A Savage Affection

Born in Guangdong province and majoring in in financial English from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Lin Zhipeng’s career was at first not at all related to photographic practice. However, through his blog “North Latitude 23” the public was first introduced to his work in 2003, making him known among the virtual community. Over a decade later, Lin Zhipeng (also nicknamed after the police character in Wong Kar-wai’s movie Chungking Express “No.223”) has become an international exponent of contemporary Chinese photography, with numerous exhibitions both in China and abroad.

Borrowing the oneiric landscapes and enigmatic bodies common in the work of new Chinese photographers, 223 brings on to his work a more playful, impish and even humorous vision to his portraits of today’s Chinese youth born in the last two decades of the XX Century.

Lin’s method of approaching the photographic practice is likewise spontaneous and unpreoccupied, composing the image with the actors and objects in an almost improvisational manner.

It is common to find dyes of the erotic and love scenes in his photography, a sort of savage affection between the participants. The term “savage”, here, must however be understood as disconnected from any links to barbarism or violence, but referring to a “savage” in the sense of a morally unjudged, culturally unmediated visceral nature of the body and the human.

The work acts as a sort of diary, manifesting, although not documenting, his lifestyle and that of his friends, challenging the expectations poured on Chinese artists from within China, but mostly from outside. His work, thus, speaks to both inner and outsider circles, bringing Lin Zhipeng to personify an example of the post- passport artists that embody one of the main characteristics of contemporary Chinese art.

This exhibition brings both previously shown photographs and works never exhibited in China before.

林志鹏生于广东省, 毕业于广东外语外贸大学金 融英语专业。起初他的工作与摄影并无关系, 直到2003年他在博客“北纬23”首次公开了自 己的作品并获得了大量关注后,他才在网络社 区中迅速闻名。十多年后,林志鹏以"编号223" (No.223,王家卫电影《重庆森林》里的一位警 察) 的昵称,成为中国当代摄影的国际代表人物 之一,在国内外举办过多个摄影群展。
宛如梦境般的场景和不明所以的物件,是中国 当代摄影作品中常会出现的元素。编号223在 创作过程中也融入了这些元素,并以一种更具 幽默和玩味的视⻆来描绘了二十世纪八九十年 代下的年轻一族。
同样,林志鹏的摄影自发而不刻意,几乎是以 即兴的方式将镜头下的人和物组合在了一起。
他的摄影作品通常透出情色和情爱的意味,是 一种人与人之间自发的野蛮而赤裸的情感。这 种“野蛮性”和“暴力”或“野蛮”没有任何 实质关系,而是指一种不受道德和文化辖制的 发生在人类之间的原始情感。
林志鹏的摄影是一场日常生活的记录,主要呈 现出他和朋友们之间的生活方式和生活态度。 作为中国当代艺术家的主要代表人物之一,林 志鹏通过自己的作品与外界对话,挑战了国内 外艺术家对中国摄影师的认知与期待。
除了曾在国内参展的作品之外,未曾在国内展 出过的作品也会在本次展览一并亮相。