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The Traveling Artist - Issue 4

This issue focuses on artists making work centered around traveling – the ethos of “Desert Solitaire” reflects the artistic experience of venturing into the unknown.

Guo Xi contributes texts from “Grand Voyage”, an 86-day maritime travel/art project he undertook with Zhang Jianlin, collecting evidence of stories they imagined before the trip. Daniel Beerstecher describes how travel has inspired his work, culminating in an art project sailing a boat on the roads of Patagonia that took four years to realize.

Tant Zhong shares a series of “half-true” stories from her artist residency experience in Tehran. Kenneth Dow checks in partway through his graduation project – riding an electric scooter from Shanghai to Germany – and compares the societal trends of China and his home country. Zhang Yehong ruminates on a desolate trip to Beidaihe, in search of the illusive imagery of a folk song.

Finally, the issue introduces work from featured artist Li Tingwei that reflects on travel in the modern consumer age, combining video, found images from The Smurfs, and literary text.

The 4th issue is designed by the Shanghai-based design studio Related Design. The concept is the idea of a travel journal, connecting the different artists’ travel stories together.

As readers browse through the magazine, images of the desert and various landscapes from these artists’ experiences will bring them on a journey as well. The issue includes a real postcard featuring Li Tingwei’s work that the reader can use to report on their trip.

In future editions, the 5th issue will further expand on the idea of travel as an exchange between different cultures, what that means in the current political reality, and how artists act as agents of that exchange.

The 6th issue will address the return from travel, and how artists find the ground to continue their work after adventures or trials abroad.