Of the departure and the arrival - Ni Haifeng

Ni Haifeng

Of the departure and the arrival 2005

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Of the departure and the arrival 2005 explores ideas of geography and trade through the history of Dutch importation and adaptation of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain via the commercial activities of the Dutch East India Company from 1600.

In this work, Ni Haifeng collects everyday items from the Netherlands, casts them in porcelain in China’s porcelain capital — Jingdezhen — and then paints them with blue Delft motifs originally borrowed from imported Chinese blue-and-white wares. In doing this, Ni engages with the historical and cultural importance not only of porcelain in China, but also of the mass-produced Royal Delft Blue Ware in the Netherlands.

Ni Haigeng’s art has often been considered subversive. Born on Zhoushan, a small island off the coast south of Shanghai, he studied at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou (now the China Academy of Art) and, after graduating, co-founded the Hangzhou-based ‘nonsense calligraphy’ group called ‘70% Red, 25% Black, 5% White’. The group’s practice questioned the continuing relevance of calligraphy within a modernising China, and was part of a broader avant-garde movement during the mid 1980s. Ni, along with artists Xu Bing and Gu Wenda, is considered an important participant in this development.

Now living and working in the Netherlands, Ni works across a range of media including video, installation and photography. He makes art that manipulates cultural stereotypes and symbols, encouraging contemplative enquiry.

Ni HaifengOf the departure and the arrival 2005

Ni Haifeng
Of the departure and the arrival 2005