Masters & Pelavin is proud to announce a solo exhibition of recent work by Shanghai-based artist Jin Shan. There Is No End To This Road will be on view from Thursday13 September through Saturday 27 October, 2012, and will include a variety of new multimedia sculptural works. This is Jin’s first gallery exhibition in the United States, and is shown in conjunction with his exhibition My Dad is Li Gang! at Brown University’s David Winton Bell.

Jin Shan is known for using humor to unsettle accepted value systems and notions of power, whether it be within society at large, sub-groups such as the art world, or on an individual level. While the exhibition at Brown explores the discrepancy between the privileged class and the everyday worker in Chinese society, this parallel show at Masters & Pelavin turns inward and investigates the individual, almost biological mechanisms that give rise to power imbalances on a larger scale. The show is comprised of four main sculptural works, each focusing on universal human experiences: sex, class, identity and death. By using materials characteristic of vernacular art—multicolored acrylic pom-poms, mirrors, wood-carvings, adhesives and resins—and engaging migrant and factory workers in the design and development of his sculptural components, Jin is able to sustain his critique of power, desire, and ambition.

At this moment in history, China, the most populous nation in the globe, is going through immense changes. From this incredible transformation many absurd, terrible and amazing stories emerge everyday. These stories become inspiration for Jin’s work. However, while he is influenced by particular stories and situations that take place in China, he believes the underlying elements that motivate people’s behavior are universal. The impossibility of satisfying desire; the drive to power; the inherent contradictions in life; are, in the artists opinion, all seemingly programmed into humans—into their DNA. In this respect, Jin’s work begins with the specifics of present day China, but extends beyond these borders to portray the abstract forces that shape human interaction and structure societies.

Jin Shan was born in 1977 in Huai An, China, and currently lives and works in Shanghai. He is one of the more important emerging artists in China. Working in various media, his art reflects both the specifics of daily life in China as well as societal relationships in a more abstract sense. Selected solo exhibitions include, Shoot, ARCO solo projects, Madrid, 2008, Stephen the Speculator, DDM Warehouse, Shanghai, 2009, It Came from the Sky, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas City, 2011. He has participated in group exhibitions with The Van Abbe Museum, Einhoven, 2010, The X Baltic Triennial of International Art, CAC , Vilnius, Lithuania, 2009, Groninger Museum, Netherlands, 2008, and the Venice Biennial, 2007, and Singapore Biennial, 2006.