| Established | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Location | 621 Changde Road, Shanghai People's Republic of China |
| Type | contemporary art |
| Director | Alexis Kouzmine-Karavaïeff |
| Public transit access | Changping Road Station (Metro Line 7 - 5 mins walk) |
| Website | ifa-gallery.com |
ifa gallery (Chinese: 艺法画廊; pinyin: Yìfǎ Huàláng) is a contemporary art gallery in Shanghai, China. The name ifa comes from Chinese 艺 (yì) (Chinese: 藝) and 法 (fǎ), meaning methods of art, with the name in English taking a similar pronunciation: /ɪˈfɑː/.
Established in 2006 and directed by Alexis Kouzmine-Karavaïeff, the ifa gallery explores perspectives on contemporary art in China and beyond.
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The gallery initially opened in M50 (short for 50 Moganshan Road), the site of a former textile mill that is now a well-known Shanghai art district. Formerly Xinhe Cotton Mill, later renamed Shanghai Chunming Roving Factory,[1][2] this area began attracting artists and galleries in 1999. There, ifa gallery inhabited a renovated warehouse space of around 700m² designed by French architect Philippe Diani.
In August 2008, ifa gallery moved to the former British concession near Jing'an Temple to a 1920s British colonial villa on Changde Road (Chinese: 常德路; pinyin: Chángdé Lù), a street originally called Hart Road or 赫德路 (pinyin: Hèdé Lù)[3] which changed to its current name in 1943.[4] The historical house was originally the residence of a high ranking British official of the Shanghai Customs House. Its exhibition space spreads across four levels of the building.
For a time, ifa gallery and artist-run island6 collaborated on several exhibitions at the address at M50, before island6 moved in and took on full management of the space.[5]
ifa gallery opened a temporary space ifa²gallery (August 2010 - February 2011) located on Yonkang Lu Art (a platform for contemporary art on Yongkang Road, developed by the artist-curator Zane Mellupe, in the former French Concession of Shanghai).
ifa gallery represents emerging and established artists from China and across the Asian region. It opened the Changde Road gallery with two exhibitions curated by Bérénice Angremy and Marie Terrieux. The first was Some Space for Humanity, a solo exhibition of photographic works of the Gao Brothers (Chinese: 高氏兄弟; pinyin: Gaōshì Xiōngdì) that reiterated the artists‘ focus on humanity and the built environment by playing on the physical confines of the gallery space.[6] This opening exhibition coincided with ShContemporary 2008, Shanghai Art Fair 2008 and the 7th Shanghai Biennale. In late 2008/early 2009, Ink Games, the solo show of Dai Guangyu (Chinese: 戴光郁; pinyin: Dài Guāngyù) was seen to be "one of the foremost events of the winter season in the sphere of contemporary fine art in Shanghai".[7]
ifa gallery also exhibits younger, emerging artists, such as intermedia artist Wu Junyong (Chinese: 吴俊勇; pinyin: Wú Júnyǒng),[8] painter Fan Jiupeng (Chinese: 范久鹏; pinyin: Fàn Jiǔpéng)[9] and Audrey Salmon,[10] a Beijing-based photographer and designer.
Recently the gallery started to represent Latvian artist, Zane Mellupe, based in China since early 2000's. A major personal exhibition opened at ifa gallery in summer 2011 "In memory of the perfect wife"[11]. Previously, Mellupe showed some works in group exhibitions at ifa gallery, and was ifa gallery's special guest at artparis 2011.
The gallery is also attempting to bring attention to artists from other parts of Asia, with exhibitions such as A Snapshot of Contemporary Vietnamese Art, which placed "much needed emphasis on a genre which remains relatively unexplored in the art world".[12]
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