The Red Bean Grows in the South is a group exhibition centered on concepts of dreams and longing, featuring major large-scale and experiential works.
Many of the works are from the Foundation’s collection and are by a diverse array of international artists. The works span a variety of media and explore conceptual themes such as violence, war, politics, idealism, and escapism, as well as hope, dreams, desire, lust, and longing. The idea of longing, in particular, is manifest throughout the exhibition in different ways, be it a sense of longing for someone (as in a loved one) or for something (as in a better future). The works resonate strongly as individual pieces, but also take on new meaning when placed in dialogue with one another.
The exhibition’s title references the first verse of a Chinese Tang Dynasty poem, Red Bean, which is known to express deep longing. While the scope of the exhibition is broadly international, the curatorial conceit for the Foundation’s first New York show reflects a core tenet of the Foundation’s identity—its longstanding relationship with China, and its desire to engage Western audiences with important concepts, themes, and works from the region.
Alison Saar
Dying Slave, 1989
Wood, tin, plexi, nails
201 x 61 x 61 cm
Richard Mosse
Incoming, 2014-17
Three channel video installation with surround sound
52 minutes
Nancy and Edward Kienholz
The Ozymandias Parade, 1985
Mixed media tableau
457 x 386 x 886.5 cm
Yu Hong
“Life Weekly” Cover No. 37, 2001 Lowering of the stars and stripes flag; 2001, Yu Hong, thirty-five years old, going back to the old classroom, sitting in the same chair with the same classmates. Right after the school anniversary was over, the high school affiliated to Central Academy of Fine Arts was relocated; 2001, Liu Wa, seven years old, going to school, 2001
Acrylic on canvas, newspaper/magazine
100 x 270 cm
Yu Hong
December 15 2018, New Weekly, p.30-31, G7 summit, Classical Composition (courtesy of Visual China Group) G7: 2018 Yu Hong, fifty-two years old, outside Liu Xiadong‘s solo exhibition in Düsseldorf; 2018 Liu Wa, twenty-four years old, creating a plaster cast of her head, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, newspaper/magazine
100 x 300 cm
I want to use the thread of time to paint and document a person from birth to growing into an adult individual and use images, pictures, news, photographs to document this country's vicissitude. Between these two parallels they both blend into one another, they both create a kind of dialogue.
Yu Hong
Paul McCarthy
CSSC, Frederic Remington Charles Bronson, 2014-16
Clay, wood, steel, laminated board, hair, foam, fiberglass
498 x 229 x 158 cm
George Baselitz
Mit Roter Fahne (With a Red Flag), 1965
Oil on canvas
162.5 x 130 cm
I think my work is to some degree is pointing a finger at a side or an underbelly of society, the violence of society, the injustice of society. The absurdity, most importantly the absurdity of the human condition. What we've created and how we see ourselves is so absurd that I've always felt we don't even know we're alive.
Paul McCarthy
Omer Fast
Continuity, 2012
Single channel video
40 minutes
Christian Lemmerz
The Last God, 2018
White Carrara marble
200 x 146 x 72 cm
Anselm Kiefer
für Velimir Chlebnikow, 2015-16
Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac on canvas
380 x 570 cm
Christian Lemmerz
Tabernakel No. 3, 2005
Marble statuario
35 x 32 x 62 cm
Robert Rauschenberg
The Lurid Attack of the Monsters from the Postal News, August 1875 (Kabal American Zephyr), 1981
Solvent transfer, acrylic and collage on wood veneer and aluminum with objects
104 x 488 x 43 cm
Yoko Ono
Happy Xmas (War Is Over), 1971/2003
John & Yoko, The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir
From Lennon Legend DVD (2003)
Colour video with stereo sound
3 minutes 36 seconds
© 1971/2003 Yoko Ono
One can say "there's no such thing as a typical Rauschenberg" because there are such varied things but the more you know of the work and investigate it. The more you see there are these overriding concerns and themes that Bob attended to.
David White from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
Ai Weiwei
Two Figures, 2018
Alpha plaster, iron, mattress, ormosia seeds
Dimensions variable
Cecily Brown
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, 1998
Oil on linen
193 x 249 cm
You cannot catch a dream that's why you need art.
Ai Weiwei
Doug Aitken
Doug Aitken