Beijing Art Now Gallery is pleased to present Li Shun's solo exhibition, Imaginary Tour, on December 8, 2019.
Li Shun’s “Internet Sketch” series began with his thoughts and obsessions of Woyou (Imaginary Tour). Woyou originated in the Wei-Jin period in China. Confined by the conditions of transportation, ancient people did not have the freedom to travel around the world, so they turned to Shanshui Hua (Landscape paintings) as an alternative. Paintings became the window for ancient people to see the world at home. Li utilizes Google Maps as an index for him to experience the world without taking a step out.
Through Google Maps, Li closely observes and carefully chooses the landscapes that he wants to depict and takes screenshots on the computer. He then photographs the screenshots with a Polaroid and creates painterly sketches based on the screenshots. This mode of Internet Sketch incorporates the obscurity of blurred vision, the novelty of being irrelevant, and the spirit of an imaginary tour. The artist will present the printed screenshots, Polaroid photographs, and sketches altogether in the exhibition.
A virtual private network is required to access Google in China and unexpected bugs might occur when making screenshots due to issues like network speed, etc. These realistic reasons lead to surreal illusions.
by／Huang Liaoyuan
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