tempi di donne [time of women]

curator: Li Zhenhua / Monica Piccioni
artists: Hai Bo, Yin Xiu Zhen, Cui Xiuwen, Han Lei, Wang Ning, Chen Lingyang
address: Viterbo (central Italy, 80 km north of Rome) , Italy
time: March 1st, 2003
organizer: Officina.Ltd
Press kit:

artists art work for download:
hanlei>zip file> 338k
chenlingyang>zip file> 452k

articles about chen ling yang:

Li Xianting

Macro-Cycles and Micro-Cycles: Preface for the Twelve Flower Months Exhibition
by Li Xianting 2001/5/21

This is the first time that I have curated an exhibition featuring the works of a single artist. I'm doing so because of the importance with which I view Chen Lingyang's recent work, "Twelve Flower Months." In my estimation, it is a milestone in the development of Chinese contemporary art. While feminism in China has experienced a number of years in an awakening state, this work marks the first time an artist has consciously made the issue of women's identity a primary concern. Liao Wen has explained this in her critical essay on the subject. The reason I chose Liao Wen to write the critical essay for this exhibition is because of the many years she has devoted to the subject of feminist art, including her visit last year to the US where she researched and interviewed American artists active in the feminist movement in the 60s. Furthermore, "Twelve Flower Months" treatment of women's identity is not stylicized. Nor, for that matter, is it marked by the coda of Western Feminism. The work flows from the biological and psychological feelings of the artist herself. In both form and language, "Twelve Flower Months" draws upon the resource of traditional Chinese culture in ways that are both clever and organic, like the association she draws between the natural cycles of twelve kinds of flowers blooming sequence, and the menstruation cycle. Since the Zhou dynasty, China has held the belief that there is a link between the large cycles (of nature) and the small cycles (of the body). In addition, there are the unusual shapes of the works, which were inspired by the shapes of windows and doors the artist saw when growing up in China's Jiangnan region. These shapes infuse in her work a strong sense of the inner chamber. When I first saw "Twelve Flower Months", I also experienced a strong sense of Song dynasty Imperial Painting. The juxtaposition of menstrual blood and flowers, the use of mirrored reflections, make "Twelve Flower Months" seem shy and reticent especially when compared with the directness and boldness of feminist art in the West. The work conceals stimulation inside its refinement, subtlety, warmth and gracefulness. This work is both a reflection of the artist's reticent personality and an artistic treatise on the subject of feminism; the result is an encounter of feelings of personal experience in a specific linguistic arena.


Liao Wen

Chen Lingyang

Zhang Li

DUSK -1/Color Photography/2002

THEY -Three Sisters/Colour Photography /1999/180 X 60cm

THEY I'm Chairman Mao's Red Guard/Colour Photography/1999

SHOES /installation, mixed media- cloth and colour photography/1998/10 pairs	SHOES /installation, mixed media- cloth and colour photography/1998/10 pairs	SHOES /installation, mixed media- cloth and colour photography/1998/10 pairs

TOOT /Video /2001 /(3.30 min.)	TOOT /Video /2001 /(3.30 min.)

1201/16mm/2002/12.01 minutes	1201/16mm/2002/12.01 minutes

Chen Lingyang's work

12 month flower	peach flower	tea flower