In May 2008, just months before the Beijing Olympics, a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan Province, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Chinese artist 陳秋林 Chen Qiulin’s 漂浮Floating series responds directly to that catastrophe, adding a distinctly personal tenor to an event many only learned about through the media.
These floating human figures, sculpted in papier-mâché made primarily with paper scavenged from the detritus of the disaster, have the rough surfaces of industrial materials. At first glance, their texture, heft, and mass resemble that of concrete structures—a reference to the recent industrialization of the artist’s homeland.
Yet as the forms sway gently in space, suspended by nearly invisible pieces of fishing line, their apparent heaviness gives way to an essential weightlessness. The sculptures’ movements likewise suggest multiple possible readings, alternately evoking the graceful postures of dance and traumatic visions of bodies falling in space. Personal history drives Chen’s practice, but in creating such plays between opposites, she asks viewers to bring their own histories to their encounters with her work.
(retrieved from gallery description with some edits, 1)
陳秋林 Chen Qiulin
漂浮 Floating No. 1, 2008-2009
Edition 3
Sculpture, Wastepaper Pulp
172 x 89 x 60 cm
# Notes
1.
www.artbaselhongkong-online.com/index.php5?id=1411158&...
# Chen Qiulin 陈秋林 (陳秋林)
Chen Qiulin (b. 1975) is an emerging artist who is deeply concerned with the impact of urbanization in China. Her practice includes performance, photography, video, installation and most recently sculpture. She combines personal history with themes of demolition, migration, and transformation to express the reality for "ordinary people" living in China today. Born in Hubei Province, Chen Qiulin graduated from the Printmaking Department at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and currently divides her time between Chengdu and Beijing.
www.chartcontemporary.com/artist_chen_qiulin.html
# A Thousand Plateaus Art Space 千高原艺术空间 (千高原藝術空間)
87 Fangqin Street
Chengdu 610041
China
www.1000plateaus.org/
# SML Data
+ Date: 2013-05-23T15:42:20+0800
+ Dimensions: 5316 x 3544
+ Exposure: 1/40 sec at f/8
+ Focal Length: 30 mm
+ ISO: 800
+ Camera: Canon EOS 6D
+ Lens: Canon EF 17-40 f/4L USM
+ GPS: 22°16'59" N 114°10'22" E
+ Location: 香港會議展覽中心 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
+ Workflow: Lightroom 4
+ Serial: SML.20130523.6D.13846
+ Series: 新聞攝影 Photojournalism, SML Fine Art, Art Basel Hong Kong 2013
# Media Licensing
Creative Commons (CCBY) See-ming Lee 李思明 / SML Photography / SML Universe Limited
“Sculpture by Chen Qiulin 陈秋林 (陳秋林 b. 1975 China): Floating 漂浮 No. 1, 2008-2009 (Wastepaper Pulp)” / A Thousand Plateaus Art Space 千高原艺术空间 (千高原藝術空間) / Art Basel Hong Kong 2013 / SML.20130523.6D.13846
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/ #中國 #中国 #China #香港 #HongKong #攝影 #摄影 #photography #Art #FineArt #ArtBasel #ABHK #陈秋林 #陳秋林 #ChenQiulin #1000plateaus #千高原艺术空间 #千高原 #sculpture #papiermache
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