罗 洋
现工作生活于北京/上海.
LUO YANG
Lives and works in Beijing ／Shanghai.
SOLO EXHIBITION 个展
2016
LUO YANG -GIRLS, MO-Industries , The cat street Gallery ,Hong Kong.
罗洋－女孩们 ,MO-Industries , 香港 The cat street Gallery .
LUO YANG -GIRLS, MO-Industries Gallery ,Berlin Germany .
罗洋－女孩们 , MO-Industries画廊 ,柏林，德国.
2009
LUO YANG Photography Exhibition, Tai Kang Top Space,Beijing,China
罗洋摄影个展，泰康顶层空间，北京
GROUP EXHIBITION 群展
2017
Poem ，Zhong Gallery ，Beijing , Kerry center.
诗 ，中画廊，北京 ，嘉里中心
Photograping Of Female ,Focus Photography Festival, Mumbai , India .
女性影像展，Focus 摄影节，孟买，印度
2016
EVAW ART EXHIBITION (Elimination of Violence Against Women )，UN WOMEN ,Crossroads Centre ,Beijing，China
联合国消除女性暴力日，女性国际艺术展，交叉点空间 ，北京
Song Zhuang Art Center TenYears Group Exhibition,Songzhuang Museum,Beijing,China
宋庄美术馆十周年艺术展,宋庄美术馆 ,北京
2015
Artists Group Exhibition, Stieglitz19,Antwerp, Belgium.
艺术家群展，Stieglitz19, 安特卫普，比利时
2013
Ai Weiwei “Fuck Off 2" Groninger Museum, The Netherlands.
艾未未“不合作方式”,格罗宁根美术馆,荷兰
2011
Big Louder Beijing,China
大声展，北京
2010
KIC "Small World" Open Art Exhibition ，Shanghai,China
KIC“小世界”开放艺术展，创智天地，上海
Roca Contemporary Art Exhibition，Xiamen，Fujian,China
罗卡当代艺术展，厦门,福建
Photography Season Beijing ,Pasture Land,Beijing,China
摄影季，草场地，北京
2009
Photography Exhibition Lishui ,Lishui, Zhejiang,China
丽水摄影节，丽水，浙江
Multimedia Short Film Festival Southern， Southern Television ，Guangzhou，China
南方多媒体短片展，南方电视台，广州
Guangzhou International Photography Biennale, Guangzhou Art Museum,Guangzhou,China
广州国际摄影双年展,广州美术馆,广州
Art Photography Exhibition Beijing, Beijing Agriculture Exhibition Hall,Beijing,China
艺术北京摄影展，农展馆，北京
Three Shadows Photography Award Exhibition, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China
三影堂摄影奖作品展，三影堂艺术中心，北京
2008
“Seventh Sense" Pingyao International Photography Exhibition , Pingyao,China
第七感应，平遥国际摄影节，平遥
GIRLS
Luo Yang’s GIRLS belong to a part of contemporary China that is rarely taken note of in the West.
Her portraits depict an emerging Chinese subculture that defies imposed expectations and stereotypes – GIRLS are bad-assed and self-aware, yet insecure, vulnerable and torn, with a supreme sense of cool. Underlying tensions and ambivalent emotions animate Luo’s images, which, above all, testify to the GIRLS’ individuality. They thus reflect a shifting mindset with regard to concepts of femininity and identity in present-day China.
LUO Yang (1984) was born and raised in Liaoning Province, China. She graduated from the prestigious Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang in 2009. A graphic designer by education, she decided to pursue her interest and talent in photography instead. Today, she lives and works in Beijing & Shanghai as a freelance photographer. In her work, highly staged portraits and carefully constructed poses alternate with a raw, blurred snapshot-aesthetic.
Luo began the GIRLS series in 2007 as a deeply personal project. She photographed girls and women around her – friends, acquaintances, sometimes strangers –, attempting to grasp an understanding of their lives as well as her own. Although different, she felt that they shared the same contradicting emotions, confusions and concerns. It is in that connection that Luo found the strength and delicacy of her subject.
“What we [the girls and I] have in common”, she says, “are a fragility and braveness inside of us; we face the world with our sincerity” (s. interview p. 46-48). Borne from this intuitive dialogue with her subjects, Luo’s images are bold and honest, intimate and sensitive at the same time, both public and private. Many of the GIRLS are nude or partially nude, curled up on rooftops, stretched out against the fence of a highway or displayed amidst bizarre natural sceneries; they are portrayed with their lovers, in their everyday life and the intimate surroundings of their home. Physically and mentally, they bluntly disclose themselves, facing the camera with shy and hopeful sobriety, often playful, provocative or sensuous expression. Their evident candor presents itself as a metaphor of freedom and independence.
Luo’s portraits explore the themes of youth and femininity while challenging traditional beliefs about women in Chinese society. However, her images are not about provocation or rebellion. They radiate stillness and a sense of calm that resists drama. The GIRLS’ serenity is yet another powerful marker of unrelenting personal autonomy. The series thus describes a view on life in China that both celebrates and defies its reality.
Luo has had exhibitions all over China and took part in major shows in Europe. In 2012, Ai Weiwei designated her one of the “rising stars of Chinese photography” (“Generation Next: A Photo Essay”, New Statesman, 22 October 2012). Soon after, she participated in his show “FUCK OFF 2” (2013) at the Groninger Museum, Netherlands, where Ai – in a sequel to his radical FUCK OFF-exhibition (2000) in Shanghai – brought together a handpicked range of up and coming Chinese artists.
Berlin, May 2016
Hong Kong, September 2016
Eva Morawietz