Abstract photographers apply new lens to past and present

A sculpture set of ancient Chinese wine utensils is arranged artistically according to the pieces' sizes and heights inside Maqiao Ancient Culture Relics Park.

The elliptical pond contains a duck-shaped pottery pot and six other smaller sculpture pieces resembling wine utensils. Running water drops from the duck pot to a lower stemmed cup, then further to other utensils around them. The water is collected in the pond and recycled back to the duck pot.

When Gu Huiyu, a novice abstract photographer, walked past the pond on a sunny day, she noticed the sunshine falling onto the sculpture of the duck pot, generating a reflection of its terracotta in the pond, then the water reflecting the image of the marks back on the duck pot.

She clicked the shutter button and captured an abstract photographic image.

Gu, a native of Maqiao Town in Minhang District and a woman of the post-90s generation, traces her photography experience to her childhood, when she would follow her grandfather, a former culture worker at the town's culture center, as he went around recording the town's historic heritage.

Gu is now a member of a young art community – the Maqiao Abstract Photography Team – founded by senior photographers Zheng Xin, Chen Zhongyue and Guo Runzi about six years ago.

Zheng has been a fan of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, a regular international tennis event in Maqiao, for 18 years. Nine years ago, she moved to the town and began to shoot abstract photos to capture the essence of her new dwelling.

Enlarged reflections in water of the pistil, stamens and styles of a blooming flower were extracted by Zheng to suggest an Afro hairstyle.

A withered plantain leaf curled with its center facing the sky resembles a cave.

A frost and ice pattern in winter glistens in light green and pink, further adorned by water droplets. It forms a female profile that is suggestive of the late Marylin Monroe.

"We might be a niche photography school among tens of thousands of photographers," Zheng said. "Our inner concepts, thoughts and feelings are expressed through the abstract visual images. When they strike a chord with the viewers, they will feel the aesthetic transcendence we felt when taking those photos.

"About 150 years ago, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky developed the warm abstractionism which emphasizes rich colors. His counterpart, the Dutch painter Piet Cornelies Mondrian, was a cool abstractionism promoter of simple lines. Now we're practicing young abstract photography. Compared with concrete photographing that might be influenced by a country's mainstream culture, the abstract photographing can be reckoned more borderless," she added.

Team co-founder Chen said they were not abandoning the concrete, but instead pursuing from their inner selves to express art from another perspective.

"Maqiao, with its ancient civilization and its abstract art symbols created by our ancestors, inspires us when we're practicing abstract photography. Abstract art in China is historic and rich. Abstract art belongs to the whole world," he added.

Since its foundation, the abstract team numbers 53 members, ranging form 21 to 89 years of age.

Yang Jun, a cultural worker for Yutang Village in Maqiao, has practiced photography for more than 10 years. He joined the abstract team about six moths ago.

The Maqiao Cultural relics were unearthed in Yutang.

Yang helps record the village's cultural heritage, as well as the modern advancement of the town through photographing it.

He used abstract lines when portraying golf and low-carbon transportation, as the town of Maqiao is also celebrated for its international sports events.

Xu Aijun, a retired aerospace engineer, is grateful for the abstract photography team for making her retired life more meaningful.

"Abstract photographing allows me to feel more freedom," she said.

She has made a series of cultural product mugs with her abstract photos printed on them.