Overview

Maleonn

Maleonn has been given the cover in spring 2009 of three major arts magazines or journals. Click HERE to see "Book of Taboo No 17", which graced the cover of Quebec's leading visual arts magazine Vie des arts; HERE for "Unforgivable Children No 6", which graced the cover of DESCANT, a leading literary and visual arts journal in Canada; and Click HERE for "Little Flagman No 2", which was the cover of one of Europe's top photography magazines, Italy-based ZOOM Magazine, for its March/April issue.

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"I have a strong desire to 'manipulate' the objects, in an attempt to have them affected by me, and in turn become a part of the framework I have designed for my photos. They serve as a narrative medium for me and a symbolic code for my work." (Maleonn, Interview, January 2006; for the entire interview, click on the link above)

"My photography...is just like life: unpredictable and full of hints, but no answers...We [younger-generation artists such as Maleonn] are trying to understand the deeper meaning of our culture." (Maleonn, Interview, "City of Dreams" in CHINA RISES series, CBC Television with the New York Times and other partners))

Maleonn has only been a photography-based artist since 2004. Craig Scott Gallery became Maleonn's first gallery (in late 2005) and continues to represent him and place his works with collectors worldwide. Craig Scott Gallery has a full inventory of those Maleonn works which have not sold out (many images have sold out), including prints unique to and only available from Craig Scott Gallery. These unique works include a special 40 x 60 cm format for print #2 in the edition of 15 for two series -- Unforgivable Children and Shanghai Boys -- and a special 50 x 60 cm format for print #2 in the Chinese Story series. Many of the approximately 35 works that included the special 2/15 print have been sold but over 15 still remain. These represent the current best value for Maleonn's work, as they are priced somewhat below the larger format of the rest of the editions of 15. Their smaller size has also proven highly popular for collectors wishing to display several Maleonns in smaller living spaces.

In a few short years, Maleonn is now one of the most respected artists working in this medium in China, and also rapidly making his mark worldwide. As Peter Goddard of Toronto Star (the largest-circulation newspaper in Canada) wrote in April 2007, Maleonn is the "reigning fabulist among today's new crop of photographers with an almost child-like imagination producing lyrical digital fantasies." The single-word "Maleonn" is the nom d'artiste, in Western script, for Ma Liang. Maleonn lives and works in Shanghai. Craig Scott Gallery represents Maleonn in North America.

While Maleonn had classically trained as an artist, with a focus on painting, at the Fine Arts College of Shanghai University from which he graduated in 1995, his first career was that of a commercial short filmmaker. By 2004, his artistic television commercials had made him a well-known figure, and even a sort of cultural icon, in the creative community in Shanghai and to some extent to the wider populace to whom his commercials appealed. It was the same year (2004) in which he received an advertising community peer award – roughly translated, an Award as one of the Best Commercial Video Directors in China, from China Advertising Pointer Magazine – that he decided to try his creative hand at still photography.

He started to show his photography only in 2005. In May 2006, he had his first solo show outside Asia (outside China, he had also had a solo show in Singapore in 2005), at Craig Scott Gallery. The exhibition “Transfigurations” was part of the annual CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto and consisted of approximately 30 works from four series created between 2004 and 2006. The series in the show involved complementary narratives about the evolution of Chinese identity where multiple contemporary influences (from various globalizations to China’s frenetic capitalism) intersect with deep historical currents (from traditional culture to the Mao period). Maleonn's photography – alternately playful and edged with the macabre – juxtaposes, with singular artistic power, widespread feelings of dislocation and unease at the pace of change in today's China, on the one hand, and the welcoming of new horizons of self-expression and cultural vitality, on the other.

A year after his inaugural solo show in North America, Maleonn again exhibited with Craig Scott Gallery for the CONTACT Photography Festival in May 2007 with the 2007 CONTACT theme being The Constructed Image. Maleonn’s show, “Labyrinth,” was selected as a Feature Exhibition at CONTACT 2007. Works were drawn from four series – Self-Portrait, Portrait of Mephisto, Book of Taboo and Disappearing Baby – with one image from a just-completed series, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In relation to the show’s theme, Maleonn commented on his theatrical and painterly photographic world by saying that it “cannot be completely classified.” He turns to aesthetic expressionism “to demonstrate the labyrinth of our spirits,” preferring his work “to be the same as my spiritual world: complex and profound, kind and wicked, naïve and cruel, suspicious and trustful, painful and happy, all existing at the same time and becoming more real by virtue of their interaction.”

Biography has clearly played a shaping role in Maleonn’s art. Maleonn's father was Shanghai's leading opera director at the time of his and his family's banishment to a re-education camp during China's Cultural Revolution, and his mother was a noted film actress. The theatrical and the filmic are clear influences in his work. But so is a resolute independence of mind and freedom of spirit that must partly stem from being separated from his parents after being born in the camp and sent back to Shanghai to be raised by extended family. From the intersection of these influences and propelled by sheer innate artistic creativity and technical talent, Maleonn has emerged as a major artist and cultural figure in 21st Century Shanghai.

Since the May 2006 “Transfigurations” show at Craig Scott Gallery, much of note has happened that justifies understanding Maleonn as one of the most exciting and important emerging artists working in China today. His work has generated a steady stream of recognition and accolades. The following are only some of the highlights (not in chronological order).

* Four of Maleonn’s works from his “Days on the Cotton Candy” have been curated into an exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, to take place from March to July 2008.

* Maleonn’s “Chinese Story No 3” was selected for the 2006 International Digital Art Awards (IDAA).

* From October 18 to November 27, 2007, four of the five works in Maleonn's Midsummer Night's Dream series were selected for pride of place display within a major group exhibition -- Rising Prospects and Flying Blessings -- in Shanghai at the newly opened EPSON Imaging Gallery (epSITE), which has moved from elsewhere in Shanghai to Shanghai's 50 Moganshan Road art gallery complex (M50). Curated by one of the most respected art scholars in China, Gu Zheng of Fudan University, Midsummer Night's Dream No 1 graced the cover of the show's literature.

* From June 22 to October 7, 2007, the Frist Centre for the Visual Arts in Nashville mounted a major exhibition drawn from the Pantheon of contemporary Chinese photography. The exhibition was called Whispering Wind: Recent Photography from China. Chief Curator Mark Scala has selected Maleonn’s “Chinese Story No 8” (image #6 of the enclosed artists’ images) along with works from a select group that includes Zhang Huan, Xing Danwen, Dodo Jin Meng, Rong Rong, Hong Lei, Li Tianyuan, Sheng Qi, Zhang Dali, Wang Gongxin, Yuan Shun, Sze Tsung Leong, and Lin Tianmiao.

* Three months after the Toronto CONTACT 2006 show, “Chinese Story No 2,” one of the works on display during the show, sold for 144,000 $HK (over $US 20,000) at Sothebys Hong Kong’s Contemporary Asian Art Auction (extra-large edition). This is certainly amongst the highest prices fetched for a very recent work by just-emerging photographer.

* On November 11, 2006, Peter Goddard, Art Critic for the Toronto Star (Canada’s largest newspaper), wrote an article comparing two art fairs taking place in Toronto that weekend, the Toronto International Art Fair (TIAF) and the boutique Toronto Alternative art Fair International (TAAFI). Craig Scott Gallery was participating in TAAFI. In his article, Goddard chose Maleonn’s “Priority” (image #16 of the artist’s images) as the sole image ‘illustrating’ the article, referring to Maleonn’s “stunning” and “fabulous photography.” Of the (high) hundreds of artists at the two fairs, Goddard singled out Maleonn as one of five “names to watch.” In spring of 2007, Goddard identified the 10 must-see events at the 2007 CONTACT Photography Festival and gave pride of place in a full-page spread to Maleonn’s ‘Book of Taboo No. 2’; Maleonn was described by Goddard as the “reigning fabulist among today’s new crop of photographers”)

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Maleonn has been given the cover in spring 2009 of three major arts magazines or journals. Click HERE to see "Book of Taboo No 17", which graced the cover of Quebec's leading visual arts magazine Vie des arts; HERE for "Unforgivable Children No 6", which graced the cover of DESCANT, a leading literary and visual arts journal in Canada; and Click HERE for "Little Flagman No 2", which was the cover of one of Europe's top photography magazines, Italy-based ZOOM Magazine, for its March/April issue.

Education

Graduated in 1995 from the Fine Arts College of Shanghai University.

Honours

2006 Selected Artist (Image: Chinese Story No 3), International Digital Art Awards (IDAA)

2005, received Award as one of the most Powerful & Influential Artists in Shanghai, Bund Pictorial.

2004, received Award as one of the Best Commercial Video Directors, China Advertising Pointer Magazine.

Commentary

Zhang Hongxing and Lauren Parker, China Design Now (London: Victoria & Albert Publishing, 2008). Maleonn’s “Days on the Cotton Candy No. 4” is reproduced as a full two-page spread at page 10, immediately following the Table of Contents, as the book’s first image (of 158 images of 190 images reproduced in the volume)

Marc Scala (curator and editor), Whispering Wind: Recent Photography from China (Nashville: Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 2007) (museum exhibition catalogue)

Peter Goddard, "Contact puts the world in focus,” Toronto Star (Thursday, April 26, 2007), p. G3) (‘Book of Taboo No. 2’ reproduced, and Maleonn’s Labyrinth described as a must-see exhibition and Maleonn as the “reining fabulist among today’s new crop of photographers”)

Works reproduced in C International Photo Magazine, Issue No 4 (2007)

Bonnie Rubinstein and Leah Sandals (editors), “Labyrinth – Maleonn” in “The Constructed Image: 35 Exhibitions Exploring the Festival Theme” in CONTACT: Toronto Photography Festival, May 1-31, 2007 (Toronto: CONTACT, 2007) (festival catalogue), p.59

‘Portrait of Mephisto’ series of images, ZHU Xiao Yi (curator), Photography from China (curated slideshow), first projected May 12, 2007 at INDEXg, Toronto.

Peter Goddard, “One small weekend, two local art fairs,” Toronto Star (Saturday, November 11, 2007, p. H13) (‘Priority’ in Déja Vu series reproduced as sole image for article; Maleonn identified as one of 5 names to watch amongst high 100ss of artists at Toronto International Art Fair and Toronto Alternative Art Fair International)

‘Chinese Story No. 2’, reproduced in Christopher McCormack, “Previews”, Contemporary, no. 88 (2006), p 29 (image paired with account of Lianzhou: International Photography Festival, although this work was on display at the Festival the year before, 2005) (NB: image title refers to the artist as “Ma Liang” and gives a narrative title translated from the Chinese: ‘The Arrow Borrowing Trick [Episode from Romance of the Three Kingdoms]’)

‘Practice’ and ‘Control’ from ‘My Circus’ series, reproduced in Garrie van Pinxteren et al., China Contemporary: architecture, art, visual culture (Rotterdam: Nai Publishers, 2006; in collaboration of Nederlands Architecttuurinstituut, the Nederlands fotomuseum, and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), pp. 284-285.

‘Dancing with Eyes Shut’, in “Make Contact” Enroute (May 2006), pp. 78-85 at p. 82 (full-page reproduction and commentary on; one of eight artists profiled)

Monika Burman, “Cultural Translation,” in MAG (May 2006), pp. 8-9, review of Transfigurations exhibition in Toronto; reproduction of 3 works from Unforgivable children series.

Jiang Qinggong (curator) and Zhang Yi (editor), Shanghai Fables: Maleonn (Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2006) – 160 pp.

Crichton, Kelly (series producer), “City of Dreams”, Part 4 of China Rises (film/video production, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, New York Times and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, in co-production with the Discovery Times Channel, S4C Channel and France 5, 2006) – storyline follows Maleonn shooting the “My Circus” series of photographs. "City of Dreams" periodically re-airs on CBC Newsworld. One of a half-dozen segments focussing on Maleonn in "City of Dreams" can be seen as a video clip on the CBC.ca website at http://www.cbc.ca/chinarises/cityofdreams. As well, one can view a photo essay of older work by Maleonn that with a background 'score' composed by his friend and colleague, Zhung Minghao

Works reproduced in C International Photo Magazine, Issue No 2 (2006)

Auction catalogues

‘Book of Taboo No. 10,’ reproduced in auction catalogue of Beijing Council International Auctions (Beijing, June 2, 2007)

‘Book of Taboo No. 2,’ reproduced in Koller auction catalogue (Zurich, December 9, 2006), p.152

‘Answer’ (aka ‘Read’ in ‘Unforgivable Children’ series), reproduced in Ravenal auction catalogue (Taipei, December 3, 2006), p.187

‘Dreams of a Clown’ (aka ‘Dream’ in ‘My Circus’ series), reproduced in Ravenal auction catalogue (Taipei, December 3, 2006), p.186

‘Chinese Story No. 2’, in Contemporary Asian Art: 9 October 2006 (Hong Kong: Sothebys, 2006), p.244 (auction catalogue)

Exhibitions

Endless Dreamers, CO2 Contemporary Art, Rome Italy, May 2008 (solo)

Days on the Cotton Candy, Kasia Art Projects Gallery, Chicago, USA, May 2008 (solo)

MALEONN, Espace Art 22, Brussels, Belgium, April 2008 (solo)

Marbles, Gossip Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand, April 2008 (solo)

Gallery Caprice Horn, Berlin, Germany, April 2008 (group)

2008 (March 15-July 3, 2008, upcoming) ‘China Design Now’, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK (group)

Fall 2007 ‘Chinese Walls’, Walls Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland (group)

Summer/fall 2007, 'Whispering Wind: Recent Photography from China', curated by Mark Scala, June 22 to October 7, 2007, Frist Centre for the Visual Arts, Nashville (group)

April/May 2007, 'Dragon’s Evolution', curated by Zhu Qi, inaugural exhibition of the China Square Art Center, Chelsea Towers, New York City (group).

April 2007, 'Another Look: New Art from Shanghai', curated by Liu Jian, artDC 2007 (Washington DC Art Fair), April 27-30, 2007)(group)

May 2007, Labyrinth, May 3-27, 2007, Craig Scott Gallery, Toronto; Feature Exhibition of CONTACT 2007 (solo)

March 2007, 'Cicada,' Zendai MOMA, Shanghai (solo) (The title of the show, “Cicada”, has a double reference in Chinese: first, it refers to the insect, which in turn reminds us of childhood; and, second, "cicada" connotes the grasping of something, as in "comprehension.")

2006 ‘Happily Ever After’, Hardcore Contemporary Art Center, Miami, USA

2006, 'Wonderland,' Aura Gallery, Shanghai (solo)

2006, 'Vision World', The Heart of the Art, Luoyang, China (solo)

September 2006, 'Sweet and Sour', Artsee Gallery, Shanghai (solo)

2006 ‘Post-Vanguard, Chinese contemporary Art’, Hong Kong

May 2006, 'Transfigurations,' Craig Scott Gallery, Toronto (solo)

2006, 'Diaporama' Festival, Nantes, France (group)

2006, International Digital Art Awards, Queensland, Australia

2006, 'Joint Exhibition with artists from China, Denmark, Holland and Ireland,', Chinese European Art Centre, Xiamen, China (group)

2006, ‘Joint Exhibition of Chinese Photographers’, The 7th San Francisco International Photographic Art Exposition, San Francisco, USA (group)

March 2006, 'Transfigurations,' Culture Club. Hong Kong , March 2006 (solo)

March 2006, 'The Virtual Salon,' MOCA, New York City (group)

Dec 2005, 'Déjà vu', Backyard Café, Shanghai (solo)

Nov 2005, 'Face to mask', Shanghai Advance Gallery (solo)

Nov 2005, 'Maleonn’s world,'Fotoyard Gallery, Tianing, China (solo)

Nov 2005, Lianzhou International Photography Festival,China (group)

September 2005, 'Shadow Maker - Maleonn,' Pingyao 5th International Photography Festival, China (solo)

Aug 2005, Nike Free New Media Design Exhibition, Shanghai and Beijing, China (group)

2005, 'Shadow Maker’, Advance Gallery, Shanghai (group)

2005, ‘Shanghai in vogue’, Singapore (group)

2005, ‘Get it louder’, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen (group)

2005, ‘Joint Exhibition of Chinese Photographers’, The 6th San Francisco International Photographic Art Exposition, San Francisco, USA (group)

2005, ‘CREATION’, Olive Hyde gallery, San Francisco, USA (group)

2005, ‘Selfhood - Absent-Minded’, Joint Exhibition of Shanghai Photographers, Lianzhou International Photography Festival, China (group)

Jan 2005, 'Maleonn Photography Exhibition', Esplanade Gallery, Singapore (solo)

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