The publication “How to Travel with a Watermelon” includes Duan Jianyu’s catalogue (selected painting from 1999 to 2006) , 2 editions of Duan Jianyu’s print work and a text by Hu Fang.
Everything Duan Jianyu(born in 1970) wants to say, she says in her paintings. Here, textual guidance is superfluous, unless to provide a vague background:just like in some of her paintings, words are quoted, explanations coming from our daily lives, or perhaps the words uttered between a female radio broadcaster and a regretful audience confessing sexual transgressions on the air. Even her brushstrokes and palette point us toward an ineffable, slightly aggravating world. Her paintings summon us to envision a threshold we have no way of reaching in daily life, and with equal precision, they summon our feelings about contemporary Chinese reality. As such, they project the background of contemporary China, from the villages to the cities-full of vigor but also incredibly trite. Perhaps, cliché is just the crystallization of our own pursuit of modernity.

Editor: Hu Fang | Dimensions: 12.3×15.2cm | Pages: 37P | Booklet+2Prints+Special Designed Pearl River Deta Bag