On December 5th, 2015, “In the Mood for Love – the Exhibition of Female Artists’ Growth in Art Forms” was unveiled at the Gauguin Gallery, artists who have works included in this exhibition are: Yayoi Kusama, Cai Jin, Chen Xi, Chen Xuan, Dong Huiping, Geng Xue, Gao Qian, Lv Yue, Jiang Jie, Shen Ling, Teng Fei, Wang Limin, Summer Xia, Zhou Lan, Zhang Fan, Zhan He and Zhang Yanzi. The exhibition was organized by the Gauguin Gallery and it invited An Yuanyuan, Ma Gang, Shao Yiyang, Xu Lei and Deng Shengtian as artistic advisers, Dong Huiping served as the director of the exhibition with Fu Yijing as the academic chair.

Honored guests attended the opening ceremony including: Deputy Party Secretary of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Prof. Wang Shaojun, Deputy Director of the National Art Museum of China An Yuanyuan, Assistant to the CAFA President, Dean of the Academic Affairs Office Wang Xiaolin, Committee Member of the CAFA Academic Committee Prof. Ma Gang, Prof. Li Jianqun from CAFA, Vice Dean of the Design School of CAFA, associate professor Lin Chunzhen, Director of the Digital Media Studio of CAFA Design School, associate professor Fei Jun, President of China Overseas Art Communication Committee Ms. Zhang Peidi, as well as the art professional Ms. Chen Yan and so on. Chaired by Dong Huiping, the opening ceremony was addressed by Prof. Wang Shaojun and Wang Xiaolin, they confirmed the value of the exhibition as well as the artists; Academic Director Fu Yijing spoke and read a poem. The opening reception was opened in a poetic atmosphere with the musical accompaniment of the piano.

Before the opening ceremony, the press conference was held, CCTV and People’s Political Consultative Website together with over 20 people from the media attended it. On behalf of the participating artists, Lv Yue and Zhang Yanzi respectively interpreted their own creative ideas in simple terms and words.

In a revolutionary way, the exhibition mainly demonstrates the growth of female artists from home and abroad, most the participating artists are teaching and researching staff from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China Academy of Arts and other universities and research institutes, and they have formulated their independent artistic language in their respective fields of art. These artists were carefully selected creative individuals who have elegant thoughts and performance as well as an original disposition. When facing various living environments and life experiences, they chose to use completely different artistic forms and materials, with rich and colorful artistic language, a sensitive and pure intuition in art, to express their straightforward or latent emotions. They care about self-concern and the spiritual pursuit, further inquiring into the essence of life. Some of the works exhibited present the formulations of their thoughts.

Moreover, the exhibition involves various art forms, including traditional Chinese painting, oil paintings, printmaking, sculpture, photography, jewelry design, fashion design, furniture design and other arts gather at the exhibition, in a multi-channel, multi-level way, art is extracted, conducting comparative studies through their experiences, documentation and expressions of female artists from various majors produce a glittering view. Works on show include some of the masterpieces of the artists, such as “Needlework” by Lv Yue, landscape paintings by Cai Jin, new ink and wash paintings by Zhang Yanzi; also some non-professional achievements by these artists are included and it tends to be more diversified with photographs of “Thirty Seconds of Time” by jewelry artist Teng Fei, paintings on paper by Jiang Jie; the latest artistic exploration can also be found, such as Chen Xi’s watercolor “I was not me”. In this multi-faceted exhibition of art forms by female artists, to trigger a deeper thinking on the common elements and individuality of this group by the audience.

The exhibition will tour to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2016.

Text by Gauguin Gallery, translated and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Quan Jing and Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO