Cui Xiuwen
Cui Xiuwen (Chinese:崔岫闻; 1967-August 1, 2018[1]) is a female artist who was considered to be one of the leading figures in contemporary Chinese art. She is the first Chinese artist to exhibit her work[2] at Tate Modern gallery in London. In 2002, a controversial video work “Ladies’ Room" attracted the attention of artists and audiences, and artist Cui Xiuwen quickly became popular in Chinese art field and even got attention form the western art world. Cui Xiuwen's work is known for giving attention to women's issues and reflecting social problems.
Contents:
1. Biography
2. Career life
3. Work
4. Controversial event
5. Solo exhibitions
6. Collections
7. Awards
8. References
Biography:
Cui Xiuwen was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China in 1967. Cui Xiuwen was born in a big family in Northeast China. She has been particularly sensitive to colors since she was a child. She came into contact with painting when she was in junior high school, and Van Gogh's “the langlois bridge at arles” became the first painting she copied. In 1990, she graduated from the Arts and Crafts Department of Northeast Normal University. After graduation, she worked as a teacher in a middle school in Langfang, but she was not interested in teaching and kept painting every day. She applied for the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and graduated from the Oil painting course of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1996. In order to make a living after graduation, she did a lot of different jobs. In 1998, “Siren Studio(Chinese:塞壬)” was established with Feng Jiali, Li Hong and Yuan Yaomin in the Century Women's Art Exhibition. During this period, they created the “Chuan”(Chinese:舛)series. This is a series of oil paintings considered bold in Chinese society at that time, mainly about interpreting gender relations through the replacement of roles between men and women. In 2002, she showed a video work, “Ladies’ Room", which sparked a heated discussion[3] about "sex" and "privacy" and made Cui Xiuwen quickly become popular in Chinese art field and even got attention form the western art world. In 2003, she was awarded the “most beautiful person of the year” by ELLE Magazine Global Chinese Star Election. Since 2005, she has worked with different brands, such as Lancôme, DIOR and other international well-known brands. In 2010, Cui Xiuwen held a solo exhibition "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有) Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", which opened in Taipei. During the Spring Festival in 2017, she was diagnosed with physical illness and died on August 1, 2018 at the age of 51[4]. Her works are very popular in the art market, and her works have been sold frequently in Sotheby's and other international art auction houses, and are favored by collectors.
Career life:
After graduating in 1990, Cui Xiuwen taught at Langfang No. 6 Middle School for three years. A few years after graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1996, she worked as a substitute teacher in a school of Beijing; worked as an editor in a magazine, and even played in the TV series "the Age of mothers(Chinese:母亲的年代)” in 1998. After that, she began to set up a studio to focus on the career of art. In addition to participating in art activities, she began to work with different international fashion brands in 2005. (Lancôme, Dior, Fendi, Cartier, etc.) Cooperative projects, creative works for auction, etc. Her personal book “Private Space(Chinese: 私密空间)” was published in 2006.In this book, in addition to recording her works, she also shows her observations and views on society, human nature and culture[5].
Work:
In 1998, Cui Xiuwen and Feng jiali, Li Hong and Yuan Yaomin jointly set up the “Siren (Chinese:塞壬)”Studio, which became successful in just a few years, which attracted widespread attention from people in the Chinese art industry, and many collectors wanted to collect their works. so they were invited to a luxury nightclub in Beijing. When she came to the ladies’ room (bathroom) of the nightclub, she was attracted by the private but public place, so she took out her camera and recorded what happened here from 11:00pm to 2 a.m. Finally, it was edited into the 6: 12-second short film "Ladies’ Room" (2002)[6]. In this short film, the sitting lady's makeup, counting money, making phone calls and even changing clothes are recorded. In addition, there is a cleaner cleaning. Cui Xiuwen said, "on the surface, what I am shooting is only a state of a woman, but I am more concerned about the social structure behind this state, and how people interpret this work from the cultural, historical, economic and other perspectives. I chose to use the image to complete this work, because the image can convey the concept of time and space as well as the content of the work more clearly to the viewer. " As soon as the video work was displayed, it received the attention of the general public, mixed praise and criticism[7], and triggered a heated discussion about "sex" and "privacy." In 2002, during the exhibition, her work and gallery, which displayed her works, were sued by a college teacher for a refund of tickets and a public apology due to privacy and other issues. In the end, the teacher lost the case. The “Ladies’ Room” was chosen by many foreign curators and finally collected by the Pompidou Art Center in France. In addition to the original video works, in 2003, based on Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper”, she created "three realms(Chinese:三界)” in oil paintings, pictures and videos, showing the collective images of characters in the 1970s. This form of work has also appeared in her other works since then, such as “Angel(Chinese:天使)” and "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有[8])” and other works. She not only expresses the collective characters of her childhood through this form of work, but also reflects her childhood experiences[9]. In 2009, she released her four-year photography series “Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有)”, which was inspired by a trip to Japan, where she combined dolls with girl images[10] and filled her works with an atmosphere of youth and death. These works about Girls show her reflection on the growth experience of women under Chinese social education.
Controversial Event:
Cui Xiuwen’ s “Ladies’ Room” was filmed by candid photography[11] and it did not get any permission from these women in the video.So at the Guangzhou Art show, the work caused the first lawsuit [12]in the Chinese art history at that time: a teacher of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts claimed that he was not feeling well while watching the work, and took Guangzhou gallery to court, demanding a refund of the tickets and a public apology. Although the teacher lost the case in the end, some people still hold question about Cui Xiuwen's moral character.
Solo Exhibitions:
2006 "Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition" Ma Ruile Gallery. Italy. Beijing.
2006 "Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition" DF2 Gallery. America. Los Angeles.
2007 Angel-Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition, Ma Ruile Gallery. Milan. Italy.
2007 "quarter hour"-Cui Xiuwen solo exhibition, Florence Museum. Florence, Italy.
2010 "wonderful vacuum"-- Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition Future Geng Gallery Taiwan.
2010 Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition, Galerie Dix9 Gallery, Paris, France.
2010 "Divine realm"-Cui Xiuwen solo exhibition. BJMOCA
2010 "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有): Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Hammer Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland.
2011 "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有): Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Kiang Gallery, Atlanta, USA.
2011 "Experimental report on Contemporary Chinese Art Visual Archives part VI: Cui Xiuwen's' language of self 'Solo Exhibition", Tanku gallery, Chongqing, China.
2011 "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有): Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", ARTLINKART Gallery, Hong Kong, China.
2011 "Zhenkong Miaoyou(Chinese:真空妙有): Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Art Gallery, New York, USA.
2012 "restart: Cui Xiuwen and Miao Xiaochun double Exhibition", Art Gallery (New York), New York, USA.
2013 "I U——-me and you" Cui Xiuwen solo exhibition Suzhou gallery, Suzhou, China.
2014 "fate is the Love of the Soul" Cui Xiuwen Art Project Today gallery, Beijing, China.
Collections:
Cui Xiuwen's work is held in the following permanent collections:
China gallery, China
Pompidou Art Center, France.
Valencia Museum of Modern Art, Spain.
Israel Museum, Israel.
Ullens Foundation of Belgium, Belgium.
American AW Asia Foundation, USA.
Swiss BSI Foundation, Switzerland. SWI, Switzerland.
Awards:
In 1998, together with three other female artists, she founded "Siren(Chinese:塞壬)” Studio and won the Women's Art Society Award in the 1998 Century Women's Art Exhibition.
Won the most beautiful person of the year in the Global Chinese Star Election of "ELLE" magazine in 2003.
Won the "Women beyond Dreams-2008 Fashion COSMO female character Festival of the year" and "Fashion Women of the year Award"
Won the "Young Artist of the year Award" at the 2010 Annual meeting of Chinese Art critics.
- ↑ "ArtAsiaPacific: Obituary Cui Xiuwen19702018". artasiapacific.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ↑ Monica Merlin (November 7,2013). “Cui Xiuwen”. Tate info.https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/women-artists-contemporary-china/cui-xiuwen#
- ↑ Southern People Weekly (August 7,2018). “The bathroom caused controversy, but the Pompidou Art Center in France collected her work”.https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/20180807A1P9ME00
- ↑ “Cui Xiuwen”. SCHOENI ART GALLERY info. https://www.schoeniartgallery.com/artists/140-cui-xiuwen/overview/
- ↑ Shunyin Luo (August 16,2012). “Cui Xiuwen: an artist who walks freely in the spiritual space”. Artron. Net info.https://news.artron.net/20120816/n244698_8.html.
- ↑ “Cui Xiuwen”. ELI KLEIN GALLERY info.http://www.galleryek.com/ch/artists/cui-xiuwen/series/photographs.
- ↑ Maya Kóvskaya /Eyemazing( winter 2008).”Cui Xiuwen: Spaces Between Innocence and Complicity”. MutualArt. https://www.mutualart.com/Article/Cui-Xiuwen--Spaces-Between-Innocence-and/24CEF1BBE5F90AA8.
- ↑ "ArtAsiaPacific: Obituary Cui Xiuwen19702018". (August 2018. )artasiapacific.com.
- ↑ "CUI XIUWEN: LIGHT | 崔岫闻: 光 – Arthur M. Sackler". (2019-03-02.).http://www.sackler.org/cui-xiuwen-angels-light/.
- ↑ Bergquist, Karin (July 17,2013). "Light on female sexuality in China". Culture Base.https://www.hkw.de/de/index.php?1295.
- ↑ Patricia Eikenbaum Kresky.(October 13,2016). “Comment on female artist Cui Xiuwen: walking on broken glass” CCARTING info.http://www.art-woman.com/HongViewDetail.aspx?id=1242.
- ↑ forcreativegirls (August 15,2017). "Xiuwen's Revolutionary Art Tackles The Issues Of Womanhood Over The Years". Forcreativegirls. Check date values in:
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