12 – 26 January 2009
Pei Yuan Jiang is a painter interested in the notion of reproduction in art. Pei looks at the line between an original work and the reproduction and the possible implications on the image’s meaning that reproduction has. It is the reproduction of an image that is often most viewed but meaning shifts according to size, context and use. Using pencil on paper, Pei re-creates reproductions of historical famous artworks to explore the space between the original and reproduction and create a new dialogue with the past.
What initially interested me in making these works was the notion of interpretation, the line between reproduction and the original image, and the various meanings that reproduction has for an image. In my drawing I distance this further by making drawings of the reproductions of work in Art monographs. I use this art historical subject matter to try to create a dialogue between the past and the present and highlight the historical timeline that my drawings are indebted to. In the two larger pieces produced during my Whisper Residency, I made drawings from the work of Glen Brown, an artist who also makes paintings based on the works of other artists. In each of these pieces the notion of the artist is hand is distorted through the process of interpreting the layers of both mechanical and human reproduction.
Pei Yuan Jiang was born in China in 1983 and currently lives and works in London. Pei graduated with BA Fine Art from Bimingham Institute of Art and Design and recently graduated with MA Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. He has participated in exhibitions including the current touring BP Portrait Award 2008 exhibition, Condensation, Decimer Gallery, London (2008) and The Brenda Landon Pye Portrait Prize 2007, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Pei was recently awarded BP Young Artist award at National Portrait Gallery, London.
