Indefinate Memories, Liangzhu Culture and Art Center, Hangzhou, China, Jul 17


James Johnson-Perkins Solo Exhibition
8th July - 22nd July 2017
Liangzhu Culture and Art Center, Hangzhou 
地址：杭州市余杭区良渚文化村良渚文化艺术中心

PV 开幕式 14.00 2017/07/08
Curated by 策展人: Zhanna Khromykh

Organised by Liangzhu Culture and Art Center
&  Watermelon Punch
主办： 良渚文化艺术中心
杭州西瓜大碰撞文化创意有限公司

This solo exhibition of James Johnson-Perkins not only allows us get in touch with the artist's world of creation but gives an opportunity to every visitor become an accomplice in a giant game. Johnson-Perkins works with those objects which are known by almost everyone from the childhood: here we can see hula hoops, paper planes, a blackboard and characters from cartoons and comics. He makes us remember, nostalgize, compare and rethink our past.

For example, whilst drawing on the blackboard, which James uses as a material for one of his his new installations, it’s difficult to avoid your memories from the past and that joy you felt when drawing as a child. Or when we stare at the numerous figures on his huge Gigatage photomontage artworks, unconsciously we notice which ones are familiar to us and which are not, and what stories these have played in our own unique worlds.

This is as a litmus test which shows difference or similarities between ours and artist's cultural background. At the same time eternal questions may arise: where do these people come from? Where do we are come from? Where are we now and where we will go tomorrow? This exhibition is a interactive puzzle of sorts and a series of activities, where we can find out about: memory, ourselves and the times we live in.

Zhanna Khromykh








The City Gallery, Peterborough, UK, Jul - Sep 17





The Resurrection of Cosmic Man
1st July – 3rd September 2017

Peterborough City Gallery
Priestgate, Peterborough, PE1 1LF

Playful and quirky, James Johnson Perkins’ interactive work captures the excitement of childhood. With retro games such as Etch-a-sketch and Twister, the exhibition invites the audience to play, breaking down the usual conforms of the gallery space. The exhibition also features James’ highly detailed gigapans; colossal in size these works adopt familiar images of characters taken from film and media, placed frantically on backgrounds of grand cityscapes.

Russian artist Dina Johnson-Perkins' Cosmicman photographs show a classic 80's Soviet spaceman toy shown in different places around the world, also exploring similar themes surrounding nostalgia and fun. In this exhibition a little cosmonauts friend is resurrected in various poignant locations in: Nepal, Cambodia, China, UK and Russia.

General Information: 01733 864663
Email: arts@vivacity-peterborough.com

Article, Moment Magazine, The Resurrection of Cosmicman, The City Gallery, Jun 2017

Art is often serious, sometimes lofty, but a new exhibition at Vivacity’s City Gallery by artists James and Dina Johnson Perkins sets out with a quite different aim – to be fun. Playful and quirky, James Johnson Perkins’ interactive work captures the excitement of childhood. With retro games such as Etch-a-sketch and Twister, the exhibition invites the audience to play, breaking down the usual conforms of the gallery space.

The exhibition also features James’ highly detailed gigatages. Colossal in size, these works take familiar images of characters from film and media and place them on backgrounds of grand cityscapes. Russian artist Dina Johnson-Perkins’ Cosmicman photographs explore similar themes of nostalgia and fun, showing a classic 80’s Soviet spaceman toy in different places around the world, including Nepal, Cambodia, China, UK and Russia. The Moment talked to both artists about their work and inspiration.

Why toys? And why retro toys?   
JJP: My work is all about nostalgia, so the toys and games I use in my artworks are the ones which I was drawn to when I was young. With previous exhibitions I have used Lego and Actionmen for example. In the forthcoming exhibition in Peterborough we are using Twister, Etch-a-sketches and Hula Hoops. These also relate to notions of play and fun.

How important is ‘play’?
 JJP: Charles Eames the famous designer said: ‘Take your pleasure seriously’. I like this sentiment very much, and agree that pleasure or play, is not only fun but is an important and serious aspect of life. I like people to engage with artwork in different ways, using their bodies as well as their eyes. This is why I create installations as well as photomontage works.

Who is Cosmicman? Can he save us from disaster?
DJP: As Dostoevsky once said ‘Beauty will save the world’. I think this ‘beauty’ is everywhere. It’s around us and inside us, despite the differences in religions, race, beliefs and lifestyle. No person on earth, can take this away from us. Cosmicman believes in the power of ‘beauty’ and kindness and is a genuine idealist from a different Soviet time where people aspired for unity and equality. He thinks that all we need to be happy is to share this ‘beauty’ of the world with each other. So I think yes, he can help save us from disaster!

How did the gigatages come about?
 JJP: I started taking pictures using a camera, which takes enormous panoramic photographs, on an artist residency in Venice and decided to overlay them digitally with childhood images. This became the work ‘The Great Battle’; I haven’t stopped working in the same way ever since, because I love this process. Each of these works takes about two years to complete.

What reactions would you most like to have from those visiting the exhibition?
JJP & DJP: To go WOW and enjoy exploring other worlds, ideas and play within our artworks.

Which artists do you most admire? Is it just artists who inspire you, or does inspiration come from many sources?
 JJP: I’m inspired by Dina.
DJP: I’m inspired by James.

The Resurrection of Cosmicman by James and Dina Johnson Perkins 1 July-13 August 2017 Vivacity City Gallery, Priestgate, Peterborough PE1 1LF ● For more information, call 01733 864663 or visit: www.vivacitypeterborough.com/vivacity-venues/citygallery

1st Ningbo International Photography Exhibition, Sep 16




1st Ningbo International Photography Week

Ningbo Art Center Of China Photographers Association
555 Lake Road, Dong Qian Lake, Ningbo, China, 

10 Sep - Oct 7, 2016
9.00am - 4-30pm

LINK
 

Ningbo Focus Magazine, China, Apr 16




Bodyspace, Hangzhou Public Library, China, Apr 16

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开幕式: 2016年4月23号下午2点 
展览日期 
2016年4月23日至5月11日 (从周二到周日 9:00 - 17:30)地点：
杭州图书馆展览艺术中心, 负一层，解放东路58号市民中心J楼
策展人： Zhanna Khromykh
Bodyspace
Exhibition and Art Space
Hangzhou Public Library
Underground floor No.58, East Jiefang Road, Hangzhou

April 23 to May 11, 2016 (Tuesday - Sunday 9:00 - 17:30) Opening: 14.00, April 23, 2016

Abel Pruñonosa, Alexandra Burova, Amy Magma, Anastasiya Guminskaya, Andelei安德雷, Azim Hassan阿斯姆, Cãlin Andrei, Cindy Bajema, Dushan 杜山, E. Kuasi 夸思, Gareth Bunting, Hwang Q-one 황규원, Isamu Marsden, James Johnson-Perkins, Juan Lin 林彦豪, José Ventura 卓山, Léa Pagès, Rodolphe Toucas, Summaiya Khan, 徐远鹏, Wieslaw ⽩Borkowski白伟

Curator: Zhanna Kromykh

To be a body, is to be tied to a certain world...; our body is not primarily in space: it is of it

M. Merleau-Ponty

We all conceive these three dimensions around us through our own body. What is this vessel we inhabit? We are linked to it through the materiality of our flesh and bones, and through our existential perceptual understanding. But why are we here and what are our bodies for? This has perplexed and fascinated philosophers from the dawn of civilization and is rich source material for Eastern and Western thinkers.

We exist in different kinds of space and these areas are activated when something appears in them. If we draw a small black point on a piece of paper, at the same moment the comparison between “body of a point” and “space of a paper” reveals itself. But what happens if we add to a body the characteristics of space and begin to conceptualize and explore the space that our physiques occupy? Through art, the body becomes a space for experiments and action.

Artists are creating a new definition of what the body is, creating new identities and new forms of body representation. Artists in this exhibition explore these notions and express aspects of their rich cultural identities. Through their works they also trace multiple sensations they experience living in their own unique bodies and spaces.

Xiamen News Images, China, Jul 15


Exhibition 23rd Jul...




 
Dina Johnson-Perkins
 
Sigurdur Gudmundsson

Please Wait Whilst…Monkey Magic Sings Chinese Covers of Pop 80’s classics in Times Square...CEAC, Xiamen, China, Jul 15

大家好:
附件是我中心将于2015年7月23日周四下午五时开幕的名为《过程中，请等待……魔力猴于时代唱响八零年代经典流行乐国语版专辑》展览请柬，参展的是来自英国艺术家詹姆斯·约翰逊·珀金斯。
 敬请各位前来参观交流。
中国欧洲艺术中心
Please wait whilst…Monkey Magic Sings Chinese Covers of Pop 80’s classics in Times Square.. " James Johnson-Perkins 
Chinese European Art Center
23rd July - 28th July 2015
The PV will be Thursday at 17:00 July 23, 2015.
We would be pleased if you and your friends could come to the opening of the exhibition.
www.ceac99.org


At once this Monkey learned to climb and run around Times Square; but its first act was to make a bow towards each of the four quarters, whilst singing ‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson in Mandarin. As it did so, a steely light darted from this Monkey's eyes and flashed as far as the Palace of the Polar Star in Folkestone. This shaft of light astonished the Xiamen Emperor as he sat in the Omani Cloud Palace of the Tyne Bridge, in the Treasure Hall of Holy Moscow, surrounded by his fairy Ministers. Seeing this strange light flashing, he ordered Monkey Madonna to open the gate of the Southern Heaven and ROCK OUT. At her bidding she went out to the gate, and picked up the sacred colourful telephone…she looked so sharply and listened to the Russian voice on the end of the line, "Please wait whilst…Monkey Magic Sings Covers of Pop Classics in Times Square….” Meanwhile, on the mountain the magic rock gave birth to an egg. This egg changed into a stone Monkey. This auspicious event inspired James Johnson-Perkins to create an exhibition at CEAC.
James Johnson-Perkins

Chinese European Art Centre Residency, Jun - Jul 15

I Want to Break Free, Я - I AM Group Exhibition, Loft Bar, 9 Arbat Street, Moscow, Russia, Apr 15


 
 

I Want to Break Free, 2015, James Johnson-Perkins
 
Often in Life we feel trapped by: Relationships, Work, Political Situations and Place. These issues can lead one to want to escape or 'Break Free' form ones environment. To Rebel or Express one's dissatisfaction. This Film (A kind of Pop video) relates to this and also to a particular Place. Moscow. Where the artist lived and worked for 2 Years. It also makes reference to different specific Russian elements: The Day of Victory Parade (Speeded up), Pakrovka Street under heavy building construction (Played backwards until we reach Red Square), Ballet Exercises, Pussy Riot and to Balaklava's used in recent conflicts.


Я - I AM Group Exhibition
Loft Bar, 9 Arbat Street, Moscow, Russia.
3rd - 4th of April 2015

 The show is positioned as a dialogue between artists and the public, and a reflection upon self-actualization and identity in modern society.
 
The idea of the project is dedicated to the relationship between the individual and the social, the difficulties in achieving self-expression, and the complexity of identity and self-determination in contemporary world.

James Johnson-Perkins
James Johnson-Perkins is a British artist whom currently lives and works in Ningbo, China. Before the artist lived and worked for 2 years in Moscow, Russia. His art practice is Interdisciplinary and draws from themes such as: memory, nostalgia and play.

Джеймс Джонсон-Перкинс
Джеймс Джонсон-Перкинс британский художник, в настоящее время живет и работает в Нинбо, Китай. Перед переездом в Китай, художник жил и работал в Москве, Россия в течении двух лет. Его художественная практика является междисциплинарной и опирается на такие темы, как: память, ностальгии и игры.
 
James Johnson-Perkins, Anna Kautenburger, Johannes Gérard & Hsin-Ying Tsai, Osvaldo Сibils, Вергазова Юлия Ильдусовна, Michalina Kostecka, John Kelley, Kushtrim Zeqiri, Amna Badawy, Mauricio Saenz, Duygu Nazlı, Ingrid Ung,  Катя Исаева,  Александра Князева, Sara Bonaventura, Мария Агапкина, Vera Iona Papadopoulou, Лена Холкина,  Мария Толстова,  Ольга Бутеноп 

Curators:
Anastasia Gregoriee, Anastasia Kachalova, Anna Korobeynikova






This Starry Sky Lights up Because of You, Library Gallery, The University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, Dec 14





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