Fan Jing | Artist At Work | HdM Gallery

Fan Jing squarely places herself in a line of prestigious female artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Chiharu Shiota who have put womanhood and the female experience at the centre of their artistic practice. Unlike those two artists however, Fan Jing does not present her audience with attributes of womanhood or oneiric versions thereof, but with women enclosed in their role, reduced to the condition of toys or of robotic figurines. In doing so, she offers a singular view of the female condition, discusses its various aspects and morphs it into archetypes, challenging the viewer to revise preconceived notions of gender relations and stereotypes.

Fan Jing’s visual vocabulary is easy to decipher. In her paintings, female figures are depicted as crosses between humans or marionettes, with uniformly smooth hair and rosy and perfectly rounded cheeks. Their clothes are similarly made of geometrical blocks seemingly produced by factories. The overall effect suggests the influence of cubism tinted with pop art. This can be potentially interpreted as an indication that Fan Jing sees women as corseted into stereotypes, marionettes controlled by society and imprisoned into pre-defined roles that exacerbate their femininity.

Visit hdmgallery.com to find out more

Follow us on social media:
Instagram:   / hdm_gallery  
LinkedIn:   / hdm-gallery-london