Shi Guorui

, in Art, Photography (0 Comments)

Shi Guorui (b. 1964, Shanxi Province) has mastered the camera obscura technique and is one of China’s foremost photographers. The surreal vision of his distinctive obscura images removes all activity from the image extracting the essence of his subjects, mainly landscapes and monuments, which are also sites of conflict and cultural significance–from Ground Zero to China’s tallest building. In recent years, he has traveled extensively between the US and China to document the sites of urban development and monuments that symbolize cultural, political and economic authority. Each image is documented at a specific time corresponding to current events, in which Shi visualizes a site at a moment in history that may later be rewritten, reborn or even just forgotten–from the Beijing Olympics to the Global financial crisis. His first monograph published in 2011, titled Rebirth, illustrates images taken over the past decade providing a poignant narrative of contemporary society.

Shi Guorui is a graduate from the photography department at Nanjing Normal University and has exhibited extensively in US and Europe. His works are held in major private and public collections including Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG (Switzerland), Sigg Collection (Switzerland), Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (USA), Guangdong Fine Art Museum (China), Fonds National d’art Contemporary (France), M.H. de Young Musuem (USA), and Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (USA). He currently lives and works in Beijing.
July 15 – September 2, 2011 solo exhibition with L&M Arts, Los Angeles
Download Rebirth: Shi Guorui at L&M Arts Press Release ( 新闻稿）
Download Shi Guorui Biography (PDF)

Articles on Shi Guorui:

NYTimes 2006 “Standing in the Dark, Catching the Light” // an article illustrating photographs created in Los Angeles
SFChronicle 2006 “Shi Guorui” // an article describing works composed for The de Young Museum
2010 Cantor Art Center “Hanging Guorui’s Standford Part I&II” // how to install and mount large scale photographs
Uncanny Perceptions Camerawork, Winter 2007 // artist profile by Daniell Cornell
A Cultural Revolution, The Atlantic Monthly July/Aug 2007 // a selection of contemporary Chinese artists by Britta Erickson

Interview Video:
Small hole and Big World: Shi Guorui’s Art // A documentary film by CCTV9