Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artists

BREAK
THROUGH
CONTEMPORARY
/OMEN ARTISTS
BOWDOIN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART
This brochure accompanies an exhibition of the same
name
at
the
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, from September
27 through December 22, 20 13. The exhibition
is
presented in
conjunction with the symposium "Female Embodiment of the Visual
World: Women's Art in Contemporary China," held
at
Bowdoin
College on September 28, 2013.
Design by Wilcox Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Copyright
© 20
1
3
Bowdoin College
Image opposite: Peng Wei, Autumn of Tang Dynasty, 2008
Back cover: Cao
Fei,
Deep Breathing (from COSPIayers
Bowdoin College Museum
of Art
9400 College Station
Brunswick, Maine 040118494
20772S-3275
bowdoin edu/art-museum
series),
2004
HfS
Cai Jin (Tsai Chin)
Cao
Fei (Tsao Fei)
If
Chen Qiulin (Chen
Hung
H
$RfX^
Ch'iu-lin)
Liu iJ4l
LinTianmiao (LinT'ien-miao)
$^1s
Peng Wei (Peng Wei)
Xing Danwen (Hsing Tan- wen) fflS-^X
Yin Xiuzhen (Yin Hsiu-chen) 3^"^i#
The
artists'
characters
names appear above
in Chinese
and in two forms of romanization
of the Chinese language: pinyin, the current
international standard,
and Wade-Giles
(in
parentheses) introduced in the late nineteenth
century and used through
twentieth century. The
much
names
of the
are rendered in
pinyin elsewhere in the publication.
Introduction
The
eight artists featured in Breakthrough; Work by Contemporary
Women
Chinese
Lin,
Artists
—
Cai Jin, Cao Fei,
Chen
Hung
Qiulin,
history
—span
who came
multiple generations, ranging from those
of age during the Cultural Revolution of the
1960s and 1970s to those
who grew up amid
range of media
China's
a
artist is
their
own and
work and
wide
foster a
behind these
in the online
that
The
of others. The corporeal form inhabits
initiator
may be implied through
clothing or sewing (Yin Xiuzhen, LinTianmiao). Bodies are
anew
as futuristic, virtual avatars
(Cao
(Hung
Liu)
.
The
torsos of female
mannequins
wash painting (Peng Wei) and
canvases for ink
on
the world stage.
By summoning the
also
the body's
figural presence in their art, these
be registering, perhaps inadvertently,
a
growing awareness of their impact on the contemporary
women's
art.
China on the subject of contemporary
Her deep knowledge, enthusiasm, and personal
many of the
artists
exhibition's success. Breakthrough
are
suggested through visceral, abstract painting (Cai
may
arts
immensely thanks
to co-curator
was
Hongbei
Li
'
1
also strengthened
art.
Museum
Co-Directors
Museum
staff,
Anne and Frank Goodyear,
especially
establish one's position
amid
to
In her text
and
Fund
Shu-chin Tsui, associate professor of Asian
works on view
film studies, discusses the
terms of their formal qualities and in relation to
cultural,
and
societal transformations
internationally. In spite
Chinese
women
We
the tectonic shifts in Chinese
society in recent decades.
of their
in
artistic,
artistic
accomplishments,
art
of
Jose Ribas '76, and Andrea Rosen.
gratefully
for die
acknowledge the support of the Becker
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, James and
Winnie Chan P
'97, Stevens L. Frost
Innes Fund, Karl R. PhilbrickArt
Watson Fund, and the Andrew
Endowment Fund,
Museum
Lowell
Fund, Katharine
W Mellon Foundation.
Sarah Montross
Andrew
as well as
Henning, Joachim
within China and
have historically been absent from
facets
Suzanne Bergeron, Martina Duncan
Homann,
way
all
the exhibition process. Special thanks are also extended to
human form becomes
self, a
Student assistant to
4 was instrumental to
'97, Jo Hluska, Laura Latman, Michelle
an assertion of the
critical to the
Peggy Wang's expertise in
the field of contemporary Chinese
the curator
were
scene, both within China and internationally. To visualize the
studies
and vibrant
been conducting original research over the past
connections with
Fei).
Figures from historical photographs appear like ghostly
artists
for this sophisticated
and co-curator of this exhibition, Shu-chin
several years in
Jin).
group
Acknowledgements
Tsui, has
is
a
joint perspectives
realm of
(Xing Danwen, Chen Qiulin) or
interior
of defining
nuanced understanding of the conditions
artists' arrival
the liminal spaces of rapidly changing built environments
specters
mid-1990s and
in the
pitfalls
concerned with representations of the body
each
constructed
emergence
our appreciation
activate
Diverse as their perspectives are as a group,
Life.
art since its
cautions us about the potential
of art
of Chinese
painting, photography, video, sculpture,
and even interventions
installation,
Second
—
They work across
assistant professor
studies, considers the field
of artists by geography or gender. Their
massive infrastructural reforms and emergence on the
global market during the 1990s.
and Asian
women's
LinTianmiao, Peng Wei, Xing Danwen, and Yin
Xiuzhen
Peggy Wang,
historical scholarship.
W Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow
J.
2
BREAKTHROUGH: ARTISTS AND WORKS
SHU-CHIN TSUI
Breakthrouah:
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Film Studies, Bowdoin College
Work by Contemporary
Chinese Women Artists
the conceptual claims and creative practices of
art" in
contemporary China. "Women's
category
are
we
gender
to
is
open
to question, however.
view works by
women
"women's
How,
for example,
terms of
politics as well as aesthetic articulations?
have Chinese
women
artists
gendered
art" as a
artists in
Why
refused to have their
identified in terms
of feminism, even
engage in feminist
art practices?
if
explores
work
they seemingly
Addressing these
traditional to
the past. Next
modern and
is
a contrast between ruined sites and urban
construction, addressing
transition
is
how
China's socioeconomic
dramatically changing
exhibition then leads us
where personal
and the
history to re-presentations of
social
on
its
desires find expression through avatars,
environment becomes
virtual reality. Finally,
an engagement between the search for female identity
and experiments with cotton threading, shoemaking,
questions and locating them against China's social-cultural
and flower painting demonstrate the
conditions, the exhibition explores four key aspects of the
materiality.
work on
brings fresh critical attention to eight
view. First
is
a visual dialogue
painting and contemporary innovation,
between
classical
which connects
landscape. The
through cyberspace,
a journey
making
visual languages
Through these interwoven themes.
significant contributions to
artists
of
Breakthrough
who
are
contemporary
art.
I
3
Between the Classical and the Contemporary
Peng Wei and Hung
Peng Wei brings
a
Liu
contemporary interpretation
Chinese landscape painting. The hanging
Thoughts
young
artist
A Young
(2012) features a restrained farewell scene of
woman
in a boat departing
from her
lover.
poem by
creating a contrasting dialogue
Dynasty (2008),
Friedrich Schiller, thus
between the conventions
(2010) and Autumn
Relic
8
(2004), an image of two
of Tang
and resin-glazed, features Chinese characters composed
with
a
female radical and phonetic ideogram to signify
the gender identity and social status of the subjects.
oil
washes and drips of color are Hung
painting
style. Circles,
Liu's signature
the canvas in several hues. The inserted birds, flowers,
and grasshopper
painting
Peng Wei's formal explorations extend the
—
—iconography from
relate the figures
In The Path
(2010-201
historical
back to traditional
1),
Hung
She wraps the torsos of commercial female mannequins
to create images
paper and then inscribes classical ink paintings
memory and
that
fantasy.
Chinese
art
forms.
Liu uses her
characteristic layering of brushstrokes, drips,
hemp
The
symbols of the universe, decorate
conversation between the classical and the contemporary.
with
terms
photograph, occupies the canvas. The central panel, red
art,
of subdued Chinese painting and expressive German
poetry. In the sculptures Night
in
nineteenth-century courtesans, quoted from a historical
than Chinese narrative for an inscription,
rendering in calligraphy a
and present
of history and memory. In
away. Additionally the artist turns to Western
literature rather
Liu's paintings juxtapose past
a
usually a passive female figure watches her male
sail
Hung
Girl's
The
has inverted the gender roles present in classical
where
lover
scroll
to classical
and patterns
blend historical documents with
The
central image, lifted
from
a
mid-
across the body's surface. This innovation transforms two-
twentieth-century black-and-white photograph, shows
dimensional painting into three-dimensional sculpture,
two
where the female form assumes material
rider smiling as she breastfeeds her baby.
as well as
classical
and the contemporary in terms of form and material,
Hung
Liu,
The Path, 2010-2011
women
riding donkeys along a rural path
the riders within a
gendered significance.
Whereas Peng Wei's sculptures reframe the
1
a fish
—more
good fortune
complex
references
field
from
of imagery
classical art
offered to the travelers
on
—
Hung
—
the
Liu
first
embeds
birds, deer,
and symbols of
their journey.
U
Between Ruins and Urban
Chen
Sites
Qiulin
Fiction
and Xing Danwen
of industrial ruins and brick balconies are primary
Chen
motifs in
Qiulin's diverse multimedia
visualizes the transformations of time
(2009) and related photography, the
make-up and
(dis)located
when
a
wedding
artist
dress
Peach Blossom
—wearing
—appears
seen against the industrial ruins
or the rubble of demolition in her
County, Sichuan Province.
hometown
A woman's
with the decaying landscape
to the
that
and place caused
by China's rapid urbanization. In the video
elaborate
work
in
Wan
beauty contrasts
as the artist bears
witness
tumultuous evolution of urban development.
In
her installation series Balcony (2007), the detached and
detailed apartment balconies, with their characteristic
red brick,
window
wooden
door, and hanging laundry, offer a
into the customs of the old city about to be
engulfed by the voracious spread of urbanization.
While Chen Qiulin captures the disappearance of a
familiar landscape, in
Xing Danwen's Urban
an alien landscape emerges. The
dramatic scenes from everyday
life
actor, staging
supporting
social
view,
artist
gaze
Qiulin, Solidified
Scenery (from Peach Blossom), 2009
real estate
herself appears as the primary
episodes with her male counterparts in
roles.
The
architectural
problems and gender
we
Chen
into photographs
of miniature architectural maquettes from
showrooms. Often the
Fiction series
artist digitally inserts
at
issues.
models pinpoint
From
critical
a bird's-eye
the city dwellers isolated inside high-rise
buildings or behind walls. The revelation of private
life
within a projected architectural framework demonstrates
how
massive construction projects are radically reshaping
China's landscape and people's
lifestyles.
Xing Danwen, Urban Fiction (image
24),
2006
I
5
Between the Real and the
Cao
Virtual
World
Fei
Critical
reality
concerns about urban landscape and social
extend to cyberspace and virtual
reality in
an
acknowledgment of the hybridity of contemporary
life
i.
Mirror
(2007)
is
identity.
documents
a muchinima that
as well as tele-presents the artist's
blossoming romantic
A
traveler
entanglement with another avatar in Second
frequently transgresses these lines
is
Cao
creating a
maverick multimedia
artist.
urban adolescents role-playing
costumes. Using construction
or abandoned buildings in
"cosplayers" of
manga
Fei, a
The video, photography, and
installations related to her COSPlayers
who
world without losing one's personal
digital realms.
between analog and
who
virtual
The video
(2004)
series
show
commercial
Guangzhou
streets,
as their stage, the
or anime are like alien invaders
enact their dreams and exercise their ability to co-opt
reality.
2
Nonetheless, after their
heroes must return
The
artist
reality into
virtual
home
momentary
to face a
escape, the
mundane
existence.
extended her exploration of fantasy and
cyberspace
when
world of Second
Life.
she entered the online
Her
avatar,
named China
Tracy, reflects the desire to locate a position in the
By
avatar in virtual
space, the artist altogether dissolves the demarcation
between
Cao
in elaborate, fantastical
sites,
documentary about her own
Life.
real
Fei
and
virtual.
continued to work in Second
an entire virtual island called
Chinese or
RMB
People's
City
(
Life,
building
AKifiStlif ) in
City in English. Designed by
Cao
collaboration with the design firm Avatrian LLC,
Fei in
RMB
City again links virtual space with the physical world.
Visitors to
RMB
recognize familiar
City
sites
built environment past and present, such
City, the Bird's Nest,
or the
CCTV Tower.
of China's
as the
In
Forbidden
remapping
architectural landmarks in cyberspace and transforming
them
digitally,
the artist appropriates symbols of China's
ascension as a global power.
6
Between Female
Identity
Yin Xiuzhen, Lin Tianmiao,
Flower painting and
and Material Embroidery
and Cai
Jin
both have long histories
crafts
feminine practices in China
—
as
flowers traditionally stand
for virtue. In her
for scholarly ideals
and embroidery
1998 mixed media
installation Yin Xiuzhen (presented
here as a sequence of photographs), the
artist
searches
through a personal subject deeply
for female identity
etched in her memory. She inserts old photos of herself
at different
ages in the soles of ten pairs of
handmade
cotton shoes. The shoes are identical in material and
recalling a time during the Cultural Revolution
style,
when
a
standard dress code unified a collective identity. In this
self-titled piece that
makes
art
Xiuzhen claims her identity
out of material culture, Yin
as a subject. Moreover,
personally sewing the shoes with her mother, the
by
artist
not only evokes social and familial pasts but also effects
material innovation in her creative practice.
Lin Tianmiao uses cotton threads to both construct
and question
from her
identity. In a piece
(begun in 200
1
Focus series
the artist projected an enlarged
),
photographic portrait onto paper, which she wrapped
with embroidered cotton
interplay
balls.
She creates a visual
between individuality and material obscurity,
between the
artist as
subject and artifact as object,
and
between photographic image and the three-dimensional
surface.
By transforming the image into a mixed media
print overlaid with threads
portrait
becomes
and other materials,
meaning. Lin Tianmiao 's Hand
Signal series is
to customs of the Peking Opera:
deliver theatrical expressions
female roles? Hand
Signal No.
this
meditation on form and
a multifaceted
her response
how do hand
and
why do men
gestures
play
20 evokes the expression of
praise in operatic performance.
The expressive image
Yin Xiuzhen, Yin Xiuzhen, 1998
of the hand invites and challenges the viewer through
its
visual indications
and
theatrical narratives. Separated
from the body and disassociated from the costume, the
gesture
becomes
inscribed in
a
mixed media image,
memory.
a frozen
moment
Opposite: Cao
A Second
Life
Fei,
i.
Mirror by China Tracy (AKA: Cao
Documentary Film, 2007
Fei),
I
7
As
women's
a craft specific to
artistic practice,
flower
painting can provide metaphoric expression of a
woman's inner
life.
For over twenty years, Cai Jin has
continually transcribed banana leaves onto canvas,
rendering them in the color red. Her Beauty Banana series
when
started accidently,
in the wild, their
the artist
form and the color seized
"The
root, the stem,
for life."
3
The
found banana plants
green colors fading. "The withered
my
and the
artist saturates
attention," she recalled.
leaves
were
still
breathing
the shriveled leaves with
blood-red hues and imbues them with a bodily texture.
The redness of the
force,
leaves expresses life
energy and organic
while the darkness suggests deterioration and
even death. The conjunction of beauty and decay
is
Tianmiao,
Lin
Hand
Signal No. 20, 2005
an
irresistible
draw
to the viewer, a
mixture of fascination
and horror. Thus, the transformation of color and texture
in Cai Jin's Beauty Banana series reflects an ambivalence
towards
life
and speaks about female corporeal experience.
Through
who
artists
the
work of these
eight extraordinary
introduce challenging subject matter and
formal innovation. Breakthrough highlights the
contributions to contemporary Chinese art
women
aim
on
to
its
without reducing
engage
own
it
this diverse
to a
fresh eyes, art
we
made by
gendered category. We
body of women's
terms, and then through
implications. If
critical
its
art first
social-cultural
look with open minds and through
created by Chinese
women
reveals
many
avenues for discussion.
Notes
1
.
Email correspondence between
Hung
Liu
and the author, June
26, 2013.
2.
Cosplayers, short for "costume players," wear costumes and
accessories of specific characters
from movies, video games, and
comic books. They often meet
conventions or gather in public
at
spaces for role-playing activities.
3.
Cai Jin in interview with Jiang Mei, Deep
Chinese Contemporary Female Artists, edited
Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 2008), 20.
Cai
Jin,
Banana Plant 310, 2008
Breath:
19 Samples
of
by Jiang Mei (Shanghai:
Interrogating "Chinese Women's Art"
PEGGY WANG Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian
Mao
Zedong's famous 1968 proclamation that
"women
such
half the sky" has often been repeated as testament
hold up
to China's
the state.
acknowledgement of women's contributions
to
While most observers of recent Chinese history
are understandably skeptical of this claim for
gender
Bowdoin College
as intuition,
emphasis on personal experience,
and used materials drawn from daily
artists, in his
towards
life,
life.
Women
view, were also generally "apathetic
and philosophy, and on the
politics, history
contrary, concentrate [ed]
of Mao's assertion speaks to
equality, the very familiarity
Studies,
and humankind and
"women's
on
the
themes of nature,
survival."
1
Burdened by these
art" served less as a rallying call
the need to take into consideration the specific ideological
descriptions,
conditions that have governed the historical status of
for female artists,
women
parameters against which to navigate and negotiate.
in China. As a rebuttal against so-called feudalist,
Confucian hierarchies,
women
under
of the masses over the individual, gender was obscured
as a
marker of individuality. Mao-era posters and model
operas visually celebrated this
masculinization of women.
It
Throughout the
Communism were
regarded as comrades in revolution. With the privileging
phenomenon through
wasn't until the
1
980s
the
and more
Liao
Wen
1
as the start
work by female
She granted more leeway in her formulations
women
it
as a space
through
could discover themselves. While
that
the demonstration of female experiences as difference
Chen
began
to re-emerge.
In the brief, thirty-year history of contemporary
Chinese
art,
the category of
"women's
art"
gained
currency during the 1990s. The 1995 International
Women's Congress
for
in Beijing served as a further catalyst
launching large-scale, state-sanctioned exhibitions
featuring art by Chinese
women. While
to a distinctly female voice
marked
a
this attention
new
interest in
questions of difference, the surrounding discourse was
not necessarily tied to explorations of inequality, gender
constructs, or calls for liberation.
Within these early exhibition and
narratives, the phrase
"women's
historical
art" often constricted
artwork into generalized approaches and
tendencies. As a "style,"
women's
particular materials, motifs,
and
art
stylistic
was
identified with
traditions, distinct
work produced by men. The prominent Chinese
and curator
rise
Jia
Fangzhou noted
that the
1
from
art critic
990s saw the
of women's awareness towards themselves and their
gender identity and identified particular characteristics
of the resulting
art.
1998 exhibition
As the curator for the large-scale
Century Woman in Beijing, Jia identified
specific characteristics in the
work of female
artists
of thorny
rose to fame in the Chinese art scene for her
of the category and described
which
set
990s, the independent curator
writings and exhibitions championing
artists.
of a
Qiulin,
Old Archway (from Peach Blossom), 2009
admitting that a "women's approach"
an embryonic
room
for
remained
still
development given
historical absence in
its
China's patriarchal society. She
about distinguishing Chinese
was furthermore
art
by
clear
women from
movement. Even
larger international feminist
identification of particular characteristics
—
a
her
still,
the materials
on
used, "silent subversion," and a greater "emphasis
women's
in
Liao noted the importance of this
state,
particular feelings
and experiences"
—continued
the trend of narrowing this term into definable attitudes
and properties. 1
Through
the imposition of this category, gender
was soon trumpeted
which
to access
as the sole defining feature
and understand these
artists'
While bringing much-needed attention
represented
artists,
through
works.
to certain under-
the reproduction of similar systems
of narrative classification posed troubling problems for
over interpretation and intent. As a result,
artists
female
artists
began
to bristle at this category
many
and deny
its
applicability altogether.
This rigidly bifurcated response
—
—
either a
adoption or rejection of "women's art"
at the
complete
has often
come
expense of more honest explorations into the actual
power dynamics
Chinese
art.
that have
In the 1980s,
governed contemporary
few
women
entered into
academies and even fewer worked in experimental
the following decade.
went on
Of those who
to attain significant
away into
a
did, only a handful
renown, while many faded
male-dominated
art scene.
these artists faced further challenges
international exhibitions
art
art in
where
In the late 1990s,
when
their voices
entered into
were subsumed
within Western assumptions about international feminism
and "dissident"
art.
This generated two problems.
identifying female artists within a larger
categorizing
them according
to
—
gender
First,
community
often failed to
clarify the specific cultural distinctions in their
works.
Tendencies to see agitation for women's rights as a
generalized and universal
sometimes elided the
Peng Wei, A Young
Girl's
phenomenon,
for example,
historical particularities
Thoughts, 2012
and
Hung
Liu, RelicS,
2004
personal motivations surrounding the production of these
artists'
works. At the same time, while positioned within
national or regional boundaries
artists
—
—
as
Chinese or Asian
generalizations that served to simply reinforce reductive
a
backwards
East.' In these
ways, these
and the work
the existence of this category
artists
how we
and raised the
possibility
art" as a category, this exhibition challenges
—
—
as viewers
to reconsider
formulate and apply these
Breakthrough challenges
confinement. While the phrase "contemporary Chinese
and across
historical
assured and unambiguous,
and contemporary connotations need
to
be treated prudently. As one approaches the exhibition,
important questions
arise:
group of artists,
viewers to break through bounded
this exhibition.
.
Jia
Fangzhou, "Preface"
What
are the assumptions about
in Century Woman, transl.
and Karen Smith (Hong Kong:
Shijie
Chen Yang
HuarenYishu Chubanshe,
1998), 11.
2.
Liao
Wen, Women's Approach
Morillo (N.p:
its
labels.
this select
continually shifting themes that reach within, beyond,
1
art"
especially important here to reconsider
Notes
can be simultaneously a source of empowerment and
may seem
about gender and
our preconceptions.
Like race and nationality, the invocation of gender
women's
we hold
and possibly contradictory meanings, groupings, and
Understanding the problematic implications of
us
justify
concepts and terms to allow for multiple, nuanced,
within
post-gender and post-national frameworks.
"women's
it is
By bringing together
difference. Subsequently, artists issued
as individual creations
would
kind of critical questioning can
ingrained preconceptions that
both gender and nation according to problematic metrics
of seeing their work
at all? Is
that
there something that
apply to any themed exhibition, but given the deeply
nationality,
denials of this reifying tendency
produce
can be considered a "women's experience" that inherently
found themselves trapped within interpretations about
of sameness and
that they
translates into art? This
exhibition narratives often circulated vast
views of
women
3.
A
n.p..
lo
Chinese Contemporary Art, transl. Isolda
1995), 1-4.
notable exception to this was the 2000 exhibition and
catalogue
Gallery,
Text
&
Subtext: Contemporary Art and Asian
LASALLE-SIA College of the
Woman
Arts, Singapore.
at
the Earl Lu
Artists
was born inTunxi, Anhui Province,
Cai Jin
from the
in
1986 and earned
degree in
a
Academy of Fine Arts,
hint'
in 1965.
She graduated
department of Anhui Normal University, Wuhu,
fine arts
Arts Institute. Cai
paintings oi banana leaves that
including a 2012 retrospective
and die seminal group show
at
the Central
theTianjin
at
decay.
solo and group exhibitions,
the National Art
at
Die
Museum,
Himmels: chinesische
Hiilfte des
nen der Gegenwurt /Hulf of the Sky: Contemporary Chinese
Beijing,
the
at
Frauen Museum, Bonn, Germany (1998).
Fei
and
is
was born
in
which she winds
Arts,
and design, and there made her
at
Cao
including Bound /Unbound:
and works
lives
creates elaborate
museums, including
prestigious
Biennale in 2007. Her project
realities
biennials
the China Pavilion
RMB CITY
art
of
and
the Venice
at
has been exhibited
the
at
Deutsche Guggenheim (2010); the Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo (2009);
nale (2008). In
Chen
in
Qiulin
2010 she was
was born
Sichuan Province
in
now
197
5
a finalist for the
pnntmaking department
lives in
at
underwater due
the Sichuan
Chengdu and
on how recent urbanization
lives
the
the
projects in
multimedia work
China have altered
and the land. Recent exhibitions include Chen
Hammer Museum,
Art at the
a city
to the
Academy of Art and now
Beijing. Chen's
human
(2009) and
Boss Prize.
Dam. She graduated from
centers
at
Hugo
and grew up inWanzhou,
partially
construction of the Three Gorges
works and
the Yokohama Trien-
London (2008); and
the Serpentine Gallery,
Qiulin
University of California, Los Angeles
Displacement: The Three Gorges
David and Alfred Smart
Dam
and Contemporary Chinese
Museum
for
multimedia work
and function. Lin has
international exhibitions,
New York
Asia Society,
Brooklyn
Museum
(2007).
(1997) and
Chengdu, Sichuan Province,
in
of Art, University of
who
a
by Peng
Wei 2002-201
China (201
for
A
1
)
;
1
at
(2000) from Nankai
use traditional ink painting as their
Taking off the Shell
—
fa-
Works
He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen,
the
Attitudes: Female Art in
Contemporary Art,
1974 and
younger generation of Chinese
vored medium. Recent exhibitions include
Brussels,
China at the
European Centre
Belgium (2009); and INK
Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition at the
not
INK:
Shenzhen Art Museum,
Guangdong, andToday Art Museum, Beijing (2008).
Xing
Danwen was born
lives
and works
in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, in
in Beijing.
Xing earned
from the Central Academy of Fine
degree in photography
2000. Xing
urban
life
is
best
shown
Arts, Beijing,
and
the School of Visual Arts,
at
known
1
967 and
1992
a bachelor's degree in
a master's
New York,
in
for her playful yet sensitive portrayal of
in her Urban Fictions series
of large-scale photo-
graphs of architectural maquettes that straddle the line between
reality
and
fantasy.
Modernism and
ture Center
Recent exhibitions of her work include
U.S. Vernacular
—
Xing Danwen
&
Future
Di and Xing
Danwen
at
Chinese
JimVecchi at the Architec-
Houston Foundation (2010) and
—Wang
Chicago (2008).
artists
among
is
in
earned a bachelor's degree in fine
a master's degree in aesthetics
contemporary
numerous
at
their appearance
in Beijing. She
escapism in popular youth culture against the everyday
She has exhibited
known
Lin Tianmiao at the
Global Feminisms at the
University, Tianjin. She
life.
the
the Beijing Center for the Arts, Beijing (2007),
at
multimedia projects in which she contrasts themes of fantasy and
contemporary
is
numerous domestic and
Peng Wei was born
the
where she studied decoration
first films.
at
as a textile designer, before
1978
in
based in Beijing. She earned her bachelor's degree
in Beijing
1987 and studied
in
working
1961 and
in
degree from
or cotton threads around everyday objects
silk
and images, transforming
exhibited in
a bachelor's
Normal University
Capital
at
New York
to
returning to Beijing in 1994. She
(2012), The Same
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province,
Guangzhou Academy of Fine
moved
Art Students League while
and
Cao
She earned
in Beijing.
the fine art department
in
Kiinstlerin-
Women Artists
and works
in 1984. Lin
for her striking, nearly abstract
merge themes of fertility and
numerous
Cai has been featured in
painting in 1991
known
best
is
oil
She currendy teaches
Beijing.
Tianmiao was born inTaiyuan, Shanxi Province,
Lin
lives
Seeing Utopia, Past and
the Fairbank Center for Chinese
Studies, Harvard University (2010).
Hung
Liu
was born
Changchun,
in
Jilin
Province, in
1
948, a year
before the People's Republic of China was established. She earned a
Yin Xiuzhen
bachelor's degree in art and art education
there.
from the
Beijing Teachers
was born
in
1963
College and a master's degree in mural painting from the Central
partment in 1989 with
Academy of Fine Art,
creative manipulations of
1
984 and received
a
Beijing.
She immigrated to the United
master of fine
arts
of California San Diego in 1986. She
Mills College
and
lives
retrospectives of her
at
the Oakland
1988-2006
at
and works
is
degree from the University
to explore topics
professor emerita of art
tion,
at
in Oakland, California. Recent
work include Summoning
Museum
States in
Ghosts:The Art of Hung Liu
of Art (2013) and Hung
the Savannah College of Art
Liu:
Memorial Grounds
and Design (2008).
in Beijing
and
now
lives
and works
She graduated from Capital Normal University's fine
a
degree in painting. She
is
known
de-
arts
for her
second-hand items, especially clothing,
of nostalgia, personal memory, rapid globaliza-
and homogenization. Yin has shown in major exhibitions
domestically and internationally since the 1990s, including Die
Con-
Hdlfte des Himmels: chinesische Kunstlerinnen der Gegenwart /Half of the Sky:
temporary Chinese
(1998);
Women Artists
at
Global Feminisms at the
Yin Xiuzhen at the
Xiuzhen at the
Museum
the Frauen
Brooklyn
of Modern
Museum, Bonn, Germany
Museum
Art,
(2007);
New York
Projects
(2010); and
Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands (20
1
92;
Yin
2).
Seeing Shadow No.
Works marked with an asterisk (*) are
Balcony (1,
illustrated in this publication.
2007
10, 11, 12),
mixed media, each 18 1/8
on canvas,
c-print
x 29 1/8 x 9 7/16
F-12,
silk
2009
threads, and cotton
threads, 72 1/16 x 72 1/16 x 3 1/8 inches
(18301x18301x8 cm)
inches (46 x 73 99 x 24 cm)
and Beam
Banana Plant 29s, 2008
Courtesy of the
oil
on canvas, 78 3/4 x 74 13/16 inches
(200 x 190 cm)
Contemporary Art, New
Private collection
Peach Blossom, 2009
*Banana Plant 310, 2008
Courtesy of the artist and Beam
ink
Contemporary Art, New
8 11/16 inches (70 x 39 x 22
artist
York,
Copyright of the
London
on
silk,
66 15/16 x 43 5/16 inches
York,
London
(170 x 110 cm)
on hemp paper, 27 9/16 x 15 3/8 x
cm)
Courtesy of the
artist
*Old Archway (from Peach Blossom), 2009
Private collection
giclee print
on paper, 60
1/8 x 48 3/8 inches
(152.72x122.87 cm)
Yanmyat Home (from COSPIayers
series),
Courtesy of Galerie
*Autumn of Tang Dynasty, 2008
DVD, 16 minutes 37 seconds
oil
artist,
New York
Lelong,
Courtesy of the
ink
artist
and Beam
Contemporary Art, New
2004
Night, 2010
York,
on hemp paper, 19 11/16
8 11/16 inches (50 x 30 x 22
London
x 11 13/16 x
cm)
Private Collection
digital c-print, 29 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches
100 cm)
*Solid'med Scenery (from Peach Blossom),
*A Young
Courtesy of the artist and Lombard
2009
ink
Freid Gallery
giclee print on paper, 48 3/8 x 60 1/8 inches
(282
(122.87 x 152.72 cm)
Collection of Ray
(75 x
Deep Breathing (from
COSPIayers
series),
Courtesy of the
Contemporary
2004
digital c-print, 29 i/4 x 39 1/4 inches
artist
Art,
and Beam
Freid Gallery
oil
Inc.
New York, London
8,
2004
c-print
on canvas, 66 x 66 inches (167.64
16764 cm)
Mirror by China Tracy (AKA: Cao
Fei),
Documentary Film, 2007
x
Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery,
*The Path, 2010-2011
Courtesy the artist and Lombard
mixed media, 41 x 87
ofRMB City,
2009
(170.2 x
Courtesy of the artist and Artist Pension
Trust, Beijing
*Urban Fiction (image 24), 2006
28 minutes
Freid Gallery
on paper, 67 x 85 9/16 inches
217.4 cm)
New York
single-channel video with sound,
The Birth
and Soo Venkatesan,
*Urban Fiction (image 10), 2006
*Relic
Life
x 14 3/16 inches
x36 cm)
(
Courtesy of the artist and Lombard
A Second
Thoughts, 2012
image courtesy of Sotheby's
743x997 cm)
*i.
Girl's
on hemp paper, 111
c-print
1/2 inches (104.14 x
on paper, 88 x 67 inches
(223.6 x
170 cm)
222 25 cm)
Courtesy of the artist and Artist Pension
Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery,
Trust, Beijing
New York
single-channel video with sound,
10.5
minutes
*Yin Xiuzhen, 1998
Courtesy of the artist and Lombard
*Hand Signal No.
Freid Gallery
c-print, felt, synthetic hairs,
20,
set of ten color
2005
46 7/16 x
58 1/4 inches (117.95 x 147.96 cm)
Live in
RMB City, 2009
Copyright of the
single-channel video with sound,
Lelong,
artist,
Courtesy of Galerie
New York
30 minutes
Courtesy of the
Freid Gallery
artist
and Lombard
Focus print 06S05A, 2006-2007
silk,
cotton threads, foam and print paper
made by Singapore
Tyler Print Institute,
50 x 39 3/8 inches (127 x 100 cm)
Copyright of the
Lelong,
Artist,
New York
Courtesy of Galerie
photographs on paper,
each 16 x 23 3/4 inches (40.64 x 60.33 cm)
Courtesy of the artist and Chambers Fine Art