Tales of Our Time: Two Contemporary Artists of China

California State University, Northridge Art Galleries presents an art exhibition by two Chinese artists, Chen Qiulin and Weng Fen, that explores the impacts of urbanization on contemporary China.

Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday 12-4pm, Thursdays 12-8pm

Artists Reception: Friday, September 9  5–7 pm

Gallery Talk:  Monday, September 12 10 am

Artist Lecture: Wednesday, September 14 11 am

Curator: Dr. Meiqin Wang, Assistant Professor, Cal State University Northridge

The exhibition Tales of Our Time: Two Contemporary Artists From China explores urbanization and its impact in contemporary China through the art of internationally established Chinese artists Chen Qiulin and Weng Fen. The exhibit presents about forty pieces of photographic and video works created by the two artists since the beginning of the twenty-first century—a decade that witnesses the dramatic movement of urbanization and modernization of the Chinese world. The two artists have taken as their subject the ongoing transformation of Chinese society and the resulting impact on individuals, families, communities, villages, cities, landscapes and skyscapes. Their artworks document the loss, confusion, struggle, excitement, aspiration, and hope that Chinese people have experienced as they negotiate their fast paced new world.

Coming from observation, experience, and reflection of the most relevant reality of contemporary China—urbanization and its disparate effects—Chen’s and Weng’s works invite conversation and contemplation upon a changing China and how people interact with the living environment. Examined together, their works depart from the majority of contemporary Chinese art circulating in the West since the 1990s that centers on stereotypical political icons or recognizable traditional images. Individually, Chen and Weng depict unprecedented transformations of China from distinctive perspectives and each artist creates epic images in expressing their perceptions of urbanization in progress.