“Change the Rules” – 2023.09.12

The Rui Cunha Foundation presents on Tuesday, September 12th at 6:30pm, a Solo Exhibition by Zheng Yu, “Change the Rules”, co-organized by the Macao Association of International Contemporary Art and curated by Bill Wong.

This project showcases 79 contemporary art works, including acrylic paintings, sculptures and NFT (Non-fungible Tokens), created as tradable digital art, but presented here in sets of physical pieces. In recent years, with the rapid development of the Internet, blockchain technology and the rise of NFT have had a significant impact on the contemporary art world. The way people appreciate art is no longer limited to museums and galleries. Audiences can easily enjoy artwork online, anywhere and anytime. For artists, the way to create and publish art has also become more convenient, faster and more efficient.

However, for Zheng Yu, the role of NFT in the art market has been «dominated by the art rules of Western society», according to which if an artist creates a physical art work and produces an NFT of the work, the physical art work and the NFT will generally exist in only one way in the art market. «That is, if the work remains in the form of NFT, the physical must be destroyed. And vice versa».

But based on Bill Wong’s words, «NFT has its unique characteristics, and so does the physical works. Zheng believes that though in the visual sense the NFT and the physical work look the same, their existence on different media has determined that they are unique independently. They are actually two different art works. So why do we have to follow the rules of art made by the West? Why don’t we try to make the rules ourselves?», he clarifies regarding the artist’s opinion.

And he adds, «the most interesting thing about contemporary art is that artists often show their artistic ideas in unexpected forms. In the field of contemporary art, the definition of beauty and ugliness has become blurred, the positions of leading and supporting roles may be reversed, and the traditional rules of appreciating things are broken. Audiences must try to change their own viewing habits so as to better understanding what is expressed by contemporary art».

«Through the exhibition, Zheng hopes to stimulate people’s thinking: What is art? What is “unique” art? How to appreciate art? What is the value of life? How human beings coexist with the environment? And so on», suggests the curator.

Zheng Yu is a Member of the Council of Macau Association of International Contemporary Art, Vice Director General of Macau International Oil Painting Society, Member of Council of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau Bay Area Artists Union, and Member of Macau Artist Society. His work “Tsuimu” got a Silver Award on the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts 2018. He was invited to exhibit his works at many exhibitions in France, US, and cities of mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau.

The artworks will be displayed until September 23, 2023.

Admission is free.

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