Exhibitions and Events

The Garden in the Mirror

The Garden in the Mirror

Shuai Mei Solo Exhibition

Works by Shuai Mei

Vernissage: 17 November 2011,   6:30pm - 8:30pm
Exhibition Continues: 17 November 2011 - 3 December 2011

Main Gallery, 21-31 Old Bailey Street, Central

Schoeni Art Gallery is delighted to present the latest solo exhibition by Shuai Mei entitled The Garden in the Mirror, opening on Thursday November 17th at Schoeni Main Gallery. 

Shuai Mei is one of the gallery’s longest standing exclusive female artists. The upcoming exhibition will showcase her latest creations painted with tempera on canvas that once again demonstrate her signature artistic feminine touch.

Born in Beijing in 1969, Shuai Mei graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1994 and has been well known for creating paintings that merge the contradictory sides of modern woman into willowy figurative representations that flow between modernity and antiquity. 

As in her previous series, the works featured in The Garden in the Mirror will invite viewers to gaze directly into the boudoir of her elegantly lean and supple figures in settings that somewhat remind one of the Tang or Sung dynasty, evoking a sense of nostalgic and idealized memory of distant days. 

With the womanly figures dressed in soft fabrics of modern and classical costumes, sensual delight ushers the viewer in through the closed doors of the female boudoirs. The beautifully portrayed women flirt with coy reticence as they bask in the luminescent glow produced by the shards of natural sunlight that seep into the open courtyards, leading the viewer into a world that is somewhere between reality and fantasy while bringing about a uniquely feminine beauty that is at the same time elegant, tranquil and fragile – which is precisely what the exhibition title The Garden in the Mirror tries to highlight. 

Due to the delicate nature of the tempera and Shuai Mei’s masterful technique of applying layer after layer with utmost delicacy, her works are exclusive. And with time she has also become more and more of a perfectionist, as a result she is only able to produce 4 to 5 pieces a year, making her work even more precious.

In a city that is preoccupied with the fast pace of work life, Shuai Mei’s works allow us to escape momentarily from the hectic life of the present. Her harmonious paintings recall the past and create a playful tranquility and charm that no one can resist.

   “I have always been very fond of ancient Chinese paintings: characters from Sui-Tang dynasty, flowers and songbirds from Song dynasty, for example. One simple painting of flowers and songbirds, though without extravagant colours and complex scenarios, can still provide me with endless reveries. Every single time I look I would be inspired and filled with sentiments. And so with my own paintings, I’ve also been trying endlessly to pursue this kind of Chinese mysteriousness, Chinese elegance, Chinese subtleness and Chinese aesthetics, hoping that the viewer will also be able to grasp that same moment of calmness and quiet reverie. 

What this so-called “Garden in the mirror” talks about, is really looking at the moon in water and watching flowers in the mirror-- it is the atmosphere of things being at the same time half-realistic and half-dreamy.” -- Shuai Mei.



Please don't hesitate to contact us for any further details.