The genesis of life in Chen Qin's artworks is eloquently portrayed as a process of replication, entwined with a narrative that flows like undulating waves.
Within Chen Qin's oeuvre, an innate sense of liberation is palpable, accentuated particularly through the transformative experience of breaking through the cocoon. In the southern region of Fujian, the artist's birthplace, the return of overseas Chinese and the resonance of ancestral and patriotic sentiments not only served as pivotal pillars of support during that era but also molded a living environment characterized by a unique tropical essence, referred to as "Nanyang style" with its distinctive hues. The artist's growth is deeply saturated by the damp, low-saturation reddish-brown architecture adorned with patterns of grids and rhombuses. In her paintings, a color palette that exudes a harmonious blend of healing, vintage, and remarkably intense tones naturally emerges as the artist's preferred choice for conveying spatial depth and narrative resonance.
The artwork serves as a vessel, simultaneously distant yet palpable within the grand narrative structure of time and space. In Chen Qin's paintings, the fluidity of the ocean encapsulates the upper limits of trajectories, akin to traversing footsteps. The curved forms and lines in her artwork, resembling the dance of sea winds and ocean currents, embody both environmental and genetic elements. The artist consciously employs colors such as green blended with earthy browns, whites, and patterns as pulsating spiritual embellishments. The visual representation of the body undergoes nuanced visual processing, highlighting the power of the intertwining of the life process and the environment. The fragmentation and replication of the body construct possibilities intricately linked to its subject, directly manifesting the individual's response to various intermediaries and adaptive strategies in a complex, multidimensional environment. This duality subtly reflects the artist's objective response and the traditional genes of the "Nanyang" generation from southern Fujian.
Albert Camus regards life as "absurd," akin to Sisyphus ceaselessly pushing the boulder. In the context of modern mechanical time, repetition becomes an endless cycle devoid of any abstract meaning in life. New technologies, while not constituting a unified scientific ethical system, intricately control our bodies. Hospitals, factories, and modern time collectively manage and discipline docile bodies. In the layers of subdivision, "bodiless organs" become components suitable for dissection and segmentation, facilitating the functioning of the entire society. The separation of spirit and flesh eradicates unity, and replication emerges as a prevailing pattern. Simone de Beauvoir's view of repetition as the result of traditional division of labor, with women bearing the responsibility for tedious self-repetition, finds resonance in Chen Qin's paintings. The replication of the self in her artwork transcends a mere reflection of femininity; the depicted characters stem from the artist's unconscious reflection on the female maternal experience. The unique artistic intuition in scrutinizing the self, coupled with metaphorical scene integration, serves to present the value of self-unity and acknowledgment with elegance and depth.
The body is situated within the constraints of its environment, where the "flesh" is perceived as a direct conduit ensnared in the control of power dynamics, compelled to execute tasks through symbolic rituals and calls to duty. Sarah S. Richardson's work, "The Maternal Imprint," illuminates the continuity and contradictions within disciplines like epigenetics and postgenomics in the context of maternal effects. Likewise, Chen Qin, starting from the maternal experience, delves into the process from self-birth to introspection. With a discerning gaze, Chen Qin presents the body's images in a seamless and natural setting, weaving captivating narratives that reveal the absurdity of this experience. This approach effortlessly showcases the maternal perspective, entwined with contentious and weighty theories of genetics and genetic associations.
The emergence of life brings boundless possibilities for renewal to the world. This contemplation and portrayal transform the artwork into a conduit for meaningful expression. Within this cyclical narrative, Chen Qin infuses a connection between the two shores, echoing the breath of the sea. This imparts a resilient affection for the growth spaces of land and seawater, permeating the artwork with a blend of intrinsic strength and a free-flowing, warm fluidity. The resulting tide in the paintings opens up to the self, unfolding with robust cycles and iterative emergence.
Artist
Chen Qin
B.1990, Fujian, China
Chen Qin graduated in 2015 with a major in Public Sculpture from the China Academy of Art, where she also received the Public College Graduate Award. In the same year, she founded the Shijin Art Studio and is currently a member of the Zhejiang Sculpture Association, residing in Hangzhou. In 2022, guided by experiences of maternal life, she began a series of predominantly on-canvas paintings.
The current series of portraits stems from reflections on confinement and contemplations on personal space and time related to childbirth. Throughout this process, she experiences self-consistency and discovers the beauty of things and events in life through self-accompaniment. The series embodies reconciliation with her daughter, while the sewing still life series reflects conversations with her mother. During the process of sewing clothes for her daughter, childhood memories and scenes are continuously evoked. She transfers multiple conflicting relationships onto fabric, where the warm and beautiful patterns and the cold touch of sewing tools become integral parts of the artwork.
Curator
Wang Shiying
B.1990
Wang Shiying, she holds dual master's degrees from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Curating Contemporary Art program at the Royal College of Art in the UK, currently works in the Curatorial Department of Tang Contemporary Art. Her curatorial practice revolves around alternative exhibition, contemporary fluid, networked culture approaches to art. Exhibitions she has curated include: “Frida Wannerberger Solo Exhibitiion: Into the Sunset with you”(2023), "Yangna Solo Exhibition: The Land of Ēse" (2023), “Group exhibition: The traces of light”(2023), "Indoor Weather" (2022), "Immunity Geography" (2021), the Gaswork "Awakening" online exhibition project(2021), and the "Post-Life" alternative space group exhibition at the Sweet Potato Community (2019), among others.