Add: TCG Nordica, Chuangku, Xibalu 101#, Kunming
www.tcgnordica.com More Pictures
Art Space

Close ups

From the studio to the exhibition hall...

Janeric Johansson - projects in China
through ArtsNordica / TCG Nordica 1999: Walking through the Read Sea 2004/05: TCG Nordica Gallery Director. Work of Heart 2008: Exhibition in Simao, Yunnan

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