"A city is a living ecosystem, and things are all interwoven with one another in their own ways."
Surreal compositions document ever-evolving cityscapes and the histories they contain.
Cui reflects on rapid economic growth via architectural painting, drawing and 3D sculpture. Wielding spray paint, coloured pencil and torn sheets of draft paper, her surreal compositions reveal an epic world-vision where Russian Constructivism meets vast expanses of Colour Field Abstraction. Having lived in Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou, Cui paints from observation. However, rather than being an exact representation of her surroundings, her paintings deconstruct the components of a cityscape into an architectural time capsule: part-sculpture, part-building and part-fantasy.
In Cornel Building...
Bio
Cui Jie was born in 1983 in Shanghai, China, and now lives and works in Beijing.
Practice
The artist's work draws on specific architectural elements from the cities she has called home, most prominently Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing. Surfaces are often examined and documented under sunlight to elicit the reflections explored in her paintings.
Did you know?
In addition to group and solo shows around the world, Cui has been featured in eminent art world publications Frieze and LEAP.
