Oil Paintings and Sketches by Yu Chen
"Red Babies II"

Vernissage: 1 December 2005 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Exhibition: 1 - 28 December 2005

Schoeni Art Gallery Ltd. is delighted to announce the 3^rd solo exhibition by our artist Yu Chen, entitled Red Babies II on 1 December 2005. Yu Chen's distinctive style has met with accolades, and we are sure that this collection of more than 20 of her newest pieces will surprise many with their verve and unique personality. Blurring the distinction between historical awareness and modernity, Yu Chen communicates with unpredictable visuals in the spirit of Post-modernism. With concise aptitude, her baby motif is overtly frank, in keeping with the unabashed nature of infancy. Whilst dramatising the innocence of her subject matter, Yu Chen strives for an ironical overtone to emerge through her use of military uniform and her babies physical likenesses to Chairman Mao; sometimes they are playfully rendered with sweeties and ice-creams in their chubby hands; other times they are satirically portrayed as an irked enfant terrible.

As a female artist dealing with social issues that are culturally and politically charged, Yu Chen's role as a mouthpiece for the Chinese creative woman infuses her work with a topical, and biological relevance. In her own words, Yu Chen feels that, "One thing is certain; everything I do is influenced by the fact that I am a woman and the fact that I am an artist. Both roles have their similarities... On the social ladder though, the two are still worlds apart. One stays at home, surrounded by the wares of domestic life, while the other sits comfortably in a shrine, worshipped by all." (Yu Chen, 2003) Living in an age peppered with social reform, Yu Chen's artistic emphasis gains momentum due to its secularised portrayal of the prized baby boy; spoilt and favoured by society. Yu Chen's palette of bright, brash reds depicts a raw emotional quality that is fortified by the honest immediacy of a baby's facial expression.

Some of Yu Chen's newest works mark a departure from her previous style by placing a greater emphasis on sex and gender, integrating a more engaging social rapport into her topical interests by visually articulating boy from girl. Yu Chen is now more obviously confronting aspects of social hierarchy that are affected by gender and questions how we inherit, and then interpret these social nuances on a base level. Yu Chen's bigger canvases whimsically capture ebullient moments of comical childishness, but underlying this is a sardonic statement of character, waiting to burst forth in age, and time. No longer choosing to limit herself by a Green Army uniform to garb her red-faced babies with, some of Yu Chen's current pieces experiment with the associations borne with choice of clothing and movement, thus liberating her degree of social commentary to a more far reaching audience.

Besides oil paintings, Yu Chen will also have on display several of her sketches.

Showing that there is more to her art than canvas and oil, Yu Chen's deftness with paper and pencil are a return to basic skill and grace. Even a cursory glance over her varying sketches illustrate that Yu Chen responds in contrasting ways to her subject matter - at times loose and rough; at others, attentive and laboured to achieve a realistic effect. Yu Chen's visual experiments with style in this simple medium, communicate a restlessness with portraying the feminine form. Differing greatly from her "Red Babies" series, Yu Chen obviously grapples with complex identity issues as, being a woman herself, she is consistently liberating her stylistic lexicon with new portals of perspective and a motley manipulation of her medium. Sketching is a skill that in many ways has been overlooked due to its preparatory nature, but in essence it can reveal the very nature of the artist's understanding of their craft, as a foundation and also as a mode to discover artistic developmental techniques. Yu Chen's sketches blithely play with form and shadow, whilst also achieving foreshortening with mere linear strokes. As an accompaniment to her most recent solo exhibition, Schoeni Gallery Ltd. is honoured to have access to a selection of Yu Chen's sketches to share with you previously unseen facets to this popular artist's work.

Written by Alexandra Hamlyn

Click on image for an enlarged view.

Red Babies 2005 Series No. 1 Mixed Media, 110 x 100 cm, 2005

Red Babies 2005 Series No. 12 Mixed Media, 150 x 120 cm, 2005

Red Babies 2005 Series No. 13 Mixed Media, 110 x 100 cm, 2005

Red Babies 2005 Series No. 18 Mixed Media, 110 x 100 cm, 2005

Red Babies 2005 Series No. 19 Mixed Media, 120 x 150 cm, 2005

A catalogue will be released in conjunction with this exhibition.
For interview arrangements or further information please contact Selina Liu.

Tel: (852) 2869-8802
Fax: (852) 2522-1528
Email: gallery@schoeni.com.hk
www.schoeni.com.hk

Exhibition Venue:
Main Gallery: 21-31 Old Bailey Street, Central, Hong Kong.

Monday - Saturday 10:30 am - 6:30 pm.
Closed on Sundays and public holidays.

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without prior permission of Schoeni Art Gallery Ltd or the artists.