Amy Chou

The Women on Women Exhibit is set in the beautiful Taoist Hong Miao,
literally meaning 'Red Temple,' built in the Ming Dynasty. Renovated
and reopened as a gallery in 2006, the Hong Miao Gallery's ancient
interior design, high ceilings, and windows allows outer light to
stream in adding an ambience that other galleries are unable to
achieve. Complimenting the female Buddha, Guan Yin, who is situated in
the temple, the exhibit displays works from eight women artists all
striving to show their thoughts about the society around them. Ann Yen
(Chinese), Barbara Edelstein (US), Chen Xiao Dan (Chinese), Christin
Kalweit (Germany), Gao Qian (Chinese), Lige Ye (Chinese), Virginie
Lerouge Knight (French). The works are created from a range of media
from a sculpture made of sponges to traditional paintings. One
particular piece that I liked was by Lige Ye. Her hanging scrolls of
traditional rice paper had paintings of floating faceless people. The
fact that there was no face made it difficult to connect with the
people in the paintings, but at the same time, it felt like there was
a connection to all people. Most of the other Chinese artists' works
were done traditionally and seemed to be more about looking beautiful
than carrying a political message.

“Women on Women” at the Hong Miao Gallery

Christina Xiong

Artist names: Yan Zheng'an, Chen Xiaodan, Gao Qian, Li Geye, Barbara Edelstein, Virginie Lerouge Knight, Christin Kalweit and Zane Mellupe

Experiencing art involves connecting history and one's environment to
the artist's own perspective. When I first walked into the gallery, I
did not know the history of the Hong Miao temple. However, I was
familiar with the "Guan Yin Pu Sha" from folklore; her presence on
altars in the temple created a feminine ambience, one of unconditional
love, compassion and kindness. Of course, this personification of the
"patron of mothers" is one way of viewing what an ideal woman should
be. However, the roles of women seem to change with time and our
cultural environment. As I have observed from the artwork, even women
themselves, have different reflections on how their own identities fit
into society. Among the 8 female artists, there are two distinct
groups; 4 of them are Shanghainese, the other 4, Westerners. I am
curious about this grouping based on nationality. How do Chinese and
Western artists' perspectives differ?

The Western artists featured at Women on Women seem to be more vibrant
and assertive with their opinions. For example, Christin Kalweit's
prints on canvas express discontent with the domestic life commonly
associated with women and encourage women to unite and liberate
themselves, especially since "my hands are of your color". "Cycle"
resembles a month of 30 days on a calendar, symbolizing stages in life
or what is expected, especially motherhood, of a woman. Barbara's Tree
of Life notes the importance of the "life-giving and life-sustaining"
abilities of a woman. Like the roots of a tree, women give birth and
provide sustenance for diverse civilizations (leaves) and it is
because of this, women should be even more confident about their
roles. I feel that this concept of empowering women is somewhat
lacking in a few pieces by the Chinese artists. Li Ge Ye, in
"Floating", certainly portrays the challenging environment that women,
as an underrepresented group, face. Whereas the women are just
"floating", struggling to navigate the waters, men seem to be moving
forward. Although this piece certainly brings to point a female's life
difficulties, I feel that the tone is less liberal than Kalweit's
pieces. Personally, it serves less as a motivating force for me to
take initiative, because there is less of a connection. Then again,
perhaps this is Li Ge Ye's objective. This more conservative
perspective can very well be associated with the cultural norms that
she grew up with.

Contemporary Ink Painting at Doland

Keeping the tradition of Chinese ink painting alive was the aptly titled Contemporary Ink Painting show at the Duolun Museum of Modern Art, which opened on Tuesday. Featuring an array of artists from different countries using a variety of mediums and techniques, each artist used Chinese ink in some way. Some chose video, others sculpture, with most just worked on a canvas or paper. To be frank, the traditional two-dimensional ink paintings, while sometimes possessing interesting content, mostly bored me and came off as very decorative (in the bad way, not the good one). What I found myself drawn to most were the large scale, abstract pieces which were all quite minimal, and said more about the process rather than the product. The strength of the exhibition, I suppose, was the meeting of the traditional form and the modern artist. Observing what an artist of this time does with a medium with milllenia of history and techniques. With a common medium, each artists' individual aescthetic preference became the focus In the end some failed, but most succeeded. For me, the ones that succeeded seemed to reject the traditional use of the ink, and instead used it to create the content-less works I mentioned earlier. In addition, the artists themselves were an interesting bunch, ranging from young to old, and foreign to native. The names that stick out in my mind are Li Huasheng, Barbara Edelstein (wife of JJ, the Art in Translation teacher) and even yu Youhan had two pieces, both very much in his black and white abstract style.

I'm torn when I think of the future of ink painting in China, at least based on the show at Duolun. The least interesting seemed to be the artists who relied on formerly established traditions, while the more contemporary pieces that seemed to not even acknowledge the medium stood above. Is the future of Chinese Ink painting a move away from traditional forms and techniques? Go to Duolun and see for yourself.

Duolun Museum of Modern Art

Li Huasheng's piece (the title escapes me)