The much anticipated James Cohan Gallery opens in Shanghai … but gets a dress rehearsal as my baby’s 100th day party+TAIAN LU 泰安路, the film premiere

Arthur Solway has been working the Shanghai realtors, business bureau and visa offices for almost a year now. A task that requires heaps of patience, know how, and a good, resilient spirit. Arthur’s got all that and more. His ambitious work is quickly coming to fruition – He’s landed this PHAT Art Deco building in the center of the French Concession, with big yard (some of which the neighbors hang their laundered underwear in) and will open July 10th with a group show of the gallery's greatists: Bill Viola, Roxy Paine (who I thought was a woman all this time), Jeff Koons, Richard Long, Wim Wenders (who I thought was a filmaker all this time), etc.. Arthur's determined not only to educate the Shanghai public about western contemporary art but also to mine the region for hungry collectors of the stuff too. He’s already had a great start last year with a big Nam Jun Paik sale at the SH Contemporary Fair and while not exactly going strong since, we’re sure he’ll do just fine. Last week, as a way to test run the space, our little Rui had his 100th day party there. While most folks were away for the season, weekend, etc. It was a fine time. We also premiered our latest film TAIAN LU 泰安路 In Shanghai for the guests. TAIAN LU 泰安路 was a commissioned short for IA’s China Now project and reflects ‘my China’ at the time it was made- it stars Shanghai's most famous abstract painter DingYi as well as a lot of other folks. Below is a list of venues where it’s playing in the UK this summer-more info*
Below that is a statement about the film.

Hayward Gallery (Concrete Bar), Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre , BBC Big Screens, City Art Centre, Filming East Festival, The Yorkshire Waterways Museum, Chinese Arts Centre, Park Lane Intercontinental, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Filmhouse, Edinborough, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London


TAIAN LU 泰安路 PAL HD 1080i 13 mins
From the point of view of a mixed couple on the verge of having a (Euro-Asian) child, the new China metaphorically comes alive as a concept that is at once universally pervasive and persistently elusive. Mixing documentary, fiction and fantastical elements the story unfolds as a strange day-in-the-life odyssey of this young couple. The story centers around Taian Lu No.6, a dilapidated colonial era building, now home to an eclectic cross section of Shanghai’s demography. Through the daily conundrums of the houses’ residents, a cross-cultural television show, brief tele-conference forays with New York’s Chinatown and the waking dreams of a pregnant mother, the extended family of man in the 21st century is told. Urban China comes alive as a series of fantasies and facts. Mixing allegory, class stratification and poetry, this film is a frenetic and impressionistic ode to a China as a global concept- enrapt in an accelerated and often erratic attempt to do too much too soon.