As everyone must know by now, the Chinese have been going through some dramatic changes lately—actually, rather relentlessly over the past hundred years—and none of them have been effected more than the educated class—the “Stinking ninth” as Mao called them—the intellectuals who led the revolution—were destroyed by it—and now have been reborn into the brave, new entrepreneurial, post-industrial, Sino-European world. What’s it like to experience so much social/cultural/economic change in your own lifetime? “The Chinese Approach” at the Ann Nathan Gallery offers several responses to that question—with three painters from Beijing (the Chen family) and two who are now living in America, Mary Qian and Ming Jing Wang. The Chen family exemplifies much of what can be found in contemporary Chinese/English literature (the intellectual class is often bilingual). Yu Chen and Chen Yu share the novelist Ha Jin’s “Crazed” reaction to the stifling, drab regimentation of Maoist society—while their youngest sibling, Chen Li shares the novelist Annie Wang’s celebration as well as discomfort with the materialistic “People’s Republic of Desire” (his paintings are beautiful—but only at first glance). Meanwhile, Mary Qian and Ming Jing Wang are living in America now—and they are searching for a more cross-cultural vision. Mary Qian should be of special interest to Chicagoans because she has become one herself—and, indeed, is now serving on the board of a local art organization, the Palette and Chisel Academy. One of the many influences that inform her work is the Romantic, painterly flair of Richard Schmid, a former president of that organization—but her dark, troubled, Rubenesque vision is all her own. (Chris Miller)
Through October 15 at Ann Nathan Gallery, 212 W. Superior, (312)664-6622
Lost in Translation: A Review of Crip* at Gallery 400 The strongest works in the exhibition succinctly express the ways the artist relates to their own body while calling out how the artist’s body and body of work has been perceived or coded against norms or ideals.
Repurposing AI: A Review of Stephanie Dinkins at Stamps Gallery While this show is timely for everyone, I consider its setting within a university art gallery and emerging tech hub like the city of Ann Arbor a subversive provocation which Dinkins invites the greater public—including members of the university community—to consider our own positionality to AI and technology.
