Feb 02 – Feb 26, 2023
McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, Va. 22902
Outside In
JING SHUI
Jing Shui, 11pm, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 16″ x 20″ 41 cm x 51 cm
– My parents waited in a long line to get a Covid test at 11pm in Sichuan, Meishan, China.
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Jing Shui, Recycling Center, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 16″ x 20″ 41 cm x 51 cm (left)
– Transformation of the Recycling Center into a Covid testing station.
Jing Shui, Sex Toys Store, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 16″ x 20″ 41 cm x 51 cm (right)
– Transformation of a Sex Toys Store into a Covid testing station.
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Jing Shui, Three Hours, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 18″ x 24″ 46 cm x 61 cm
– My friend had to wait for 3 hours to get a Covid test in Beijing in the freezing winter.
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Jing Shui, Baby, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 16″ x 20″ 41 cm x 51 cm
– Will Covid leave a mark in baby’s memory? It creates complicated feelings for me.
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Jing Shui, Mama, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 8″ x 8″ 20 cm x 20 cm
– Mama lives on the other side of the world. There are 7735 miles between her and me.
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Jing Shui, Jing, 2023. Oil on Canvas, 8″ x 8″ 20 cm x 20 cm
– That moment.
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Exhibition view of Jing Shui : Outside In.
McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, Va. 22902
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Press release
This exhibit is my half outsider/half insider view about China‘s COVID stories. I live in the USA, and my parents and many of my Chinese friends live in China. So I live in two different worlds every day. My Chinese family and friends have shared their COVID era life stories with me during the past three years. I half understand/half don’t understand what Chinese people have experienced during these unbelievable times. Their experience have had some aspects in common with the people I know in the USA, but some of their experience have been very different in some ways that make deep marks in my mind. As an artist, I have the opportunity to express those curious moments in my paintings, and to chronicle these times through my art. Someday when I look back upon these paintings, I hope I’ll be more able to understand these two countries’ different experience in the time of COVID.