Ifa gallery

ifa gallery
Established 2006
Location

Rue des Renards / Vossenstraat 28, Brussels
 Belgium

733 Wanhangdu Road, Shanghai
 People's Republic of China
Type contemporary art
Director Alexis Kouzmine-Karavaïeff
Website ifa-gallery.com

ifa gallery /ɪˈfɑː/ (Chinese: 艺法画廊; pinyin: Yìfǎ Huàláng) is a contemporary art gallery in Shanghai, China and Brussels, Belgium. The name ifa comes from Chinese 艺 (yì) (Chinese: 藝) and 法 (fǎ), meaning methods of art.

Established in 2006 and directed by Alexis Kouzmine-Karavaïeff, the ifa gallery explores perspectives on contemporary art in China and beyond.

History

photo of a colonial style building lit up at night. The first two floors of the building are visible, with the top floors obscured by trees with dense foliage. The interior of the gallery can be viewed from outside through two ceiling to floor windows.
ifa gallery at night.

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.

End of 2013, ifa gallery opens a new gallery space in Brussels, in the historical district of Marolles.

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).

Artists and Exhibitions

Dai Guangyu dismantling his installation "Borderline"

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.[5] 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".[6]

ifa gallery also exhibits younger, emerging artists, such as intermedia artist Wu Junyong (Chinese: 吴俊勇; pinyin: Wú Júnyǒng),[7] painter Fan Jiupeng (Chinese: 范久鹏; pinyin: Fàn Jiǔpéng)[8] and Audrey Salmon,[9] a Beijing-based photographer and designer.

Recently the gallery started to represent Latvian artist, Zane Mellupe, based in China since early 2000s. A major personal exhibition opened at ifa gallery in summer 2011 "In memory of the perfect wife".[10] 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".[11]

Exhibitions

ifa gallery • brussels

ifa gallery • shanghai

ifa²gallery

other locations

Art Fairs

Artists

Represented Artists

Exhibited Artists

References

  1. ↑ Vivi HE Ying & Tony Fu, 2007. "A Practical Guide to the Contemporary Art Scene", thenewyorkartworld.com. Retrieved 2009-10-6.
  2. ↑ "M50 History", M50 official website. Retrieved 2009-11-3.
  3. ↑ "赫德路 (上海)" Chinese version of Wikipedia Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  4. ↑ Shanghai Place Name Bureau 上海市地名管理办公室 Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  5. ↑ Chris Moore, 2008. "Chris Moore's Top Shows in Shanghai This Month", saatchi-gallery.co.uk/blogon/. Retrieved 2009-10-6.
  6. ↑ R A Suri, 2009-6-3. "Ink Games", kunst-blog.com. Retrieved 2009-10-6.
  7. ↑ Rebecca Catching, 2010-10-15. "Carnival of the Absurd", randian-online.com. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  8. ↑ Berwin Song, 2009-2-8. "Young and Yearning Artists", urbanatomy.com. Retrieved 2009-10-6.
  9. ↑ Leo de Boisgisson, April 2009. "Trois Français basés en Chine créent le Move", PHOTO p.16.
  10. ↑ Berwin Song, 7 September 2011. "Review: In Memory of the Perfect Wife - The debut exhibition from Latvian-born artist Zane Mellupe", Time Out Shanghai & timeoutshanghai.com. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  11. ↑ "Pulse, The Scene: A Snapshot of Contemporary Vietnamese Art", Blueprint Asia, vol. 3 issue 3. July 2009, p8.

External links