Chen Qiulin

Based in Chengdu, China, Chen’s work addresses the changing landscape of her homeland, and she often orchestrates elaborate performances in both post-industrial and natural settings. The body of work in the current exhibition was made in the wake of the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan Province in May of 2008. On view for the first time will be a series of new figurative papier mache sculptures that Chen has been developing over the past two years. Several of the sculptures are suspended from the ceiling, their attenuated limbs thrown back, calling to mind both the natural force of an earthquake and the freedom of flight. The photographs and videos in the exhibition document rituals being carried out by two couples, one dressed in traditional Chinese garb and the other in Western-style wedding clothes. The couples are photographed in moody, mountainous Chinese landscapes and ruined buildings. Despite the sense of ruin, the landscapes themselves are lush, and the marriage scenes seem to suggest the possibility of renewed life among the wreckage. Over the course of her career thus far, Chen Qiulin has used her work to explore the transformation of the urban environment. The Wen-chuan earthquake not only requires meditation on rebuilding architecture and urban infrastructures, but a rethinking of the artist’s relationship to them, and thus a more introspective take on both societal and personal development. (Max Protetch Gallery)