ShanghART M50 will present video installations by three female artists from Guangzhou, Qin Jin, Chen Dandizi, and Lin Yuqi in the first exhibition "Under the Sign of Saturn" in the spring of 2020. Chen Dandizi and Lin Yuqi studied under Qin Jin and developed their own unique style and content. This exhibition borrows its title from contemporary American writer Susan Sontag's work "Under the Sign of Saturn". Sontag uses the phrase "saturnine temperament" to depict the spiritual portrait of intellectuals such as Benjamin. Saturn is "the planet of detours and delays". It carries the characteristics of patients with depression and autism, indulged in the vortex of loneliness in the universe, drifting alone, fantasizing, and relying on dreams... The exhibition aims to discuss how the artist's extremely gloomy and saturnine characteristics have a decisive influence on his work. This “Saturnine” keenness is infiltrated in the creations of the three artists. The melancholic person will become the biggest addict, because the truly addictive experience is always a lonely experience. They project such desire into the zeal of "Turning Back to Self-reading", "Capturing the Senses of Nature" and "Chasing the Truth of Self".

In Qin Jin's narrative, memory, as a reappearance of the past, turns the ordinary moments in every scene of the journey into pictures. Time has become a constraint and deficiency in memories, compressing the memories of the self into space and a precursory structure, creating a pure scene of failure. Chen Dandizi still brings the alienation of the self into the work, Incarnating as a lonely person or a bird in the city, and discusses each other's desires and deficiencies in the tight state between the urban and nature. She gradually generated a lot of emotions from the fickle, keen, and delicate relationships between cities, and got lost in it. Lin Yuqi has been unable to imagine the faces of the people in her films because it is also impossible for her to depict the appearance of "myself". These faces are eaten by life, filled with loneliness, altered by others at will, and repaired with time. After all, loneliness is the only protagonist, and time is the only photographer. Time will eventually frame a person's face and make it a legacy of time.

About the artists
Qin Jin 
Qin Jin was born in Guangzhou, China in 1976. She graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2003 with a master's degree. She currently teaches at the School of Fine Arts of GAFA. Qin Jin's works cover a variety of medium, such as painting, video, installation and text writing. She discusses through a unique perspective how personal history attaches to the ideological environment and results in complex changes.
Chen Dandizi 
Chen Dandizi was born in Hezhou, Guangxi in 1990. She graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts with a bachelor's degree in 2015. She currently lives and works in Guangzhou. Her creation involves video, installation, photography, and literature. Her recent work explores perceptions and experiences when encountering everyday phenomena, natural or artificial, including alienated human emotions, and hopes to gain relief beyond alienation through observation and imagination towards nature.
Lin Yuqi 
Lin Yuqi was born in Fuzhou, Fujian in 1994, graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2019 with a master's degree, and currently lives and works in Guangzhou. Lin Yuqi's video and installation works question about the truth of the real world, including the truth about self, and the identity of women in traditional social concepts. The artist uses images to write proses or poems, with symbolism technique frequently used amongst. Her creative language is pure and powerful. The works boldly express the desire, restlessness, loneliness, and weakness in human nature, which makes Lin's work so very touching.

About the exhibition

Dates: Mar, 2020 - May, 2020

Venue: ShanghART M50, Shanghai

Courtesy of the artists and ShanghART M50, for further information please visit https://www.shanghartgallery.com.