Chen Qiulin 陈秋林

From ArtSpeak China (ASC) Wiki

Chen Qiulin is a multi-media artist often associated with China's younger generation of avant-garde, most of whom were born in the seventies. Chen's performances, photographs, and videos incorporate sculptural elements and a dramatic, intuitive approach to the changing Chinese landscape. Her work addresses the urbanization of developing China, and deals both with its rapidly changing geographical and urban conditions and the psychological impact these changes affect on its culture. She lives and works in Chengdu.^[1]

Contents 1 Date & Place of Birth 2 Education & Development 3 Art 3.1 Hometown 3.2 River River 4 Awards & Honors 5 Exhibitions 6 Auctions & Acquisitions 7 Gallery Affiliations

[edit] Date & Place of Birth

Chen was born in 1975 in Hubei Province, China.

[edit] Education & Development

In 2000, Chen graduated from the Department of Printing at Sichuan Fine Arts Academy.

[edit] Art

Chen rose to international fame between 2003 and 2007, when her work turned to documenting and recording changes resulting from the Three Gorges Project. Ranging from a series of photographs set in her demolished family home to a monumental effort that resulted in a 16-ton structure being transplanted from Sichuan Province before its flooding to a gallery in Beijing, Chen Qiulin’s works have created, in her words, a focused record of “this period in history which I have experienced.” ^[2]

How could any of this be better stated? It cloudn't.

[edit] Hometown

 In Hometown (performance & photographs) Chen presents the viewer with the unnerving situation of someone trying to maintain normality among the ruins of their town. In the performance she is dressed in white, like a western bride or someone in mourning, sitting at a dressing table while a man throws butter cakes at her which she doesn't appear to notice--all this in the midst of rubble. Chen says of her generation that they are the ones who grew up eating butter cakes and watching television, that they were not politically engaged like previous generations. 

(Left: Chen Qiulin, Hometown, photograph, 22.8 x 70.9 in., 2004.)

[edit] River River

River River is another work examining this new world and is a marvellous combination of elements from reconstructed China. There is the town in the midst of being rebuilt with the modern tower blocks seen all over the country. There is the ubiquitous doorman of all these new buildings and the water cooler found in every Chinese office. The young trendies sit at a different table from the young characters dressed in traditional opera robes. The present and the past separate but still part of the same actuality. Chen puts the figures together but independent in the setting of destruction and reconstruction out of which they were born--and which remains the ground for their future. (Right: Chen Qiulin, River River, video/film (set of 5), 2005.)

[edit] Awards & Honors

In 2005, Chen was awarded the Emerging Artist Prize by the Biennale Internationale d'Art Contemporain Chinois of Montpellier-Chine. In 2006, she was honored with the Starr Foundation Fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council.^[3]

[edit] Exhibitions

Chen has participated in over 35 exhibitions and fairs since 2005, including the Max Protetch's Great Performances: Contemporary Chinese photography and Art Basel Miami Beach.^[3] For Chen Quilin's full exhibition history, click here.

[edit] Auctions & Acquisitions

Chen's work has been acquired by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Denver Art Museum, the Logan Collection, and Astrup Fearnley Museum. ^[3]

[edit] Gallery Affiliations

Chen is represented by A Thousand Plateaus Art Space], in Chengdu, Beijing Commune and Long March Space in Beijing, Chinese Contemporary in London, and Max Protetch in New York.^[3]

1. ↑ http://oneartworld.com/Max+Protetch/Chen+Qulin+2007.html
2. ↑ http://oneartworld.com/Max+Protetch/Chen+Qulin+2007.html
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=424472787&page_tab=Bio_and_links