Zhang Yibei @ Dangxia Art Space, Beijing, China

Group Exhibition "Tongue In Cheek"
BANK is pleased to announce the participation of artists Zhang Yibei in the Dangxia Art Space exhibition 'Tongue in Cheek'. which span various media such as sculpture, painting, installation and video, to explore each artist’s unique practice that transcribe invisible inner dialogues into concrete forms.
The concept of With My Tongue in My Cheek was proposed by artist Xie Nanxing and shares its title with a self-portrait created by Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp in 1959. In the original work, an exaggerated plaster relief is juxtaposed next to sketched outline of Duchamp's face, the missing tongue evokes an absence in the outline, which gives the illusion of swelling of the cheeks. Painting and sculpture, as two distinctive artistic media, are superimposed in the same work. The title and the work form a pun, which renders a literal reading impossible.
Zhang Yibei's works connect poison bait stations, spring bamboo shoots, lotus roots, quilts, bicycle tires, copper pots, kettles, finned radiators, and underground water supply pipes under the corner of the wall for rodent control. Such readymade objects found in the hidden and exposed makings of urban life are rearranged in the exhibition hall to present the artist’s struggle with hunger. 
As Xie Nanxing notes, confrontation of the self is a traditional topic, but it is closely related to everyone. The so-called "interality" will eventually become images and symbols, and "my tongue" will continue to perform life and death, text and image, humour and seriousness that is played out on the cheeks. 
Excerpt from article/ Meng Xianhui
June 18, 2022
Previous
|
Next
149 
of 183