Joe Andoe Chinatown

Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to present Chinatown, Joe Andoe’s fourth solo show at the gallery, also his first solo show in China. 

American artist Joe Andoe was born in 1955 grew up outside Tulsa, where the city becomes the countryside. He draws a great deal of inspiration from this duality, which he has described as “enjoying two different worlds.”

His art generally centers on animal themes, focusing on the flora and fauna of the Great Plains. This theme of the American wilderness can also be seen as a social critique of a world that is disappearing due to urbanization and overconsumption.

Andoe likes working in series, and the grainy appearance and sometimes dark tones of his paintings evoke the atmosphere of old silver halide photographs. His unusual technique consists of solid colors applied in thick layers of paint on the canvas and in carving the outlines of his subjects by wiping away the pigment from the surface. The resulting images remind the viewer of the iconography of classic black-and-white cinema and photographs, giving them a nostalgic dimension.

Working from images found on the internet, Andoe is part of the post-minimalist movement. His work can be compared to that of Susan Rothenberg and Robert Moskowitz, who emerged in the 1970s and launched a return to figurative painting. Andoe brings this movement to life through symbolist imagery with cult power.

Andoe’s art reminds the viewer of the iconography of the American landscape, both quotidian and sublime. His open fields, lakes, horses, farm animals, and classic muscle cars represent things as if seen from the edge of the highway, while in motion to an unknown destination: all are part of the same continuous melody Andoe plays.

In Chinatown, Andoe presents a series of galloping horses painted in various shades of red. Throughout his career, Andoe has always painted horses, but this is his first exhibition focused on the subject specifically. The image is inspired by Andoe’s admiration for the early twentieth-century Chinese painter Xu Beihong, one of the pioneers of modern Chinese art, who is known for his depiction of horses and birds in India ink, and his large-scale oil paintings portraying epic themes from national history. In New York’s Chinatown, where Andoe lives, there are many restaurants whose signs also feature reproductions of Xu’s horses. To Andoe, this is a familiar, yet foreign, visual language, like so many of the things seen from the side of the road.

- Milena Oldfield, researcher at Almine Rech

阿尔敏·莱希 - 上海荣幸呈现乔·安多（Joe Andoe）在画廊的第四次个展《唐人街》，同时也是艺术家在中国的首次呈现。

美国艺术家乔·安多于1955年出生，从小在美国俄克拉荷馬州的塔尔萨（Tulsa）郊区长大，在那见证了塔尔萨的城区渐渐变为乡村。安多也从这种二元共存中获得了许多灵感，他把这种光景描述为能“同时享受两个不同的世界”。

在他的艺术创作中经常出现动物相关主题，关注这块美洲大平原上的各式动植物。聚焦呈现美国的荒野景色，也能被看作是对面临不停扩张的城市和过度消费逐渐消失的自然界，所提出的社会批判。

安多喜欢以系列出发进行创作，其画中带有颗粒的质感以及偏暗色调，让人联想起古老摄影技术— 卤化银相片。艺术家的绘画技法十分独特，他会先在画布上以油画颜料厚涂出纯色色块，并接着通过将表面颜料擦拭掉用以刻出画中主题的轮廓。由此所生成的图像，也让人联想起经典黑白电影和照片中的轮廓影像，以此赋予了安多作品怀旧的情绪氛围。

艺术家经常根据网上图片找寻创作灵感。安多也可说是后极简主义（post-minimalist）艺术运动的一份子。他的作品承袭了美国艺术家苏珊·罗森伯格（Susan Rothenberg）和罗伯特·莫斯科维茨（Robert Moskowitz）的艺术脉络，这几位70年代崛起的画家开启了场将绘画回归具象表现手法的新趋势。安多也通过描绘强而有力的象征符号赋予了这一艺术运动新活力。

安多笔下作品有着美国风景画的典范、在平凡中透出崇高开阔的精神。画中的宽广田野、湖泊、马匹、农场动物和经典美式肌肉车等，都代表了从美国公路边所看出去的景色，也仿佛正朝向未知的目的地前进移动：这些元素都一同构成安多伊笔下正在谱出的不间断艺术旋律。

在《唐人街》一展中，乔·安多所呈现的是一系列以各种深浅红色绘制的奔驰的马。在安多的艺术生涯中，他一直都在描绘马匹，但这是艺术家完全地聚焦马、以其作为创作主题的首次展览。这系列作品的灵感，源于安多对20世纪初中国画家徐悲鸿的仰慕。徐悲鸿是中国现代艺术的先驱之一，以用墨水描绘马和鸟而闻名世界，他的大型油画也描绘了中国历史上的史诗级主题。在安多所居住的纽约城唐人街，许多餐馆的招牌也经常复刻徐悲鸿标志性马匹的形象。对于艺术家来说，这种既熟悉又陌生的视觉语言，就像站在公路边所看到的众多景色一样。

文/Milena Oldfield，阿尔敏·莱希研究员