Opening Reception:
Sat. May 18 4-6pm
开幕酒会：2013年5月18日下午四点至六点
>>LUO DAN ARTIST PAGE
M97 Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Chengdu based photographer LUO Dan. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at M97 Gallery. The exhibition begins on May 18, 2013, and M97 Gallery will hold an opening reception for the artist on Saturday May 18 from 4:00 to 6:00pm in the gallery.
Beginning in 2006, Luo Dan set out across China to document the enormous spectrum of Chinese society. Leaving behind his decade-long career as a photojournalist, and inspired by the likes of Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, LUO Dan embarked on two long journeys crisscrossing China to document his fellow countrymen. "China Route 318" (2006) is comprised of images made during his first trip, which took him along this famed road from East to West, starting in Shanghai and ending in Lhasa. While these photographs offer a glimpse of China at a certain point in time, with the absurdities and peculiarities of a nation amidst great change, through them we see the artist’s desire to find beauty among chaos, both in the landscape and its people.
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LUO Dan’s second journey took him from North to South (2008-09) and continued his documentation of ordinary life across urban and rural communities, as well as the traditions and celebrations that remain, as if trying to extract the true essence and values of China and its citizens before being swept away by globalization. In "North, South" we can sense a greater element of reflection and composure while photographing his subjects.
LUO Dan’s explorations culminated in his "Simple Song" body of work, spending nearly two years from 2010-2012 traveling in an under -developed and mountainous region of China’s southern Yunnan Province, the Nu River Valley. Photographing a community whose values and way of life have remained largely intact for hundreds of years, LUO Dan chose to employ the traditional wet-plate collodion photographic process which dates to the mid-nineteenth century. This exhibition includes his most recent Simple Song works photographed in 2012.
“I have traveled a long road, I have seen a lot of things,
and in the end I have realized that all differences are actually similarities.
And so I stopped, and looked in a single place for something unchanging,
trying to figure out why this place had the power to stand still in time.” - Luo Dan
LUO Dan was recently announced the winner of the prestigious Art China Award for Photo Artist of the Year (May 2013). Luo Dan was born in Chongqing in 1968 and graduated from the Sichuan Fine Art Academy in 1992. Other awards and distinctions include the Gold Award for Outstanding Artist at the Lianzhou International Photography Festival (2008) for his “North, South” series; the Hou Dengke documentary photography prize; and the Best New Photographer award at the Dali International Photography Festival (2011). He currently lives and works in Chengdu, China.
M97画廊即将开展骆丹个人摄影展。这将是骆丹在M97画廊第二次举办个展。展览将于2013年5月18日开幕，持续至6月23日，开幕酒会定于5月18日 (周六 16-18时) 举行，欢迎届光临。
2006年，骆丹，作为一名新闻摄影师，离开了将近十年的工作生涯，受到杰克·凯鲁亚克及罗伯特·弗兰克的启迪，开始着手于他横跨中国的两次长途旅行，反映和纪录了当下中国如风起云涌般城市化及现代化的步调，以及国人对于这些变化为其生活带来的影响下做出的应对。“318国道”（2006）是一组在他首次旅途中拍摄下的作品，该旅程从东部延展至西部，启程于上海，结束于拉萨。从这些照片中我们瞥见了一段特定时间内中国的现状：一个国家在经历巨大变动中所呈现出渗杂着荒谬及怪诞的一丝现实。透过这些景致及人物画面，我们看到了艺术家在一片紊乱及浑沌中寻觅美的渴望。
骆丹再度开始他的旅程是在两年后。这次旅途将他从北方带到南方，延续了他对于城市及乡村群体中平凡生活的纪录。与此同时，这次旅程的作品展现了依然留存的那些传统和庆典，试图提炼出中华文明的精粹与价值，以及受到全球化冲击前的人文情愫。从 “北方，南方”（2008）的系列作品中，我们能够更深层次地感受到艺术家本人对其所表达的主题上反省与镇静的态度。
经历了18个月时间带着便携式暗房行走遍中国南部云南省的偏远山区的拍摄，骆丹的探索和体悟尽显在“"素歌"系列的创作中。在那里，村民们仍完整保留着几百年以来的生活方式，骆丹把这些中国经济欠发达山区质朴的生活状态用影像展现给我们。为了保持摄影过程以及主题的纯净，“素歌”系列作品运用了始于1850年的传统湿版火棉胶摄影技术，给观者带来一种穿越时空的感觉。
“我走了很远的路，看到很多不同的东西，最终却发现所有的不同其实都是相同的。所以我就停下来，在一个地方寻找持久与不变的东西，搞清楚它为什么能够超越时间不变。”骆丹
骆丹1968年出生于中国重庆，于1992年从四川美术学院毕业。他曾因“北方，南方”系列作品（2008）获得了连州国际摄影节的最佳艺术家金奖。2011年，他又荣获候登科纪实摄影奖、并被评为大理国际摄影节的最佳新摄影师。2013年, 骆丹获第七届艺术中国·年度影响力· 摄影类大奖。他目前在成都生活和工作。
