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PRESS RELEASE
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dead reckoning, n.
1. A method of estimating the position of an aircraft or a ship without
astronomical observations,
as by applying to a previously determined position the course and distance
traveled since.
2. Predictive calculation based on inference; guesswork.
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Collette Blanchard Gallery is pleased to present Dead Reckoning, a selection
of new collages, sculptures, and photographs by Yeni Mao. The exhibition
will be on view at 26 Clinton Street from January 7th to March 6th, 2011,
with an opening reception on January 7, 2011.
Yeni Mao’s recent body of work uses a diverse artistic lexicon of
nautical, animal, botanic, and martial arts film references to explore
the cyclical regeneration of history. The artist is particularly interested
in the distortion of inherited cultural narratives, in his words: “the
magical and superstitious way we navigate our own reinvention as we move
around loosely through space, via immigration and extradition; and time,
via history and tradition”. Mao’s first solo exhibition at
Collette Blanchard Gallery addresses these moments of transformation and
deliverance.
The central installation, Dead Reckoning, for which the exhibition is
titled, is a sculptural homage to explorer Zheng He. This installation,
a large construction of multiple toy boats hung from the ceiling to create
an artificial horizon line, captures the dichotomies in Zheng He’s
legacy as hyper-masculine eunuch, and the flip of historical global power
bases. Slippage between historical fact and the generation of myth becomes
fertile territory for Mao. The use of the term Dead Reckoning to describe
the formulation of cultural evolution outlines the conceptual core of
the exhibition.
In The Oligarch, Mao uses the symbol of the boat again, this time singularly.
The sail ship is mounted at the head of an assemblage of black resin fruit,
using scale to play both with concepts of treasure and power, decay and
castration.
Mao’s engagement with the distortion of cultural references is also
reflected in the exhibition through photography and collage, harnessing
the reproductive properties of the photo medium to appropriate the fight
scenes of martial arts films, as well as addressing the way kung-fu mythos
is processed through time and cultures. Mao’s potent series of C-prints
The Battle Wizard represent the heroes in ethereal transformative situations.
An allusion to Italian Futurist Anton Giulio Bragaglia, these prints attempt
to capture the metaphysical with photography. The collage Enter the Invincible
Hero, one of a series of rich, meticulous collage works, further deconstructs
the image sequence, utilizing kung-fu fight scenes to Muybridge-like effects.
The multiple figures are used in a painterly, mark-making way in collective
forms referencing natural forces. Mao alters the original meaning system
behind the martial arts mythos to suit his own purposes.
Originally from Ontario, Canada, and having spent time in Sweden, Taiwan,
and studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. Mao currently lives
and works in New York City. His work has been exhibited nationally and
internationally, at venues including Ise Cultural Foundation and chashama,
both in New York; ROM Gallery for Art & Architecture in Oslo, Norway;
and Shang Element Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing, China.
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