The Meeting Point 100 x 120cm acrylic on canvas , Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2023
Category Archives: Exhibitions
Forest Breath Paintings made at Xishuangbanna artist residency
1. Tik Tok Palm Clock 100 x 120cm acrylic on canvas , Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2023
The Forest Breath Series of paintings began two years ago (2021) at this same residency ‘The Rhythm of Life’ in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. I decided to continue this focus on tropical trees and skylines.
When I think about the air that I breathe I think about the surface of a leaf and gas exchange. The leaf enhales carbon and together with light and water after photosynthesis exhales oxygen. David George Haskell even points out that pine needles have lip shaped cells as he describes this process in his book ‘The Songs of Trees’.
So if plants are temporary crystalised carbon, then what is air?
……….Air is 400 millions years of Forest Breath.
The Rhythm of Life- Artist Residency Yunnan Sept 2023
Buttress tree at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Gardens
Its not often you find yourself standing on the edge of the world, a place so remote with exotic ecologies, diverse ethnicities, different languages and pace of life in a village called Menglun, which sits next door to the largest protected rainforest in China.
Returning to Xishuangbanna (Yunnan) to spend two weeks at the Octagon Lodge was a true joy. The combination of intense painting and getting to know the other artists and also the environmentalists in the education centre in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Gardens XTBG for me was a perfect union of strengths and energies.
Moon Covenant – Summer exhibition in Tongzhou
A big thank you to artist/curator Mei Lu for inviting me to this five artist exhibition and also to gallerist Hui Peng Chun of For Mi Gallery and to fellow participating artists including Chen Qingqing, Xiujuan Qin, Mei Lu ,Ge Zhang.
It was a really pleasant afternoon connecting with people, old and new friends after a long spell of isolation.
Link to the overview with details of the five participating artists Moon Covenant Media Link 1
Chen QingQing, Xiujuan Qin, Mei Lu, Ge Zhang and Niamh
Several of the sucrose works are exhibited at this venue.
Pillars of the Earth OP , sucrose series mixed media oval 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 2018
Yuan Dadu Relics Park canal , sucrose series mixed media oval 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 2018
Foggy Dew- Wu Hou Ci. (武侯祠) sucrose series 100 x 50cm Niamh Cunningham 2021
The sucrose series explores loss and reclamation through process and materiality. It involves a sequence of multiple interventions and explores how the physical matter itself can continue to push the creation event. Some of the interventions include sewing, ‘burning off’ the digital image from the surface, adding colour and of course the crystalisation process of sugar. Once the artist has stopped working on ‘sugar painting’ the process of crystalisation may continue to transform and obliterate. The imagery itself is of nature and the environment in urban park areas for which the artist has a strong affinity. (These places include areas around Beijing such as Olympic Park where she lives next door to and Hou Hai where she used to train in dragon boat racing) Her paintings reflect the tensions we experience in lives which are shaped by the processes of transformation and obliteration .
Banna Vortex Niamh Cunningham 倪芙。瑞莲 acrylic on canvas 100x120cm 2021
Apart from the Sucrose work there are also two “Forest Breath” paintings on canvas which were made last year during an artist residency in Xishuangbana, Yunnan.
This exhibition is also the first time to show “Tree Planter” which is a socio eco practice aiming to inform the public and support local tree planting initiatives . The crab apple tree used here was donated by the Beijing Forestry Society in Changping and the “fruits” it yIelds over the Summer will be donated to their tree planting program.
Curator Mei Lu talking about “Tree Planter” to media.
Paper Makes Trees
This Crab Apple Tree was donated by Beijing Forestry Society, the “fruits” that it yields will be donated to tree planting programs. The leaves are made from origami leaves and flowers made of one yuan bills.
Tree Planter uses a bank note that is decreasingly being used in circulation to raise awareness of our material world. All material matter has a physical permanance although some matter such as water can change its state for example to ice or steam . Like water, physical cash also has transformative power and in this case the physicality of paper notes will be transformed into planting new saplings. .. paper is used to grow trees.
Read this link for ancient folklore on money trees.
Many thanks to the gallery “For觅 “ in Grasse Town Tongzhou . The exhibition runs throughout the Summer for another two months. Please contact me if you would like to participate in the Tree Planter workshop.
Sisterhood and Remembering Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) at the Embassy of Ireland in Beijing
Eva Gore- Booth was poet and playwright, suffragist, workers’ rights campaigner, social revolutionary, pacifist and lesser-known sister of Countess Constance Markievicz, born in Lissadell County Sligo 150 years ago.
After Ambassador Dr Ann Derwin addressed the network event I was asked to speak about artworks on exhibition at the embassy and their relation to the story of Eva Gore-Booth. The artworks were originally part of a larger exhibition which took place at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI).
The exhibition was curated by the Hamilton Gallery , Sligo, Ireland .
A complete reference for the exhibition can be found on this link
https://hamiltongallery.ie/eva-gore-booth
Many thanks to Jiali Luo for translating the speech and poetry.
Eva Gore Booth identified herself as Irish and Breffny was the medieval kingdom that stretched from her home Lissadell beach .
Some lines from the poem “The little waves of Breffny”
The great waves of the Atlantic sweep storming on their way
Shining green and silver with the hidden herring shoal
But the little waves of Breffny have drenched my heart in spray
And the little waves of Breffny go stumbling through my soul.
She lived life in service to working women, she defended textile mill workers, barmaids, attendants in hotels, florists , women working as tub pullers outside the mines, gymnasts and circus performers , all whose jobs were threatened either because of alleged moral grounds or other reasons.
She famously said “The laws of gravity apply to men and women alike”. Which brings us to the circus.
You can see Mebh Gillard’s playful work called “Little Evies Circus Dreams” reminds me of Eva Gore-Booth’s work for circus performers. There are leopards , zebra and an acrobat. Eva Gore-Booth was an animal lover and also a strict vegetarian .
The work titled Pit Brow Lasses refers to when Eva Gore-Booth went to work as a tub puller at the mines to show that a woman could do this work.
Emma Stroude’s work shows factory workers in Manchester
Other works signal elements of the textile industry.
Martha Quinn’s striking but simple marble and gold work titled ‘Loom ‘
From Eva Gore-Booth’s poem The Weaver I can imagine the rhythms of work at the loom and also notions of time passing.
“I followed the slow plough for hours and hours
Minding through sun and shower the loom of life.”
Those gold lines upon the marble also suggests imprisonment which her sister Constance experienced numerous times because of her nationalist activities.
Staying with the textile industry Sue Morris embroidery called ”Sex is an Accident “ hints at the mills and textile industry and calls for gender equality.
Other artworks focus on Eva Gore-Booth’s poetry
The beautiful monochrome work by Sorca O Farrell matched with the exquisite line from the poem “the Dreamer “
“… all night I stumble through fields of light “.
Two Ladies by Betty Brown shows the two sisters on horseback.
Seeing the two sisters with horses and also Roper in the background reminds me of a special incident in Manchester where all three women were defending the Barmaid issue 1908 before a local election. They were campaigning against Churchill who was against many working rights for women.
Eva Gore-Booth organized a striking coach with four white horses driven around Manchester two days before local election. Markievicz came from Ireland to Manchester and was at the whip driving. After arriving at a fixed point Gore Booth and Roper stood on top of the coach roof to give a rousing speech on Clause 20 of the Licensing bill which threatened the work of Barmaids. One anecdote was recorded at a meeting later, a man in the crowd shouted “Can you cook a dinner Countess?” To which she answered “Certainly , can you ride a coach and four?”
Churchill was surprised to be defeated in that local election
Eva Gore-Booth also studied Greek and Latin and in the last three years of her life she translated the entire gospel of John. She reinterpreted the language used to pin point inaccuracies which guide toward patriarchal dominance and female exclusion in society.
Both Gore-Booth and Ester Roper worked hard in presenting Sappho’s work in a socially romantic context.
In another work, a white marble work , the Greek words from the poet Sappho “Life that is Love is God” The artist Eileen Mac Donagh says that the flesh coloured streak refers to EGB as as a woman passionate in all things.
Recommended reading “Eva Gore Booth- An image of such politics” by Sonja Tiernan.
Link
Sucrose Series showing alongside Microbe Art in online ‘Artists from Ireland’ catalogue
Thrilled to be showing “Sucrose” series side-by- side with “Microbe” artwork in this online catalogue at the Sasse Museum of Art, LA, USA.
This online exhibition hosts thirteen Irish artists including :
Abigail O’Brien
Una Sealy
Diana Copperwhite
Niamh Cunningham
Sile Walsh
Trudi Van der Elsen
Mick O Dea
Tom Fitzgerald
Eamon Colman
James Horan
Maurice Quillinan
Stephen Lawlor
Diane Henshaw
Here is the link to the catalogue where you can learn more about each artist here,
https://view.publitas.com/inland-empire-museum-of-art/artists_from_ireland/
On Saturday 15th January PST, interesting artist talk on Zoom was moderated by John Brantingham and hosted by Gene Sasse held on Saturday 15th January PST
https://sasseartmuseum.org/tv/art-talks.htm
Sasse Museum of Art link is
https://sasseartmuseum.org/museum_catalogs.htm
Special thank you to curator Maurice Quillinan for gathering a wonderful exhibition together , for bringing it to the right people at the Sasse Museum of Art where it was produced with perfect care and insight.
Forest Breath – Currently showing in Xishuangbanna
Banna Overstory Niamh Cunningham 倪芙。瑞莲 acrylic on canvas 100x120cm 2021
The tree inhales, a temporary crystallization of carbon , holding it within the wood. Each year a ring of growth, jacketing the previous year , a molecular signature of the atmosphere, an annual archive of our biosphere.
Banna Vortex Niamh Cunningham 倪芙。瑞莲 acrylic on canvas 120x100cm 2021
Tree and atmosphere make each other, plant being a crystallization of carbon and air, but what is air? ………………….Air is 400 million years of forest breath.
The two paintings above are currently showing in Xishuangbanna State art Musuem in the group exhibition “Rhythm of Life” curated by Gao Xiang and Zhou Rui. These paintings were made during the November artist residency.
“Rhythm of Life “ runs throughout December at the Xishuangbanna State Art Museum , Jinghong, Yunnan.
During the artist residency in Menglun , Xishuangbanna , Yunnan Nov 2021
Many thanks to Xishuangbanna artist Han Xuan 罕璇 ( Nam) for this video.
Media link to the group exhibition Rhythm of Life
Link to previous blog about the artist Residency
A huge thank you to curators Goa Xiang and Zhou Rui all those wonderful people involved with both the residency in Menglun and the people who worked so hard make the exhibition a success in Jinghong, Yunnan,
Hair Skull – currently showing in Shanghai, Dec 2021
Hair Skull , artist hair, Niamh Cunningham 2013
“Linear’ is a group exhibition showing at Jingheng Art Space, Shanghai , 88 Jingheng Square, 818, Zhiwei Road, Jinshan.
Working with DNA as an art material :
Physically knitting your own genomic material is a very contemplative process. Each strand is tested for strength, elasticity and tensility before being selected for specific sections of the sculpture. The white hairs are strong and tensile and suspend the skull with ease. The coloured hair is soft but elastic and resilient.
Being able to see through own genome and acknowledging it as your “coded” self as well as your personal story or experience, this screen of transparent knitted hair frames your world view. Holding on to the idea that it is my perception, acknowledging my referenced life (family traits and other things that are contained in my genome) and personal experience, this is what is framing my view of the world.
Hair Lock artist hair, Niamh Cunningham 2015
Consciousness is controlled hallucinations:
This is an interesting soundbite worth looking into. We know now that green red and yellow colours are not objective properties of objects in the world, they are just attributes of reflected light. And as the brain works out calculations of wavelengths of light it determines what colour something is. So we don’t even passively receive colour from the world but we actively attribute it to things in the world.
Neuro scientist Anil Seth talks about controlled hallucinations as being our consciousness and says it is not just our perceptions of the outside world but also ourselves, our memory, everything we perceive is a construction. According to Seth instead of perception depending largely on signals coming into the brain from the outside world, it depends as much, if not more, on perceptual predictions flowing in the opposite direction. We don’t just passively perceive the world. We actively generate it. The world we experience comes as much, if not more, from the inside out as from the outside in.
Hair Skull, artists hair, Niamh Cunningham 2013
Cultural perception and our ecological crisis:
This brings us back to our ecological crisis. How can we change our perspective and ways of relating to ‘life’ as a planetary process. Developing a cultural ability to see our actions and the changes we can make, to view this from a systemic perspective would be a good goal. I believe culture and the arts have a vital role in shifting these norms of perception to positive changes in consumer choice which will leading to new industries and economies which are actually sustainable.
A huge thank you to curator Chang Feng and Shanghai Jingheng Art Space. The exhibition continues till December 20th.
Media
The Meeting of the Waters -The Hangzhou-Beijing Grand Canal
For decades, waterways have fascinated me. Nineteen years ago I began painting the Al Khor series in Dubai. When I arrived in Beijing eleven years ago I continued to paint these fluid conduits , the canals in Beijing are now part of parks and recreation areas offering places of rest and rejuvenation to residents of the city.
Canal Bank Walk – Yuan Dadu Relics park Beijing 180x200cm oil pigment rubbing Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲2021
Residency Studio space , 15th floor of Art Park , Tongzhou
In August 2021 I spent twelve days in neighbouring Tongzhou on a painting residency for the Grand Canal Project .
The Hangzhou Beijing Grand canal is the longest man made waterway in the world. Originally built over 2,000 years ago, bringing grain from the south to the capital in the north , it reached its peak in the 13th century connecting five river basins including the Yellow river and the Yangtze.
Residency Studio space , 15th floor of Art Park , Tongzhou
During the residency I shared a large highrise studio space with Prof Gao Xiang from Yunnan University. We worked quite intensively , allowing each other space and quiet until meal times where he shared many thoughts, insights and stories .
The two works I made for this project are quite different, Canal Bank Walk- Yuan Dadu Relics park is oil pigment rubbing with cloth. I allow myself two oil paintings every year until I have finished my supplies. This slow phasing out is a long sad goodbye in terms of my painting practice but it will be eventually replaced with acrylic , mixed media and new media.
The Meeting of the Waters 180x200cm acrylic Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲2021
The Meeting of the Waters is the view outside the residency studio window where the famous Randeng Pagoda tower built in the 500’s stands . It served as a landmark for barges so people knew after a very long journey their destination was near.
Enjoying a chat with Fan Di’an President of CAFA (Central Academy of Arts) and Peng Feng (Dean of Arts Peking University) during the opening at XinGuangDa Musuem on Saturday
A huge thank you to people who made this residency such a valuable experience , to Sophie Zhong and Mr Peng Fei of Deiruiao Culture Media , Beijing Tongzhou bureau of Culture and Tourism and Beijing Deruiao Culture Media, to academicians FanD’ian and Peng Feng , to the girls张佳妮 Zhang Jiani and LiLi李莉 on the 15th floor of Art Park 9 who kindly opened early and closed late during the residency, to AK and to Rainie (華雨) to Prof Gao Xiang for his great company throughout the residency , also for the great company of fellow artists whom I got to know on Saturday’s opening and at the beginning of the residency
Participating artists include:
Fan di’an, Gao Xiang, Jing Shijian, Kang Lei， Li Aiguo , Li Mu, Qiu Ting, Wang Keju, Wang Wei, Xue Lei, Xu WeiGuo, Xiang Yang, Yuxu Hong, Zheng Lu, Zhang Lujiang , Zhang Xinquan, Anna Kazmina, Fabio Barrera, Jacopo della ragione, Jiri Straka, Mica, Niamh Cunningham , Sally , Santiago Barrio, Wieslaw Borkowski Jr.
I will attach media links here once they become available
Beautiful Weihai – Her Name.Existence
Bi Keyan, Niamh Cunningham, Li XIaonan, Yan Ping , Li Fai Heung, Monika Lin, WangBaoju, Tong Yujie
I have just returned from beautiful Weihai, my first trip outside Beijing for over 20 months.
I am delighted to be participating in this current exhibition ‘Her Name-Existence’ This is the Peninsula Art Museum’s second exhibition of the series especially dedicated to art made by renowned contemporary art practitioners… who happen to be female.
Her Name .Existence – Peninsula Art Museum WeiHai.
The exhibition continues till October 22 2021
Art Practitioner panel discussion with academicians at the Peninsula Art Museum coffee shop
I was thrilled to meet renowned artists such as Yan Ping, Bi Keyan, Monika Lin and Wang Baoju, and also academic Chair Li Xiaonan and academic art writer Tong Yujie. Unfortunately curator Zhen Guo is still in the US and other artists Huang Jia and Anna Kasima were unable to make the trip. A huge thank you to Director of Peninsula Art Museum Li Fai Heung and all the hard working staff of the museum including NingNing and Wang Qian who presented a wonderful space to explore a range of intriguing artworks and also the production of an impressive catalogue.
Click Here for link to the overall exhibition of all eight artists
Bachmann Girl acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm Niamh Cunningham 2017
Friend to Many CC 100x100cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
Twin Dance (Transparent Milk Series) oil on canvas 50x50cm Niamh Cunningham2013
I am showing twelve of my portraits at the Peninsula Art Museum, Weihai.
Reworking digital distortions, compiling and rearranging those distortions on canvas invites us to reread people we think we know well. We are living in an age where we need to look at ourselves from every angle. Deep Systems thinker the late Gregory Bateson liked to look at a thing from different angles, twist it around endlessly so as not to get stuck on a singular line of thinking. ‘The pattern that connects’ was his life’s work. He was preoccupied with why humans frequently behave in ways that are destructive of natural ecological systems.
He asked questions of holistic structures such as how does it work? what works with it? what are the relationships? how does it learn? how does it think? how does it interact? If we don’t search for this pattern that connects, in our global culture, in our educational institutions, we are likely to break it and when that happens Bateson said “you necessarily destroy all quality.”This rereading of how we perceive and understand what is in front of us , the use of digital distortions , altering selecting and rearranging yet again on the canvas , this is what we have to work with, ourselves , together to secure a safe and resilient planet for many many future generations .
In Her Eyes 100x100cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
A New Century EL 100x100cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
Woodblock Connoisseur CC 100x100cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
The portraits in Weihai include friends, fellow artists, curators, family members and students. Among these portraits there is only one person I did not know personally that is the anti war poet Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) as a girl which was made for a special exhibition ‘Mortgaged Time’ at the Red Gate Gallery in 2018 .
Ferryman.DC 50x50cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
Mamo Greenfingers DC 50×50 cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
Ally Eddie (EC) 100x100cm acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
For each artist below I have a link attached with more information and artworks by the artist.
Link 1 for overview of all artists
https://m-news.artron.net/news/20210702/n1913062.html
Yan Ping 闫平
Yan Ping is a well renowned artist here in China not only for her feminist art and reference to the female body of the 1990’s but also known for her signature compositions of dancers and performance artists , there was one painting I came across in a catalogue and knew only a trained dancer could form that position and was told that she had trained as a ballet dancer earlier in life.
To learn more about artist Yan Ping please click here.
Guo Zhen 郭桢
I first met artist/curator Guo Zhen in 2018 waiting for a minibus in Songzhuang to take us to a sculpture residency in Wudi Shandong. Guo Zhen is well known for her huge textile installations of the female breast .
To learn more about the artist Guo Zhen click here .
A portrait I made of her is currently showing in Hou Hai, Joy Beans Artspace Beijing.
She GZ 50×50 acrylic on canvas 倪芙瑞莲.N Cunningham 2019 ( portrait of curator of exhibition is currently showing in Beijing Hou Hai JoyBeans Space )
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Bi Keyan 毕可燕
Bi Keyan is an artist currently living in Weihai . I enjoyed listening to her talk about her work. She explores free movement of ink and random fusion with paper.
Please click on the link to learn more about artist Be Keyan .
Monika Lin 林耀明
I have known Monika Lin for many years as we have worked on shared projects . Her “ Philosphers Wall” made of complex stories inside walnut shells, this work is amazing when experienced up close.
To learn more about artist Monika Lin click here
Anna Kasima 安娜·卡基米娜
I first met Anna Kasima at the same sculpture project in Shandong Wudi and we have kept in contact regarding other projects. To see more of her interesting figurative abstractions and to see more of her work
To learn more about artist Anna Kasima click here.
Wang Baoju 王宝菊
Wang Baoju is a video artist living in Beijing. Her film “Waves” focusses on the throats of 60 boys between 18 and 19 yrs displays the multiple movements caused by swallowing .
To learn more about artist Wang Baoju click here
Huang Jia 黄佳
Huang Jia is currently living in Germany . To learn more about her minimalist paintings of solid blocks of colour.
To learn more about artist Huang Jia click here
Niamh Cunningham 瑞莲
Click here to read short essays by Li Xiaonan and Ton Yujie on portraits by Niamh Cunningham .
Participating Artists
Yan Ping 闫平, Guo Zhen 郭桢,Bi Keyan 毕可燕 ,Monika Lin 林耀明, Anna Kasima 安娜·卡基米娜, Wang Baoju 王宝菊, Huang Jia 黄佳, Niamh Cunningham 倪福。瑞莲
Curator: Guo Zhen
Academic Chair: Li Xiaonan
Academic support : Tong Yujie
Director of Peninsula Art Museum : Lee Fai Heung
The exhibition continues till October 22nd 2021
Special thanks to all the organisers in Weihai and supporting institutions for publicity and academia.
And a personal thanks also to Cheng Li who shared plenty of interesting stories and facts during my visit in Weihai.
