The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery’s Art at City Hall program presents

Shanghai Candid: Women in Motion
A solo project by Shanghai-based photographer Liang Yue

June 15 – September 4, 2010
Opening Reception: Tuesday, June 15, 5:30 – 7:30pm, Free
Ground Floor, San Francisco City Hall

The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Gallery’s Art at City Hall program has commissioned a new body of work from emerging Shanghai-based photographer Liang Yue. This groundbreaking exhibition of twenty five works, opening at historic San Francisco City Hall on June 15, 2010, marks Ms. Yue’s California debut.

For this exhibition Ms. Yue continues her preoccupation with public space, turning her lens toward women on the move in downtown Shanghai. She captures, with a snapshot aesthetic, women as they commute, shop and stroll. The candid images intentionally subvert any lingering preconceived notions of Shanghai as an exotic location. The women are contemporary urban dwellers and the cityscape is identical to that of any metropolis in the developed world. In fact, one might think that many of the exhibited photographs were created in San Francisco. These images do not depict a story that is unique to Shanghai, and the lack of site-specificity brings into focus similarities, rather than differences, between Shanghai and its Sister City San Francisco.

SFAC Gallery Director Meg Shiffler says, “We are so pleased with the outcome of this cross-cultural commission. Ms. Yue’s photographs are skillfully executed and honest, and demonstrate that life in Shanghai could be much like ours.”

This exhibition is part of San Francisco’s 2010 Shanghai Celebration, a yearlong cultural celebration of our Sister City relationship with Shanghai.

Shanghai Candid appears alongside the exhibition Picturing Power & Potential, a juried exhibitions presented by the SFAC Gallery and the International Museum of Women.

Bio: Liang Yue was born in Shanghai in 1979. She graduated from the Shanghai Art Academy in 2001. Today she lives and works in Shanghai. Recent exhibitions include The Thirteen: Chinese Video Now, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA (2006), China Contemporary – Architecture, Art and Visual Culture, Netherlands Photomuseum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2006), Restless – Photography and New Media, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China (2006), Stop Dazing, BizArt, Shanghai, China (2005), Conceptual Photography from the Peoples

Republic of China, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver/Colorado, USA, and China Now, MoMA Film at the Gramercy Theatre, New York, USA (2004).

Media contact:
SFAC Gallery: Meg Shiffler, 415.252.2568 or meg.shiffler@sfgov.org

Photographs of the artist and works from Shanghai Candid are available upon request.

Exhibition Location:
San Francisco City Hall, ground floor
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Monday – Friday, 8am- 8pm, Free

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About the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery
Located in the heart of San Francisco’s Civic Center, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery makes contemporary art accessible to broad audiences through curated exhibitions that both reflect our regional diversity and position Bay Area visual art production within an international contemporary art landscape. By commissioning new works, collaborating with arts and community organizations and supporting artist’s projects, the SFAC Gallery’s programs provide new and challenging opportunities for contemporary art to engage with a civic dialogue. The SFAC Gallery was founded in 1970 and is the exhibitions program of the San Francisco Arts Commission, the arts agency of the City and County of San Francisco.

About the San Francisco Arts Commission
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. We believe that a creative cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being. Our programs integrate the arts into all aspects of City life. The Commission was established by charter in 1932 (Charter sections 5.103 and 16.106).