﹒ARTnews Interviews Mathieu Borysevicz
"From the outset, BANK has been a global entity with a mission to create a platform for artists transcending national and cultural boundaries. Opening in New York during strained international relations was a way to help keep this mission alive.
"We have had a small team in NYC for about three years now and have participated in numerous fairs, as well as hosted pop-ups here, such as last year's exhibition featuring queer performance artist Oliver Herring in a historic former restaurant space on the Bowery. One of our first shows was curated by Yuan Fuca, a curator who, like us splits her time between China and the US.
"Since we were founded in China, we represent more Chinese artists than any other nationality, but we never thought of ourselves as having a “Chinese identity.” Contemporary art is a universal language; we are simply broadening the conversation by presenting creators based in China as well as elsewhere.
"Certainly the continually increasing shipping costs, along with Trump’s schizophrenic tariff policies, have undermined many of our original exhibition plans. Therefore, we are working to showcase more diasporic artists, such as Patty Chang or Ching Ho Cheng, both of whom are our “local” artists of Chinese descent.
"I was surprised by the curiosity and support that we had generated since opening. There was a feeling of being celebrated both in the media and through the local gallery and institutional community for making a bold move in unstable times. We have also been hosting a series of panel talks and screenings, which have seen tremendous turnout and enthusiasm. I believe these have helped foster a dialogue and undrrstanding necessary to introduce a new program to the scene here.
"021 began as our neighbors in Shanghai. Their first editions coincided with our founding and were literally right next door to us. 021 started at the Rockbund development, the same year BANK started on Xianggang Lu. It has always been an easy, convenient fit. Additionally, all business ultimately comes down to personal relationships- all three of 021’s founders are friends, and we have worked to mutually support each other along the way."
For this edition of ART021 BEIJING, the fair has moved to a striking new venue: a repurposed industrial gasometer. From the architectural adaptation to curated sections like the "Treasure Pavilion," the fair demonstrates a distinct local identity and brand ethos. Its audience—seasoned collectors who know exactly what to expect from ART021—allows us to present works that might feel *familiar-yet-elusive* to Beijing viewers. For instance, Lin Ke’s digital paintings or Zhang Yibei and Chen Ruofan’s installations, whose conceptual textures subtly resonate with the venue’s industrial aesthetics.
﹒Noblesse+ Interviews Zhang Yibei
N: Could you introduce the works presented at ART021 BEIJING?
Zhang Yibei: "Ashes and Remnants" is a 2020 series comprising four sculptural groups: Ashes and Remnants, Old lesions, Clumsy study, and The Child Who Vomited Tripe (the latter two are exhibited here). The arrangements simulate skeletal remains after a fire—like the resin tomatoes encased in silicone, crystallized as if charred. Tomatoes are key: neither fully vegetable nor fruit, they’re ubiquitous in Chinese households, becoming metaphors for domestic spaces.
N: "Boundaries" surface subtly in your work—between material/immaterial, hard/soft, visible/invisible. How do you navigate these ambiguities?
Zhang Yibei: I follow intuition during creation and installation. It’s about translating everyday perceptions, which alternate between clarity and haziness—much like our own senses.
N: Your pieces exude a quiet yet forceful structural tension, softness concealing resilience. Does this carry psychological weight? What emotions do you hope to evoke?
Zhang Yibei: Recently, I’ve been exploring psychological concepts like defense mechanisms. Some works channel my immediate emotions, but I aim to spark collective resonance. I’m equally curious about divergent interpretations—viewers’ perspectives enrich the work.
﹒The Art Journal
"ART021 has built strong local resonance as a fair brand," explained Shanghai-based BANK. "We intentionally brought artists already familiar to Beijing audiences—like Zhang Yibei and Xie Qi—while also introducing our new roster." At the heart of their booth stood Zhang Yibei’s sculpture Clumsy Tracing (2020), a 2024 UCCA Young Associates’ Choice Award winner that interrogates industrial, urban, and domestic spaces through material reassembly—a conceptual echo of Northern China’s industrial heritage.
Nearby hung two psychologically charged portrait fragments by Xie Qi, a Central Academy of Arts & Design alumna long embedded in Beijing’s scene. The gallery also spotlighted rising talents: Lin Ke (currently having a solo exhibition in BANK Shanghai) alongside Chen Ruofan and Gong Hengzhi, whose works expanded the dialogue with Beijing’s industrial-tinged context.
﹒IDEAT
The Minutiae of Melting Ice (Oct 14), presented by BANK, originates from Chen Ruofan’s island sketching residency in Norway. Capturing moments of ice thaw at -10°C, the artist interweaves emotion, memory, and geosensitivity through layered mediums. This mixed-media work—combining oil painting, embroidery, and textile—manifests the dual fluidity of natural environments and human sentiment. Between frigidity and warmth, reality and representation, Chen probes the dialectic of "environmental crisis" and "emotional sanctuary," transforming the piece into an affective anchor for human-nature relations.
﹒美術手帖
BANK, which was founded in Shanghai in 2013 and opened a pilot space in New York this year, has continued its activities by taking advantage of its two bases in Shanghai and New York, despite the impact of the trade friction between the U.S. and China on transportation and exhibition schedules. The gallery is currently focusing on solo exhibitions of Asian American artists in the U.S. and will continue to develop programs rooted in the region.
The spokesperson for the gallery also analyzed the current situation, saying, “The overheated market is calming down, and we are entering a phase in which galleries that are serious about long-term commitment to art will remain. We are now in a period of filtering out and selection,” she said.
