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