Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the exhibition Me, Myself & I at ArtFarm, our architecturally acclaimed annex by Ai Weiwei & HHF Architects. Curated by Christina Yu, this exhibition brings together a group of young Chinese artists who openly and frankly present self and body in their art creation.
Artists featured in this exhibition, Chi Peng, Chu Yun, Guo Hongwei, Lin Jingjing, Tang Yi, and Wu Jian’an, belong to the generation called “Post-1980” (baling hou), a term widely used in Chinese society today. This generation was born after 1980, around the time Chinese government implanted the one-child policy. Being the only child in the family, they received undivided care and love from both parents and four grandparents. The 80s and 90s were also the period when China began its transformation into the world’s fastest growing economy. Artists born in this period of rapid development and modernization enjoyed the comfortable life. They grew up eating chocolate, wearing fashionable brands, watching Hollywood movies, and making friends at Internet chat rooms. In sharp contrast to the generation of artists born in the 1960s, the post-1980 generation is not particularly concerned with social or political issues. Without direct experience or memory of China’s more turbulent past, they do not have a great interest in the country’s history and tradition. Their own lives and their immediate surroundings are what attracts and fascinates them.
As the only artist who openly addresses homosexuality in art creation in China, Chi Peng enjoyed a successful career from early on. Multiplying his naked body in computer-altered landmarks, he declares his enjoyment of life and pride in who he is. Body consciousness is a common theme shared by several artists included in the exhibition. Chu Yun collects soaps he used for washing his own body. Each day the soap changes shape, and the minute transformation reminds the artist of the changes of his own body. Lin Jingjing photographs her lost hair everyday and carefully arranges the photos in a grid, documenting and presenting the most intimate moments of her life. Guo Hongwei finds images from mass media, mostly the Internet, and paints them in soft, light colors. Water is dripped on the finished drawings, suggesting his ambivalence in departing from childhood and reaching adulthood. Similarly, in Tang Yi’s painting the eyes of the teenage girl are filled with hope and fear, suggesting her conflicted emotions upon reaching puberty. Wu Jian’an’s sculpture metaphorically brings the artist dreams and daydreams into the three-dimensional tangibility.