Interview with Pan Jian Feng.

No Matter exhibition by the Chinese artist Pan Jian Feng (b. 1973) takes place at the Lasipalatsi gallery (Mannerheimintie 22-24) on February 12–14. It forms part of the visual-arts programme at the Shanghai Expo opening in May. Pan Jian Feng will be present in person at the Lasipalatsi gallery, where his works about Chinese everyday life will be shown for just three days. The exhibition opened to the public on Friday February 12, on the eve of the Chinese New Year celebrations on the Lasipalatsi square. Pan discussed his working methods after the SAFA seminar at Kiasma Theatre on Friday at 4.15 pm.

Pan uses various media, including paint, animation, video, porcelain painting and ink drawing, relying heavily on his tradition of calligraphy. In these diary-like series of ink drawings No matter, Pan Jian Feng depicts the whimsical quality of a day in Shanghai.

No Matter exhibition opening.

Observation and drawing are an integral part of Pan’s daily artistic work. He is particularly interested in people’s feelings, and in memory. In Just like a man, he gives an ironic depiction of the daily pressures of being a man in Shanghai. To please a Shanghai woman, a man is expected to be wealthy, intelligent, successful and eager to please…The Big Mouth Cup is an ongoing series of hand-painted porcelain mugs. The subject of the work is the mass-produced enamel mugs – familiar in Finland, too – that used to serve as spaces for printing the words and political slogans of Chairman Mao. In this project, Pan has returned the mug to the people, encouraging them to decorate it with their own personal messages and feelings. The mug-installation in the Lasipalatsi exhibition can be used by visitors, thus acting as a warm greeting. The exhibition also includes Pan’s animated piece Morphing and documentation of his artistic work.

Pan Jian Feng is participating in the Helsinki Artist in Residence Programme (HIAP) on Suomenlinna during February 2010, as a guest of the Invitation to Helsinki project. One purpose of his residency is to establish artist-in-residency exchanges and collaborative projects between Helsinki and Shanghai.

For more information, please contact:
Curator Marita Muukkonen (HIAP), tel. 0440 965 103