January 19, 2022 by Niamh

Peoples’ Portraits for Patient Focussed Research

Very pleased to recently install 39 portraits in a working environment at the EBM (Evidence Based Medicine) Centre , School of Medicine at Tsinghua University, Beijing.，

Main Conference Room

Entrance to EBM Centre

Nurse Liu Yan’s Office

The portraits have been good companions in my studio over the years and reminders of different projects in China over the past decade. Some of the portraits are of artists , curators , students, friends and family.

A big thank you to the people working at EBM, Nurse Yan Liu and Dr Liang for being so helpful and accommodating during installation.

A special thank you to Professor Daniel Porter Director of the EBM centre.

There will be a special reception for this installation after the Winter Olympics. If you are interested in joining us please let me know.

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Link to previous document on Portrait Series

Exhibition History

Since 2013 I have exhibited parts of the Portrait Series in more than twenty two exhibitions around China with a couple of exhibitions outside China.

2022 People’s Portraits The EBM Centre ，Tsinghua Intelligent Health Care Research Building Beijing

2021 Her Name – Existence Peninsula Art Museum, Weihai, Shandong, July

2021 The Second Step (mini solo) Joy Beans Space, Jiu Longtou hutong, BJ June

2020 The Pattern that Connects, duo show , Dong Yue Art Museum Beijing Oct

2019 China Ireland at MUSEu&m, Expo park , Shanghai, Nov

2019 Gobi Heaven Art Festival Inner Mongolia, Aug

2019 Bloomsday Irish Embassy in Beijing, June

2019 Carpe Diem Granary Art Centre，SiShui County, Shandong, May -June

2019 Beyond the Form of Art Wick Art Centre , Budapest , Hungary, April-May

2019 Odyssey the Return Dong Yue Art Museum, BJ April

2018 Mortgaged Time Red Gate Gallery 798，Beijing, April

2017 International Visual Art Hunan Exhibition Mezzi Master, Changsha, Hunan, Dec

2017 Art:Gwangju:17 Gwangju art fair，South Korea, September

2016 The Painted Thread， Joy Pavillion, CBD , Beijing September

2016 Visual – Female Exhibition Dahua 1935 Xi’an

2016 International Representational and Abstract Art Jiujiang Jiangxi, January

2015 Recombination and Gene Mutation– 1^st International Biennial of Contemporary Art University of Inner Mongolia，Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, December

2015 Red and Green- International Female Art Exhibition Ningbo City Cultural Centre March -April

2014 An Eastward Calling (solo) Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing

2014 Convergence Irish Wave 2014 C3 Art Space 798

2013 Women L’ eau Art Shanghai M 50 Moganshan Rd, Shanghai， March

2013 Baby Baby Irish Centre Shanghai, Central Plaza,

The milk coloured portraits of young students were first exhibited for an Irish Wave Exhibition in Shanghai in 2013. This group of portraits are called “Transparent Milk Series” which began in November 2012.

2015 Recombination and Gene Mutation– 1^st International Biennial of Contemporary Art University of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, December

2016 The Painted Thread，Joy Pavillion, CBD , Beijing September

2019 Carpe Diem Granary Art Centre，SiShui County, Shandong, May -June

2019 China Ireland at MUSEu&m, Expo park , Shanghai, November

2019 Odyssey the Return Dong Yue Art Museum, BJ April

2021 Her Name – Existence Peninsula Art Museum, Weihai, Shandong, July

July 22, 2021 by Niamh

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

Link 2 overview

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.

June 10, 2021 by Niamh

The Second Step- portraits have a Summer in Hou Hai

The Second Step is a collection of eighteen of my portraits showing at JoyBeans Space in Jiu Longtou Hutong . I am delighted to have the portraits reach new audiences in this hutong space near the lakes of Hou Hai.

There are portraits downstairs and upstairs.

Thank you to those who came to our little gathering on Sunday June 6th . A big thank you to curator Jacopo Della Ragione for putting it all together with panache and also to Will 陈宇威 one of the architects who runs the space.

It was a great chance to meet old friends and meet new ones too.

Special thanks to Ambassador Anne Derwin and her husband Joe for dropping by during their busy schedule, the Ambassador asked questions about every portrait!

The coffee space is nearby the Prince Gong Mansions and other interesting residences. It is nearby the area I used to train on the lakes and so I am also hoping my old buddies from Dragon Boat training will pop by .

The work is showing until August 8th .

October 2, 2020 by Niamh

The Pattern that Connects

What an unusual opportunity to be able to show work at this time. ‘The Pattern that Connects ‘ is a duo exhibition with woodcut artist Ma Liangfen from Cangzhou academy of Painting , Hebei. The exhibition opened (26/9/2020) at Dong Yue Art Musuem in Chaoyangmenwai .

Thank you to Therese Healy , acting head of Mission at the Embassy of Ireland who spoke at the opening . Also to Wang YueZhou from Cangzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Media figure Ms Chen Bing gracefully presented as Master of Ceremony . Thank you also to academic curator Zeng Luhong for his exhibition essay and media coverage and special gratitude to fellow artist Ma Liangfen whom I really enjoyed getting to know and learn from over the past two weeks. A big thank you to Yuan QiuLai director of Dong Yue Art Musuem with whom we had numerous cross cultural exhibitions over the past six years. The exhibition focusses on Nature , explores the human relationship with Nature and also examines aspects of the ecological emergency .

In January 2020 I began collecting written submissions on any aspect of trees for my blog “The Memory Palace of Trees” gathering stories from poets, childrens writers, dendrologists and other people across the globe. This socio-eco practice highlights the interdependence between trees and people and explores the place it might take us.

Here are some artworks from earlier stories in the year.

Forrester Anna Finke’s interesting passion for climbing trees

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Environmental educator Carrissa Welton’s story “Roots of Recovery” linked to the Ginkgo Sucrose work

Barrow Trance

The story for ‘Trees can Communicate’ was linked to artwork on Barrow river reflections.

Joshua’s tree the Hawthorne with the painting Piyos view

WU Yiqiangs 吴以强 story of artists replanting the Swan Goose Forest

Mayfield 4am 凌晨4点 80 x 60cm Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲2014

‘The tree in your Backyard Yard’ story is matched with Mayfield 4am.

When taking some visitors yesterday on a tour of the exhibition we were talking about shared DNA , how we share 25% of our DNA with trees, Shared DNA of all lifeforms on earth are also part of the pattern that connects.

北京公共汽车站Beijing-Bus-Stop-132x-90-cm-oil-on-canvas Niamh-Cunningham倪芙瑞莲 2014

The funny poem by Pat Ingoldsby thinking about a wooden telegraph pole next to a bus stop match with painting Beijing Bus Stop

New developments on the sucrose series have extended to selected UV prints on aluminium . I have also shown some original sucroses which are not immediately easy to identify with the earlier process stages. This work visualizes the transformations that occur during crystalisation as a metaphor for the ever present ecological metamorphosis.

Sucroses in the original form

Tree Song Jinan, sucrose series, UV print on Aluminium 200x 100cm Niamh Cunningham 2020

There are also some figures from my 2019 Portrait series most of these have never been exhibited before.

There are also some figures from my 2019 Portrait series.

Here is a link to view more details on the portrait project .

Ma Liangfen 马良分

Ma Liangfen’s expansive collection of woodcut boards cover journeys of the natural world across China. There are a number of prints on paper including some reverse colour prints where only one board was used . I asked her about her affinity to cats and she told me had no cat at home but loved observing the independence of the wild cats exploring at leisure. Other works explore unexpected thoughts and fantasies creating new worlds within the realm of reality .

Here are more in depth links to her work

Ma Liangfen link 1

Ma Liangfen link 2

Exhibition Media Doc link

March 8, 2020 by Niamh

Happy International Women’s Day 国际妇女节幸福快乐

Music Credit C.P.Bryan

Continue reading →

January 1, 2020 by Niamh

Portrait Project 2019

Bachmann Girl (week19) and Friend to Many (week 32) Bloomsday event at the Embassy of Ireland Beijing June 16th 2019 (photo by Eric Favreliere )

A very Happy New Year to all. A huge thank you to all the galleries curators and collectors who have supported me throughout 2019.

Here is a quick overview of the portraits posted during 2019 . The subjects range in age from 6 months to 100 years young. I began this series when living in Prague in 2010. There are many more friends, artists, curators, family members whom I have yet to paint however for the year 2020 I will continue at a more reasonable pace , perhaps 4 or 5 portraits alongside commission work.

This blog will look at the portrait series installed in different exhibitions in 2019 and a look at the portrait for each week through the year. Also included in this blog is a curatorial statement on my portrait series by renowned curator Huang Du.