Shuai Mei

Ebbing and flowing between modernity and antiquity, Shuai Mei blends the contradictory sides of the modern woman into her willowy figurative representations. Aptly dressing her figures in the soft fabrics of modern clothing and classical costume, lyrical insight is ushers the viewer in through the closed doors of the female boudoir. Alluding to conversation, Shuai Mei's women flirt with coy reticence in the luminescent glow of shards of natural sunlight seeping into the open courtyards. An implicit sexuality is whimsically drawn into her scenes as the viewer is invited to glance furtively at her figure's tiny hands and feet that shy away from direct view. In keeping with the Asian female aesthetic, the artist indicates towards temporality through costume and furniture style, yet hints towards the decorous nature of external accessory. Deploying screens, long winding paths, open windows, and mirrors as a motif evoke the Freudian subconscious secretive and indirect nature of the demure feminine sensibility. Her figures are lean and supple, composed in perfect posture, evoking a nostalgic and idealized memory of days yonder. Shuai Mei's craftsmanship with egg tempera on canvas is sentimental and sensitive; her desire to remember the contradictions of memory imbues her scenes with melancholic blitheness.