Artist Project Ⅲ - Chinese Contemporary Artist: Qiulin Chen

Qiulin Chen, one of famous Contemporary artist in China, was born in 1975 and graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2000. I chose this artist because the theme of her art attracted my attention.  For the last fifty years, the process of urbanization in China are accelerating. However, the urban growth created many problems. Most of her artworks focus on the confusion brought on by the fast pace of change, and the hope for a new and improved standard of living in China.

Her artworks include performance, photography, video, installation and sculpture. She has had many solo exhibitions and group shows in Asia, Europe, and America. Her artworks have been included in the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art and so on.

The Garden is one of her famous artworks. It is a photos’ collection. Because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, thousands of people should leave their hometown. She created this collection in order to notice people that some people were devoting and contributing while the country were developing.

Another famous artwork from her is One Hundred Surnames. Between 2014 and 2015, she used tofu to create one hundred most common Chinese family names and made videos to record the decaying process of the tofu. She also interviewed some people and record their story which related to

tofu. In China, tofu is one of the most common food. During their decaying process, their color and smell would change, and seeped out water slowly. Moreover, family name is a very important part in Chinese traditional culture, and it also means the inheritance of each families. She used this process to reflect that the Chinese traditional culture was decaying as well while the society were developing. Chinese people must pay more attention and take some measures to protect the traditional culture.