On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, concurrently with the 20th anniversary of the peaceful and historical fall of the Berlin Wall, and most of all, in the memory of those who perished on Tiananmen Square on the 4th of June, which also marks its 20th year since 1989, we would like to take this extraordinary opportunity in presenting Tie Ying’s historical narrative for China – both a reflection of its political ramifications and a personal journey through a turbulent and transitional phase of a country in the becoming of a super power.

Tie Ying, who lives and works in Beijing, China, is a classical trained painter. He graduated from the oil painting department of the renowned Beijing Central Academy of Art and later studied at the Royal University of Fine Art Stockholm, Sweden where he commenced creating works by using photography as a main source to articulate his artistic expressions. After two years of study, Tie Ying returned from Sweden to Beijing in 1999. The cultural shock from a life of Scandinavian tranquillity and streamlined landscape to an ever-changing face and pace in the capital of China has compelled him to create a large amount of photography works to capture the glimpse and the split second of the encyclopaedic modern Chinese society, which also serves as semi autobiographical documentations.

In a recent interview Tie Ying said “I created the series BACKFIRE bearing in mind the historical moments in China and would like to dedicate them to those who were involved in the radical movements, especially to the people who sacrificed their lives in the process. The purpose and consequences resulted from these historical events were not very transparent at the time when they happened but now are heavily debated, as part of our history. This is probably only my personal point of view – people who were urged by their passion and patriotism were out-manoeuvred and manipulated. They have consequently lost their lives simply because they tried to defend their belief and to prove the system of their time was wrong.”

A photography work titled ‘flags and torches’ shows the glory of Beijing Olympics in 2008 when the whole country, observed by the world, ushered and celebrated a symbol of its closeness to a Holy Grail. Part of the image is stripped blank, which creates a visual disturbance. Was the world sports event a real success? Are we familiar with any of the behind-the-scene stories on how the country made it happen and who were the people made it happen?

The work is in stark contrast to the seemingly blurry in memory but clearly stand-out in history events took place in 1969 (BACKFIRE01) when Mao chaired a national assembly at Tiananmen Square and named Lin Biao as his successor. When the patriotic students demonstrated at the same place in 1989 (BACKFIRE02) and a random snap shot of the Statue of Liberty in scaffolding repair (BACKFIRE03).

Another series of earlier works, a tricolour presentation illustrating the Tiananmen Square of today in an imagined ever green shade, the marching national guards in empire yellow and the omni-present National Assembly Hall in crimson red.

The body of works on canvas were from Tie Ying’s early years as a university student. He focused on the figurative but diversified into abstraction momentarily, a fore sign of his later forays into photography and video works.

On a spring day, Tie Ying wanted to retrieve a picture from his computer files when the machine unexpectedly started to crash. He documented what the computer screen exhibited during the process of what a virus does to a humanly created machine. The result is a work of multi-layered picture emporium (Virus02), a random documentation of the artist’s sometime capricious and chaotic life in a young, vibrant and dynamic Chinese capital.
The video work ‘Small Things’ heralds further Tie Ying’s personal fascination with the quotidian banality in Beijing, particularly the nightlife, which provides a feeding source for the creative energy of the artsy types. While ‘CCTV Tower’ is the opposite staple of what and how the country’s decision-makers and the powerful are shaping and re-defining China. The influence of the new architectural surroundings and the consequent impact on the inhabitants can only be judged and unfolded in the course of time.

Tie Ying’s photography works tempt to re-create and-re-construct the optical truth and the memory. It is a constant challenge of one’s self. It also serves as a reflection of how he interprets the transition of China from the Cultural Revolution of his early childhood, to the current modernisation, rapid developments and conflicting interests of an ambitious world power, of his adulthood.

Mai 36 Galerie is pleased to present you BACKFIRE, new works by the Chinese contemporary artist Tie Ying. The preview is on the 1st of October 2009. The exhibition will continue till the 5th of December 2009. Josephine Hsieh