ARTISTS
Jin Mei
Kiang Malingue is pleased to present at its Tin Wan space an exhibition of drawings by Jin Mei. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of more than 150 drawings by the artist, tracing the origin and developments of Jin Mei鈥檚 drawing practice since 2015. The exhibition is accompanied by an essay written by Jin Mei鈥檚 daughter Chang Yuchen, who acted as the editor of the artist鈥檚 recent publication, jm.
Mama had surgery at the end of 2015 and started to draw on paper while resting in bed. When I visited home in Beijing in the autumn of 2016, she showed me the drawings. My gaze got lost in the intricate lines and textures. Traces made with pencils, crayons and colored markers were so tangible and concrete, while the decisive gestures of mama鈥檚 hand were still so present. Within each drawing, every seemingly repetitive element was slightly unique, and this tension between resemblance and distinction created an illusion like a constant tremor. Repetition is not mechanical, but charged with emotion and pulsing-like persistence. I could recognize mama in some drawings, but more often what I felt was an unfamiliar force. A force that evokes the joy and pain of life itself, but more mysterious, and more detached.
In the years that followed, we would have a 鈥渟tudio visit鈥� in her bedroom every time I came home. Every time, the quantity, diversity, and development of her work would amaze me. Mama never ceases to experiment with new mediums, scale, composition, and technique. What humbles me the most is her fearless use of color. The green of spring, rose of passion, purple of melancholy, pink of flirtatiousness, and black of unfathomable abyss鈥攎ama operates a wide spectrum of colors like a general conducting a grand army. And the colors don鈥檛 fail her, they conjure up torrents, stardusts and cyclones; images that express beauty and violence simultaneously.
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Kiang Malingue is pleased to present at its Tin Wan space an exhibition of drawings by Jin Mei. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of more than 150 drawings by the artist, tracing the origin and developments of Jin Mei鈥檚 drawing practice since 2015. The exhibition is accompanied by an essay written by Jin Mei鈥檚 daughter Chang Yuchen, who acted as the editor of the artist鈥檚 recent publication, jm.
Mama had surgery at the end of 2015 and started to draw on paper while resting in bed. When I visited home in Beijing in the autumn of 2016, she showed me the drawings. My gaze got lost in the intricate lines and textures. Traces made with pencils, crayons and colored markers were so tangible and concrete, while the decisive gestures of mama鈥檚 hand were still so present. Within each drawing, every seemingly repetitive element was slightly unique, and this tension between resemblance and distinction created an illusion like a constant tremor. Repetition is not mechanical, but charged with emotion and pulsing-like persistence. I could recognize mama in some drawings, but more often what I felt was an unfamiliar force. A force that evokes the joy and pain of life itself, but more mysterious, and more detached.
In the years that followed, we would have a 鈥渟tudio visit鈥� in her bedroom every time I came home. Every time, the quantity, diversity, and development of her work would amaze me. Mama never ceases to experiment with new mediums, scale, composition, and technique. What humbles me the most is her fearless use of color. The green of spring, rose of passion, purple of melancholy, pink of flirtatiousness, and black of unfathomable abyss鈥攎ama operates a wide spectrum of colors like a general conducting a grand army. And the colors don鈥檛 fail her, they conjure up torrents, stardusts and cyclones; images that express beauty and violence simultaneously.
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