Unregistered City, No. 2, 2008, Ultra Giclee, L/ 150 x 209 cm (Edition of 6), S/ 95 x 125 cm (Edition of 8)
Unregistered City, an iconic series by Mainland Chinese artist Jiang Pengyi that has recently been completed. Born in Yuanjiang, Hunan province in 1977, Beijing-based Jiang Pengyi graduated from Beijing Institute of Art and Design in 1999. He received the Tierney Fellowship Award in 2009 and recently won the Jury Grand Prize from the Societe Generale Chinese Art Awards 2010 with Unregistered City. Together with artworks of other prized winners and the 22 nominees, Unregistered City was exhibited in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei. The exhibition is currently being held in Hong Kong from 23 to 30 March at ArtisTree in Taikoo Place
The creation of the Unregistered City series started since 2008, part of the series was formerly exhibited by Blindspot Gallery at “A Departure from Reality III: The Tender Truth”, a joint exhibition about conceptual photography featuring Jiang Pengyi and Maleonn in 2010. Unregistered City has recently been completed with an addition of 3 images which make the series a total of 8 images.
Jiang Pengyi first gained attention with his earlier series, All Back to Dust, featuring real-life massive buildings reduced to miniature sizes placed among trash and junk. Jiang was once a cityscape and architectural photographer who photographed new skyscrapers in the city. When he moved from his less developed hometown to the rapidly changing Beijing, the cultural shock bred a deep sense of alienation in Jiang amid the bustling city. Jiang’s emotions and state-of-mind are reflected in his photographs of city, still objects and massive skyscrapers reduced to miniature sizes.
Unregistered City, No. 7, 2010, Ultra Giclee, L/ 150 x 209 cm (Edition of 6), S/ 95 x 125 cm (Edition of 8)
Excessive urbanization, demolition and redevelopment are recurrent themes in Jiang’s art. In Unregistered City, Jiang transformed his role from a photographer to an imagined urban designer; he re-constructed the chosen group of skyscrapers from real life and juxtaposed them among demolished sites of city expansion. Jiang intends to diminish the presence of human beings in his works, yet most of the images are filled with traces of human activity.
“Jiang Pengyi’s works are photographs of an installation work. The downward gaze gears our attention to a cluster of debris-like high-rises, elevated roads and other constructions. Cast in a rubbish-laden, desolate environment, they are cornered into a state of devastation, with all its vitality and resources strained. Such a doom day sight suggests the exhaustion of energy and the demise of a city itself, ” Renowned Chinese visual art critic Gu Zheng commented.