Shanghai Āyí in Jiaoli
Since the first phase of the artist residence project of Shun Art Gallery at Tiger House studio in Zhujiajiao, a couple of Japanese artists applied for residency in the second issue. They arrived with a 4-year-old
boy, became the first artists to bring a whole family to the project. I am not good at playing with pets and
children, so I don’t know how to get along with them, especially the naughty little boy who jumps up and
down.
Amazingly, the family, who could not speak any Chinese, quickly became familiar with the locals. They
took their child to wander around streets to alleys till each corner of Jiaoli and even let him attend the
local kindergarten in Zhujiajiao. Besides, the family also met some interesting local groups such as
artists and musicians. After three months of residency, the kid grew up slightly, and he also seemed to
have some of the local flavor of residents in this water town Zhujiajiao, more homespun.
The little boy was sometimes well-behaved, and sometimes naughty and lively. He sometimes turned the
first-floor lobby of the studio into a kid paradise, and made the sofas, tables, chairs and easels became
his “toys”. The couple were painting or creating on the other sides. While parents were immersed in their
respective art worlds, the 4-year-old boy was also actively creating collage art. I found that all three were
working on their own creations by casual visit. Together with the studio hall that had been “ravaged” by
the boy, the whole constituted a piece of installation. Alas!
Shanghai Modern refers to the Shanghai city from 1930 to 1945, which should be derived from “Shanghai Modern”. That splendid 40s shanghai glamour was new and fashionable, and women and men in
Zhang Ailing’s world eulogized their blossom age. In that era, Shanghai first fully embraced the global
culture – art, music, architecture and aesthetics. Today, it is not hard to find those old traces near the
apartment in the old French Concession where Shun Art Gallery is located. Nowadays, Shanghai has
some kind of rebellion that the post-modernism refers to, or the unparalleled avant-garde fashion and
pride after embracing all kinds of essences. Therefore, Shanghai called módū, which means magic city,
where the word magic stands for all possibilities. Interestingly, the Shanghainese also know how lovely
they are. The collision between the old and the new, the regional differences and the blending of cultures
are enough to make people look at daily life from a fresh perspective and find the unusual in it.
The artist of the exhibition “Neo · Shanghai Modern” is Kyoko SHINDO, the mother of the little boy.
Because of her integration into local life, she adopted different perspectives to find the vivid side of the
Shanghai Āyí which was easily overlooked by her contemporaries, as well as the colorful side that was
easily annihilated daily. With extremely strong “fashion aesthetics” and personalized body postures, the
fashionable Shanghai Āyí are appeared on paper in both conflicted and spontaneous manners. Instead,
We those who are familiar with Shanghai Āyí are surprised and astonished. At the Shanghai Āyí’s fashion
show, the audiences may also notice the interesting side of the Fashion Capital. The mother’s work also
includes images of her 4-year-old son. From her own perspective, the mother created images of the boy’s
cuteness and naughtiness, as well as his imitation and enjoyment of the new environment and culture.
The complex evolving Shanghai in her works blends with the feelings of Yu Garden and Jiaoli, and she
describes the conflicted aesthetics of the era with the special group of “Shanghai Āyí” that is easily
overlooked. I venture to call it: Neo · Shanghai Modern.
In autumn, Shanghai is full of modern atmosphere from inside to outside: mixing, clearing and tsundere.
Come! Feel it!
Shun
