Existential Emptiness

Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

Introduction

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介绍

崔岫闻，中国最具国际影响力的当代独立女性艺术家，其思维精 准深邃，视野广阔，尤见长于人物的心理解析和精神挖掘，深入 于人性的深层矛盾结构，其影像和图片作品具有独特的观念特 征，精神气质和视觉表现简明细腻，自由而富于想象。她是第一 个在英国泰特美术馆展出作品的华人艺术家，其Video代表作《 洗手间》曾先后被法国蓬皮杜艺术中心、比利时尤伦斯基金会收 藏。2008年，她曾荣获全球华人女性艺术家双年度大奖——吴作 人国际美术基金会“萧淑芳艺术基金优秀女艺术家奖”（双年度 大奖，全球华人女性艺术家评选一名）。2010年她被第五届AAC 艺术中国评委会推选为“年度影响力艺术家”，同时也是荣获该 奖的第一位女性艺术家。同年，荣获中国美术批评家年会“年度 青年艺术家”大奖。崔岫闻同时也是极具社会影响力的时尚女 性，因其独特的艺术探索和对时尚观念的前卫启示，获颁2010年 度时装L’OFFICIAL杂志“年度优雅女性”大奖，2008年度“女 性超越梦想——时尚COSMO年度时尚女性大奖”。多年来，崔 岫闻秉持奉行慈善人文理念，热衷于社会公益活动，无论是粉红 丝带对女性的健康关注，海地地震的人文关怀，还是阿拉善环保 行动的绿色呼唤，我们都能倾听和感受到一个艺术家对于生命的 体察和挚爱。

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Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

Introduction

Cui Xiuwen is one of the most influential independent female artists in China today. Her artistic vision combines precision and incisive thought, allowing her to penetrate and explore the deep contradictions within human nature. Her images and pictures are inspired in by the elements of concept, ethos and visual performance, with an emphasis on simplicity and bold imagination.

She is the first Chinese artist to have her works exhibited at the Tate Britain, and her video masterpiece Ladies Room is in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in France and the Ullens Foundation Collection in Belgium. In 2008, she was awarded the prestigious Shu-Fang Hsiao Art Foundation Outstanding Female Artist Award by the Wu Zuoren International Fine Arts Foundation. In 2010, she was named as one of the AAC Art China Annual Influential Artists, and was the first woman to receive the honour. The same year, she won the Youth Artist Award, an accolade given by the Chinese Art Critics Annual.

Besides her many achievements in the Chinese art scene, Cui is also widely known for her distinctive and avant garde fashion sense and is seen as a style trendsetter. She received the “2010 L’OFFICIAL magazine Annual Elegant Female Award” and the “2008 Women Beyond the Dream - COSMOPOLITAN magazine Annual Fashionable Female Award”. On top of her numerous accomplishments, Cui is an ardent advocate of charity work and is involved in several social welfare initiatives such as the Pink Ribbon Project, which focuses on women’s health concerns. She was also active in the provision of aid in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Cui’s deep engagement with these humanistic issues reveals her concern and zeal for human life and the marvelous opportunities that it yields.

Foreword

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Foreword

I am very pleased to bring you this publication, which contains breathtaking photographs of Cui Xiuwen’s artworks. Having achieved widespread acclaim for her work in conceptual photography and moving image work, Cui is one of the most prominent avant garde artists in China today. In 1996, she received her MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, after which she exhibited her now famous painting The Rose and the Water Lily at one of the Academy’s art shows. This was the first work that brought Cui into the spotlight of Beijing’s artistic community, as never before had male and female sexuality been so brazenly but gracefully depicted in Chinese contemporary art. I have traced Cui’s work through the years, and am filled with profound admiration at the way through which she so elegantly investigates the relationships between human beings, and between our physical and inner selves.

I was first drawn to Cui’s body of work after seeing her documentary Ladies Room, which I felt was particularly haunting in capturing the everyday struggles and the vulnerability of ordinary Chinese women. Images of women are repeatedly featured in Cui’s work, and often exude a painterly feel that is both childlike yet menacing at the same time. The visually stunning backdrops further enhance the sense of otherworldliness that is very much present in her photographs, but the overall aesthetic produced is one that is unmistakably Chinese. I also find it very interesting that Cui has constantly sought to shrug off the label “feminist artist” that has time and again been slapped upon her – it is certainly true that her work encompasses a larger variety of themes that concern humanity in general.

What I find most remarkable about Cui is her ability to ceaselessly produce meaningful work that reaches across borders and speaks to all cultures. The fact that her work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Tate Britain in London is proof

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Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

that there is a very universal quality about her art. As she once remarked in an interview, “I feel that artists need to be open minded and relentless in their pursuit of wisdom. Whenever a door opens to a new passage of understanding, we cannot become complacent as there are always new doors ahead of us that invite us in.

This has been my journey thus far.� In line with this axiom, Cui has experimented with different media in her search for a more truthful means to articulate her spiritual vision. I find her restless energy and boundless imagination extremely inspiring and I hope that art lovers will enjoy this anthology as much as I have.

Jazz Chong Director, Ode to Art

Foreword

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The Curious Spectacle of Nothingness: Into the Creative Process and Spiritual Growth of Cui Xiuwen

By Xu Ke

In any appraisal of Cui Xiuwen’s artistic career thus far, her video work Restroom inevitably comes into discussion because it is singularly unique for its sensitive theme and emotionally arresting cinematography. Restroom was the first work that catapulted Cui to international fame and led to her reputation as one of the pioneering “feminist artists” of China. However, Cui has been reluctant to embrace the label “feminist artist”, stating that “I am a woman, so the approach that I take towards artistic creation is distinctively feminine. But a true artist needs to transcend simplistic concerns regarding gender and sex in order to produce works that reach out to a universal audience.” Indeed, examples from her oeuvre are incredibly diverse, including The Rose and the Water Lily (1996), Ladies Room (2000), A Day in 2004 (2004), Angel (2007) and The Curious Spectacle of Nothingness (2009). These pieces demonstrate Cui’s attempts to experiment with different media in order to resist casual stereotyping. She has worked hard to distance herself from the “feminist artist” identity that has been accorded to her, and is particularly vocal in emphasising the multifarious nature of her work.

Delving Into the Real and the Physical In 1996, Cui Xiuwen’s painting The Rose and the Water Lily came to the attention of numerous art critics across China for its brazen representation of male and female sexuality. The expressionistic painting depicts a lazy afternoon and a nude man and woman relaxing in the sunlight. At that point in time, the exploration of sex and gender in Chinese art was still considered taboo, so the display of this painting at a Central Academy of Fine Arts exhibition caused widespread controversy. Following the unprecedented reaction received by The Rose and the Water Lily, Cui’s next work Misfortune was also centred on the exploration of the human physique. Cui’s intention was to move beyond the immediate consideration of gender differences to look at the physiological aspect of human relationships.

At the World Women’s Art Exhibition held in 1998, four Chinese female artists came into the spotlight. These women were Cui Xiuwen, Feng Jia Li, Li Hong and Yuan Yaomin. They had been well acquainted prior to the exhibition, having set up a studio and artist collective together. Cui describes their collective experiences as being “intense and full of excitement and energy… we were eager to make ourselves heard”. She recalls: “I could spend ten entire days indoors just painting, without ever emerging from the studio.

The press began to dub me ‘the artist who paints in high heels’. It

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Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

was intriguing how I began to conceptualise and act out the creative process of painting as a ceremony in itself. I would wash up and put makeup on before I began work every day.” Her companions who were working downstairs became accustomed to the sound of her heels as she moved around the room while painting.

Whenever the sound ceased they would join her in her studio and engage in jovial conversation. Cui relates that “but once, they did not see or hear from me in 15 days. They came upstairs to remind me that we were supposed to participate in our first joint exhibition together in Hong Kong. I told them that I couldn’t join them any longer as I was too deeply engrossed in my work at that point.”

However, her fellow artists persisted, and their efforts paid off. Cui relented and went with them to Hong Kong to display their pieces in the exhibition to huge critical acclaim.

In a turn of events that was shocking to those who were enthusiastically anticipating her next move after her monumental success in Hong Kong, Cui decided to give up her painting career. Members of the artistic community in China were stunned: why had she decided to quit when she showed a lot of promise and potential as an artist? Could it be that the media attention she received in Hong Kong had been too overwhelming for her? Perhaps she had been disheartened by the volatility of the art market? More than a decade later, Cui says in retrospect, “I felt like I was done with painting – I had used the medium in every conceivable way to depict everything I felt about gender issues and gender differences.

There was a need to move on to explore different avenues to communicate my ideas, but I didn’t know what these avenues were.”

In her publication Me in Five Different States, Cui wrote: “At times I find myself in the most special of states – when I feel so oddly and potently consumed by an energy that comes and goes without the remotest of explanations”. It would certainly appear that the dynamism and vibrance of her art after the 1990s is testament to this formidable creative energy.

Into the Heart of the Social World When Cui Xiuwen first returned from Hong Kong in 1998, she was interviewed on a CCTV programme, where she caught the eye of several television producers who invited her to take up a role in their upcoming series. After two months of shooting, Cui became familiar with the various elements of filmmaking. This opened a new possibilities for her to further pursue her artistic vision, resulting in the creation of video works such as Ladies Room, One Day in 2004 and Angel.

Foreword

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Xu Ke (hereafter referred to as Xu): Why did you come up with the idea of making Restroom? It’s certainly a place that all audience members would be familiar with, but you transformed it into a space that was shocking in the most mesmerising way.

Cui Xiuwen (hereafter referred to as Cui): I got the idea for Ladies Room after a collector visited our studio. He believed that we were living in our own bubble and needed to get out more to learn about and truly experience the lives of other women, which are radically different from ours. In order to prove his point, he took us to a nightclub, where we met women from all walks of life. I found a place he could not get into – the female toilet. I was curious, and ventured into the restroom. I was shocked – it seemed to be another realm that was disconnected from the outside world. Female toilets are a public space, but everything that a woman does in the restroom can be said to be intimate and strictly private. I wondered how to capture this paradox in my artworks. I felt that I would not be able to convey the power and complexity of this contradiction in an oil painting; nor was photography adequate enough a medium due to its static nature. It was only until 2000 that I was able to fulfill this vision through video.

Xu: In this piece, you were just calmly shooting without making moral judgments, but the end result was still very much poignant and even chilling. I think you left many viewers shaken with the thought that there are many people out there who seem perfectly ordinary but lead lives that we cannot even begin to fathom.

Cui: To make this video, I needed to remain as objective as possible and position myself as a camerawoman without passing any judgement on the recording. I wanted to bridge the gap between my work and the inner emotional recesses of my viewers; to encourage them to think about wider societal issues at large.

Cui’s Ladies Room has a raw and authentic quality to it, presenting an image of the modern Chinese woman from the perspectives of both the individual and society. After it was completed, it received a substantial amount of attention both in China and abroad. It became the centre of controversy in 2002 when it was exhibited at the Guangzhou Triennial and was the subject of the first lawsuit in the history of Chinese contemporary art. The hullaballoo that ensued placed Ladies Room on front page headlines and made it the focus of public comment and dialogue. That same year, the work was acquired by the Centre Pompidou collection, and in 2004 Cui Xiuwen became the first Chinese woman to be invited

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Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

to exhibit her works at the Tate Britain. After her impressive foray into the French and British art scenes, Cui was invited to exhibit in the Belgium Image Biennale, amongst other venues. Following the success of Ladies Room, Cui began to employ a girl with striking features to sit for her works. The girl has an alabaster complexion, appears to be very frail and resides behind tall, deep red walls.

Cui balances out the ominous darkness of her work through the use of luxuriant colours that allude to the richness and majesty of Chinese culture, administering “the most gentle and delicate way to create the most powerful and tremendous visual impact� (Karen language).

Introduction

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真空妙有—— 崔岫闻创作历程 与精神成长 徐可

提起崔岫闻的创作，大家就会不约而同地想到她的录像作品《洗手间》， 由于这件作品题材的敏感和拍摄内容的触目惊心，令崔岫闻一举登上个人 创作事业的第一个高峰，她也因此常常被贯以女性主义艺术家的称号，致 使之后她的大量创作都被掩映在这个“光环”之下，而崔岫闻却对所谓“ 女性主义”的头衔不以为然，她说：“我是一名女性，我采用的方式不 可避免地会带上女性特征，但一个艺术家只有超越性别意识的创作，并 为大众所认知，才是真正的艺术家。”从她1996年的绘画《玫瑰与水薄 荷》、2000年录像《洗手间》、2004年的图片创作《2004年的某一天》 、2007年纸本实验及装置雕塑《天使之后》到2009年的《真空妙有》系 列，十余年间，崔岫闻完成了她的“从生理到心理再到精神” 的创作历 程和精神成长，并努力使观众不断地来关注她的作品而不是她的“女性艺 术家”身份。 物质、生理空间的探索 1996年，崔岫闻创作的绘画作品《玫瑰与水薄荷》以表现主义的手法描绘 了午后一对男女青年慵懒地坐在椅子上小憩的情景，其中的男青年以全裸 的形象出现在画面中。在当时，性别话题还是一个无形的禁忌，同时艺术 家颠覆了艺术史中大部分被观看者多为女性的审美角度，因此，这件作品 在中央美术学院研修班毕业创作展出时，引起了公共广泛的关注与争议。 之后的画作《舛》同样延续了这一题材，崔岫闻在这一时期的作品画面形 式虽然是具象的，但它们完成了“生理层面体验的视觉表达，当时作品的 焦点是探讨性别关系问题，生理层面个性化的体验及公共化的呈现方式” 是崔岫闻这个阶段油画创作的主要特征。 1998年举办的世界女性艺术大展，为女性艺术家提供了一个集体展示与 交流的机会，展后四位中国当代女艺术家——崔岫闻、奉家丽、李红和袁 耀敏成立了“赛壬艺术工作室”。“充满激情，特别兴奋，就是想要发声 音”，崔岫闻这样描述她们当时的状态，“我可以连续画画，十几天不出 门，当时有媒体报道说我是穿着高跟鞋画画的艺术家。我有个习惯，每天 创作前，要先洗脸，画完妝才能开始，就像个仪式”。楼下的同伴听到她 的高跟鞋在画室里来回地走动时，就知道她在创作，如果停下来，她就会 上来找崔岫闻聊聊天，“可是有十五天，她就没见过我，只听到我在画室 里走动的声音，她来敲门我也不开，我们工作室四人要到香港办联展，那 是我们第一次去海外，我当时也打电话对她们说，我不想去了，因为我已 经完全投入到创作中，不想间断”。在同伴的劝说下，她们一同去了香港 参加了展览，展览获得了成功，市场也开始建立。然而从香港回到北京之 后，崔岫闻在没有确立创作新方向时就毅然地放弃了刚刚起步的绘画事 业，这让关注她的人十分不解，是因为受到了海外大量创作信息的刺激？ 还是市场带来的利益让她的创作失去了重心？十几年过后，崔岫闻回顾当 时的情景，“以前我也思考过是不是因为我连续不间断地创作把我从前对 两性的思考全部发泄出来了，思想上的裂变完成了？我当时每天想的是如 何才能让我的创作与当代艺术语境对接？绘画好像不是最能体现我要的形 式，但是那时候我也不知道要用什么方式，先放下来再说。”在《五个不 同的我》中艺术家写道：“有一种我的状态最为特殊，那是一种能量燃烧 状态……它不知什么时候来也不知什么时候去……”绘画之于她或许就是 一种能量的燃烧，1990年代后期进行的持续的绘画创作似乎在崔岫闻的创 作思考中已经完成了它的使命。 心理、社会空间的展现

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1998年从香港回来的崔岫闻因中央电视台半边天节目的采访，被一个电 视剧组看中邀请扮演一个角色，两个月的拍摄生活让她熟悉了拍摄、演 员、导演、布景、道具等拍摄所需要的重要环节，同时也开启了崔岫闻创 作的新的篇章，《洗手间》、《2004的某一天》、《天使》等作品即是这 一阶段的重要代表作品。 徐可（以下简称徐）：怎么想要做《洗手间》这件作品的？观众看得挺触 目惊心的，虽然大家都知道有这种场所，但没想到会是这样的场面？ 崔岫闻（以下简称崔）：作品的起源是有个收藏家比较关注我们的工作 室，他认为我们的世界没有完全打开，不知道有些女人跟我们的生存方式 完全不一样，那个世界跟我们是隔绝的，就带我们去夜总会参观了一下。 我发现有个地方他进不去，就是女洗手间。我很好奇，就进去看了看。很 震惊，完全是另一个世界。那是一个公共空间，但都做着完全私密的事， 就是女人集体在一个公共空间里做着私密的事情。1998年我就想如何将这 个内容转化成作品？画油画，信息不够，做照片也是静态的。直到2000 年，我才实现了这件录像作品。 徐：在这件作品中，你只是冷静地拍摄、记录，并没有做道德评判，但观 众看了还是挺心痛，看起来跟我们普通人一样的人，背后是什么样的生 活，我们无法想象。 崔：做这件作品时，我是零角度，艺术的角度，不带自己的道德评判，我 只是很冷静地记录、反映还有这样一群生活状态的人。这件作品也使我的 创作进入到心理空间进而延展到社会空间。 崔岫闻的第一部录像作品《洗手间》以其毋庸置疑的真实性、纯粹性，从 人性角度、社会角度、艺术角度呈现中国一部分女人的生存状态，完成后 立即在国际上备受关注，并在国内外频繁展出。它在2002年广州三年展 上引起了中国当代艺术史上第一场法律诉讼官司，新浪网头版要闻及各大 报纸展开的争议及公众评论，形成了当代艺术作品和社会观念的深度对话 和对撞。同年，这部作品被法国蓬皮杜艺术中心收藏。2004年，崔岫闻 作为第一位华人艺术家受邀进入英国泰特美术馆展出。之后这部作品被邀 请在比利时影像双年展、英国维多利亚美术馆等地展出。这部录像作品使 崔岫闻艺术创作达到了第一个高峰。之后创作的《Twice》、《Toot》、 《2004的某一天》、《天使》等录像、图片作品依旧关注女性的生存状 态，可以说是继《洗手间》之后对这一问题的拓展。尤其后两件作品中， 艺术家采用了一个拥有姣好面容的女孩作为模特，她显然并未成年，身体 瘦弱，身处高大、幽深的红墙之中是那么的无奈与无助，崔岫闻在这里一 改过去作品的灰暗画面，而运用了大量浓郁的色彩和中国元素，用“最轻 柔细腻的方式制造出最强悍巨大的视觉冲击”（凯伦语），以象征手法将 女性的生存状态再次以冷峻的姿态展现出来。 精神空间的生成 2007年，崔岫闻创作了她的第一件装置作品《天使之后》，这是艺术家 精神世界呈现的明朗化的作品，虽然这里阐述的还是《天使》所呈现问题 的延展，但在这件作品中，表面的中国元素少了，但内在的中国韵味、中 国精神的东西多了，艺术家说这是她一直以来追求的方向。此件作品首次 在意大利展出时，灯光与作品互动产生了良好的展示效果，之后在今日美 术馆的文献展上也有展出。当撤展后的作品放置在工作室中时，所有辅助 条件及灯光都去掉之后，崔岫闻发现作品在展厅中所营造出来的精神性空 间一下子消失了，这件作品所呈现出的效果不是作品本身所能独立完成

Introduction

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的，必须借助于外在因素，她认为这是由于艺术家本身精神结构不完整所 致。之后，崔岫闻不断地进行实验创作来寻找可能的、相对完善的阐述方 式，如将照片印在宣纸上，但这不仅仅是印在宣纸上的形式探索，而是进 行实验并思考如何将中国的传统进行当代的转换。这期间崔岫闻阅读了大 量的古画资料，也阅读了大量的佛学书籍，她把这个过程当成是开悟的过 程，“我觉得艺术家需要开悟，每当你悟到一个层面，前面就像开了一道 门，过一段又黑了，又是一堵墙，再不断地阅读，不断地开悟，这个就是 我成长的过程”。直到2008年开始酝酿、实施并于2010年在台北大未来 耿画廊中展出的《真空妙有》系列，崔岫闻的创作日臻成熟了。 徐：与前面几个系列相比，《真空妙有》系列无论标题还是作品中所呈现 出的氛围、气质都更上升为一种精神上的追求。比如你作品长卷式的拍摄 方式，大量的留白、黑白关系、青绿色彩、笔墨皴擦等，都是中国传统水 墨绘画中非常重要的特旨，最初的想法是怎样的？ 崔：开始创作时只是一个模糊的形象，然后就特别有实施的冲动，只是在 脑海里一闪念要白雪。为什么用白雪有点说不清，可能是我小时候生活的 经历。那时的雪花都很大，风也冷得要把你的脑门吹开，那种对冬天的记 忆是刻骨铭心的，这个就一定用在作品里吗？但有时它就在不经意间自然 而然地流出来了。艺术家在创作成熟时，有些经历就会不期然地呈现出 来。当你的作品精神饱满时，你就容易追本溯源了。我在创作时突然悟 到，中国精神才是我作品中追求的，也是你所说的作品中呈现出的中国传 统的韵味。中国符号、中国元素只是一个表面的东西，如何表现出中国的 精神才是更重要的。 徐：这是实景拍摄吗？是在哪里拍摄的？ 崔：2008年想实施这件作品时，可那年北京没有雪，南方却是大雪，如果 去拍会特别棒，但我不能那么做，我觉得自己还是人文主义者，创作是要 自然经历的雪的状态，而不是雪灾。结果2008年空等了一年，到了2009 年，北京的雪还是不够大。我就对团队说，马上出发，我们一行五六人， 开了个工作车，往东北走。当时我对他们说我们要去多少天不知道，最后 到哪里不知道，吃什么住在哪都不知道，唯一知道就是要雪，要我要的感 觉。本来想走到大兴安岭，结果到了长白山就找到了我们想要的景色了。 当时拍外景时我很震惊，其时古人当时所看到的东西所表现的东西一直到 现在都在那里，只是我们的观察方式、思维角度跟他们不一样了，没有发 现古人的东西其实就在我们的身边，当我在镜头中再次看到它们时，我好 像找到了中国精神的东西。表面的形式不重要，重要的是要把中国精神 吃透。 徐：作品后期再制作是怎么样的？ 崔：因为天气的原因，模特很难承受，而且我做的玩偶也没到，所以到北 京我们再补拍了内景进行合成。拍内景时，为了还原景色，我们租了特 别大的影棚，买了两吨人造雪，使人的视觉范围与我们拍外景时看到的 一样。 徐：女孩的形象是你以往作品的一种延续，在这里你是怎么想到用玩偶的 形象？而她的形象好像与女孩的形象比较一致？ 崔：玩偶的形象是我把模特的照片传输到日本特制的。我的作品关注的一 直是人和人的关系。以前我只用一个模特，把她不断复制，使她们成为多 个人之间的关系。当思考进入精神层面时，这里仿佛是一个人与一个虚 拟的自己的关系，就像自己和灵魂对话，是进入到精神空间中人与人的

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Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

关系。 徐：怎么考虑他们之间的状态？比如，一些拉扯的绳索、互相不交流的状 态、纠结在一起等等。 崔：这就是人与人之间的关系表征，有的和谐，有的扭曲，有各种形态的 存在方式。 徐：听你讲了你在创作时需要一个团队，在当代艺术中，装置、雕塑、录 像、摄影甚至绘画创作都需要团队，你认为艺术家与工作团队中的关系是 怎样的？ 崔：艺术家是团队中的思想和灵魂，他能把他想要的东西贯穿在作品中， 这个就可以了。新媒体艺术家完成作品的方式与纯粹的绘画艺术家不一 样，当然这也有利有弊。利就在于可以快速地实现你的想法，弊就是科技 手段的运用可能会消解你的思想，也可能无法达到你想要表达的东西，所 以要看艺术家如何支配和利用好自己的团队。看艺术家个人是否够强大。 艺术家一定要展现自己独特的经历，它就像自己的密码一样，别人无法 破解。 徐：如何看待市场与艺术创作的关系？尤其是你，由绘画创作进入新媒体 创作，它并不是很容易被收藏家所接受？ 崔：市场是消费层面的，艺术家如果只考虑这个层面的东西，他很快就会 消费掉，创作是艺术家安身立命之本，我一直认为我被关注，从来不仅仅 是市场上被关注，而是艺术本身。艺术家只有牢固地建构好自己的思想体 系才能无往而不利，如果这个基础不牢，那么其他的都是不能想象的。一 个坚固的个体，思想是不能被消费的。 徐：你的绘画作品是表现主义的，探讨的是两性的问题；《洗手间》等一 系列作品关注的是女性问题，《真空妙有》这个系列关注的是人类生存的 主题，我觉得这是你创作成熟的体现。早期的创作，可能比较张扬，你会 自然而然地运用你身边生活中的元素，而在《真空妙有》系列中，你仿佛 已经摆脱了“女性主义”的影子，而成为一位真正的艺术家。 崔：女性主义一直是萦绕我创作的一个话题，我从来没有承认我是一个女 性主义艺术家，我也从来没否认过我不是女性主义艺术家，因为我觉得它 不重要，重要的是你在艺术历程中如何把你一生中的经验和体验，以及对 社会对人类对生命的认识完整的表现出来。从整个生命的历程看，女性主 义只是一个小命题，而且在中国也不具备西方女性主义理论和实践的基 础，但每个媒体采访时都想把女性主义这个概念附加在我的头上。我是一 个女性，也是一个女性艺术家，但我不一定是女性主义艺术家，艺术不一 定要附着一个主义的使命，如果一定给我冠名的话，我更愿意人们认为我 是一个关注自然生命的艺术家。 从1996年的《玫瑰与水薄荷》到2010年的《真空妙有》系列，崔岫闻一 直持续不断地为观众展现艺术家丰富的想象力和创造力。“从生理到心理 再到精神，从经验到知识再到思想”，构成了当代艺术创作的两条主脉， 当这两条脉络纵向深入到精神和思想层面时，其实是贯通并连接的，崔岫 闻的创作正是遵循“从生理到心理再到精神”的渐进式创作脉络，凭借自 己敏锐的感性、直觉和体悟，不断向她所追求的中国的精神境界靠近。

Biography

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GROUP SHOW

Cui Xiuwen Curriculum Vitae

Berkeley Art Center

Cui Xiuwen was born in the city of Haerbin, China. In 1990, she graduated from Fine Arts School of Northeast Normal University. Then graduated from China’s Central Academy Of Fine Arts as participants in 1996. In her early years, she focused on oil paintings on canvas. While later on, most her works are videos and photos.

Cui Xiuwen Biography 1990

Graduated from Fine Arts Department of Northeast Normal University.

1996

Graduated from the Oil Painting Department Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

Solo Exhibitions 2013

“Existential Existence”, ArtStage Singapore, Ode To Art Singapore

2012

“Restart: Cui Xiuwen and Miao xiaochun” Dual-Video Exhibition, Eli Fine Art in New York, New York City, USA

2011

“Existential Emptiness: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Kiang Gallery, Atlanta, USA “Discourse On Inner Humanity” in Chongqing Tank Loft, Chongqing, China “Existential Emptiness: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong “Existential Emptiness: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Eli Klein Fine Art Gallery, New York City, USA

2010

“Existential Emptiness: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Hammer Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition, Dix9 Gallery, Paris, Frence “Spiritual Realm” -- Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China “Existential Emptiness: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan “Angel: Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition”, Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy “Quarter” -- Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition, Florence Museum, Florence, Italy Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition, DF2 Gallery, Los Angels, USA Cui Xiuwen’s Solo Exhibition, Marella Gallery, 798 Art District, Beijing, China

Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness

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GROUP SHOW

Selected Exhibitions

Berkeley Art Center

2012

“Conceptual Renewal - Short History of Chinese Contemporary Photographical Art” Exhibition, Si Shang Art Museum, Beijing, China Phoenix Symphony: Female Contemporary Arts, Tree Art Museum, Song Zhuang, Beijing, China Looking Awry: Contemporary Art, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China Omen 2012: New Chinese Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China Dust from the Heart: Five Female Artists And Their Journeys, PealLam Galleries, Hong Kong, China Magnanimity: Collection of Untypical Works By 21 Chinese Artists, White Box Art Museum, Beijing, China “Coming Back” Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shang Hu Flowing Art Museum, Beijing, China TransMedia Art&Fashion Exhibition, Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China “Fashionable Climax”-- the 1st Feminist Art Exhibition, Enjoy Museum, 798 Art District, Beijing, China

2011

An Ode to Discernment, Eli Klein Fine Art Gallery, New York City, USA Twenty Years of China’s Visual Arts, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China Pure Views: Contemporary Art Exhibition -- Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu, China “Half The Sky” -- Women in the New Art of China, National Art Museum Of China & Leonard Pearlstein Gallery,Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

Collected By National Art Museum of China Centre Georges Pompidou Valencia modern art museum Israel museum Belgium the ullens foundation American AW Asia foundation Swiss BSI foundation Other institutions and private collectors all over the world. Include former Swiss ambassador to China Mr.Sigg, Mr Yu Deyao from Indonesia.

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GROUP SHOW

Awards

Berkeley Art Center

2011

“Leader in Art” Honored by FASHION WEEKLY Invited by Max Mara. Designed a charactor of Cuici Coat. Won the annual Creative Award.

2010

“The Most Influential Participants Of Chinese Art” Honored by Artists Association of China Won “Annual Contribution Award” of Weekly HOTSPOT “The Annual Young Artist” Honored by Annual Convention of Chinese Art Critics “The Most Elegant Woman” Honored by L’ OFFICIEL

2008

“Shu-Fang Hsiao Art Fund Award for Outstanding Female Artist” Honored

by Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts “The Annual Fashionable Woman Award” Honored by COSMOPOLITAN

2003

2003 “The Most Beautiful Woman” Honored by ELLE

1998

“Women in the Art Society Award” Honored by The Committee of “Century · Women” Art Exhibition

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Existential Emptiness No.18 Paper, 300 x 144cm / 200 x 96cm

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Existential Emptiness No.1 Paper, 400 x 117cm / 250 x 73cm

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Existential Emptiness No.4 Paper, 300 x 176.cm / 200 x 117cm

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Existential Emptiness No.9 Paper, 240 x 145cm / 170 x 103cm

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Existential Emptiness No.18 Paper, 300 x 144cm / 200 x 96cm

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Existential Emptiness No.19 Paper, 240 x 153cm / 170 x 109cm

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Existential Emptiness No.20 Paper, 300 x 95cm / 200 x 63cm

Cui Xiuwen Existential Emptiness First published 2013 Ode To Art Raffles City 252 North Bridge Road, Raffles City Shopping Centre, #01-36E/F, Singapore 179103 T +65 6250 1901 F +65 6250 5354 Ode To Art Kuala Lumpur 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, The Pavilion, #06-24E/F, Kuala Lumpur 55100, Malaysia Tel: +603 2148 9816 Fax: +603 2142 6816 sales@odetoart.com odetoart.com Š Ode To Art 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Measurements of artworks are given in centimeters Printed and bound in Singapore

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