Water #7, Stainless steel, Jun Ren, (China) Photo by Dan Fairchild

The long-awaited installation of Jun Ren’s amazing, mind-blowingly engineered piece entitled Water #7 has been finished.  This long, gorgeous, expectation defying piece resides along the entrance to False Creek in Vanier Park.

Once the sun gets a-hold of these polished curves in the summertime it’s gonna be the talk of the town.  As it is, it’s still an outstanding piece and a great addition to the Vancouver Biennale.

Read more…

Water #7 by Ren Jun. Located in Vanier Park.  Photo by Dan Fairchild.

NOTE: This piece has just been installed in Vanier Park and is still under the protective wrap that it was shipped in from China.

When it is unveiled it will be shimmering stainless steel.

Seriously jaw-droppingly amazing 90′ long silver sculpture that looks like a giant mercury splash imitating the wings of a gull seen through rain streaked glass.

Check it!

Water #7
Jun Ren (China)
Stainless steel

This artist’s inspiration came from pure forms; liquid water or mercury stopped in motion that revealed its shape as a drop or spill caught in the air.

Though weighing seven tons, with no angles, or hard edges, the form flows visually and appears light and fluid.

The foundation for this sculpture has a substructure of 65 cubic metres of concrete and steel.

Jun Ren makes his North American debut with this elegant, amorphic stainless steel sculpture titled Water #7 & Water #10 (still forthcoming).

The recent work by the Chinese sculptor Jun Ren, draws his inspiration from pure forms, liquid water or mercury stopped in motion to reveal its shape as a drop or spill caught in the air.

Though weighing seven tons with no angles, or hard edges, the form flows visually and appears light and fluid.

Jun Ren graduated from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, Shaanxi Provence, China. Jun Ren represents the energy and opportunity of the ‘New China’, living outside the metropolis of Beijing; he has become a successful and respected sculptor of monumental and historical sculpture with works spanning cities from South to North of China, including many emerging industrial cities.

His older work embodies a spirit of heroism that reflects the political, economic, cultural and historical characteristics and contradictions that flow through this time of great transition in Chinese society.

His recent body of work is a dramatic departure in form, and inspiration from his earlier representational work.

The July-August issue of Vancouver Magazine has done a cool little article on the Vancouver Biennale.  Written by Lia Grainger the article is an excellent overview of the upcoming major installations, the new media aspects and the controversy surrounding Dennis Oppenheim’s Device to Root out Evil from the inaugural Beinnale in 2005-2007.

The article begins by recounting a conversation between Biennale president Barrie Mowat and Chinese sculptor Ren Jun – Side Note: Ren Jun’s Shiny Water piece is going to be completely amazing and I’ll blog about that tomorrow! – that goes a little something like this…

“I‘ve based it all on a drop of water.”

Chinese sculptor Ren Jun is using his beverage to describe a monumental piece of public art. He’s trying to convince a dubious Barrie Mowatt, in the offices of the Vancouver Biennale near the Olympic Village, to approve his proposal for the international outdoor art festival that begins in September.

“Ren, if you want to install a 150-foot sculpture in the middle of the city, I need to see it,” says Mowatt.

Jun, a small man of boundless energy, looks playful. “It’s about water! Like this!’” Dipping his hand in the glass he’s been sipping from, Jun splashes water across the polished wooden surface of the conference table. It spills on some papers, but he doesn’t notice.

At first Mowatt seems confused, but then his eyes crinkle and he smiles. “I see the forms,” he says, as Jun drags his fingers through the pool of water that is slowly evaporating. “It could be a bird taking off, or waves,” he adds, and Jun nods. “It has that amorphous sense, but not so amorphous that you can’t identify with it. It will be fluid in seven tons of metal.”

Read the rest of the article here.  Thanks to Vancouver Magazine and Lia Grainger.