Portraits of Otherness#26 Malcolm X, 76.3x56.5cm, oil on paper, 2020

Politicians and capitalists, stars and Internet celebrities, trust-fund kids and small figures, murderers and victims, desperate doctors and ignorant infected patients, newly-born in the Syrian civil war and jailers who kill each other in the movie The Platform, as well as dying stray dogs in online ads for animal shelters... A spectre, a spectre of image is haunting the Internet... When the virus outbreak started in the world, I quarantined at home and seldom met people in person. So I focused on the people behind these screens in a virtual world, a spectre of image that takes the form of humankind. They are everywhere, and this is the social and humanistic situation of our times. The spectre of image that is abstracted by digital forms has become the gravedigger of reality. I aim to depict these spirits in a realistic touch. I overlay different souls on one flesh, creating an image of decay and splendour. These used-to-be-real, but now untouchable faces, turned into visual images composed of LCD screens, backlights and apps which are overlapped, interweaved and exaggerated, flooded with colors and textures on paper. This exhibits how I attempt to recreate a vivid and touching alternative reality like a Creator.

Portraits of Otherness #15 A Nurse, 45x38cm,  oil on paper, 2020

Portraits of Otherness #18  The Face of Facebook, 51x40.5cm, oil on paper, 2020

Portraits of Otherness#23 A Baby Reborn from the Death, 76.3x56.5cm, oil on paper, 2020

Portraits of Otherness #25 China's Lipstick King, 61x45.8cm, oil on paper, 2020

Portraits of Otherness #29 Dog for Donation, 61x45.8cm, oil on paper, 2020

Chen Hui

Born in China in 1974.

In 1996, she graduated from the Central Academy Of Drama;

In 2009, she graduated from Graduate School Of Chinese Academy of Fine Arts with a Master’s Degree. Now she is a teacher at the Communication University of China.

Solo Exhibitions:

2017  “Auro, Xia Xiaowan & Chen Hui ”, Tang Contemporary, Hong Kong;

2016  “Face”, Hui Space, Beijing, China;

2011  “Reduce Internal Fire”, Urs Meile Gallery, Lucerne, Switzerland ;

2009  “Creamy Strawberry”, Galerie URS MEILE, China;

2007  “Whatever”, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China.

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2018  “The Earth Dimension”, CAFA Art Museum, China;

2017 “Portrait Now! 2017”, Nominated by the Jury of the Portrait Competition—Brewer J.C.Jacobsen’s Portrait Award, The Museum of National History, Denmark;

2016  “Fire Within: A New Generation of Chinese Women Artists”, ELI AND EDYTHE BROAD ART MUSEUM, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, U.S.A. Etc.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Edited by Sue and Emily.