"CHINA: Then and Now - Jan Serr" (Gallery Night and Day)

On first look, the sixty-four photographic works in CHINA: Then & Now – Jan Serr are about China. They depict the “Old Town” Hutong neighborhood streets, the restful Scholar’s Garden, and the ultra-contemporary world of Maglev bullet trains traveling 375 miles per hour. On second look, the exhibition is about the passing of time.

Mirroring these efforts represented in Serr’s subject matter, this exhibition employs large-scale installations to transport visitors from the modern streets of China (New World City) to its quaint historic neighborhoods (Old Town). As you walk through a full-sized Moon Gate, you will enter our “Humble Administrator’s Garden” adorned with meditative scholar’s stones and an ever-soothing water feature, designating a space for visitors to contemplate the vast to the personal.

While she has worked with countless cameras and many types of image-capturing systems, in China Serr chose to be a street photographer with a nimble digital hand-held Nikon. Her operating principle is “See it, Shoot it, Be safe, Be gone.” Situating prints of her meticulously curated compositions within this immersive time-traveling exhibition, Serr asks what is remembered and what is forgotten, beckoning visitors to experience China through her. She states “What I saw in China, and how I saw it, is what you see here now. You are standing with me, looking through my camera, looking through my eyes.”

In addition to Serr’s photographs, the exhibition includes a painting of the Tiananmen Square massacre, as well as an original video illustrated by her. Other works include two large figurative ceramics by Pamela Leung-never before exhibited in the U.S., hand-colored brass rubbings, and other Chinese objects.

Co-curators, Kate Hawley and Jan Serr.

The dates of the exhibition are: October 15, 2021 – January 28, 2021

The Warehouse Programming:

1/5 (Wed) | 12pm-12:30pm – Noon-hour Curator’s Tour w/ Jan Serr

1/19 (Wed) | 12pm-12:30pm – Noon-hour Curator’s Tour w/ Jan Serr

1/21 (Fri) | 5pm-9pm – Gallery Night

1/22 (Sat) | 10am-2pm – Gallery Day

11/27 (Wed) | 12pm-12:30pm – Confucius & The World: China’s Greatest Teacher Speaks to Our Era

About The Warehouse:

The Warehouse is an art museum and research center located at 1635 W. St. Paul Ave, Milwaukee. Exhibitions, performances, and lectures are based on The Warehouse’s permanent collection of over 3,600 modern and contemporary works on paper, paintings, photography and sculpture. The collection is available for scholars, students and art enthusiasts, and works are available for institutional loans. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit thewarehousemke.org or call 414-252-0677.