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Time: June 19 - July 11, 2009
Opening: 5pm Friday June 19, 2009
Venue: Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen University Art College, Xiamen, Fujian Province
www.ceac99.com
Artist Chloé Morrison was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK. She is in residence at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen for the months from January to June of 2009. Towards the end of this period she will present work in a solo presentation Southern Gothic of the influences she has garnered during her time at CEAC and in China.
The small number and diminutive scale of the drawings presented may result in the exhibition seeming rather slight and inconsequential at first glance, however detailed and patient viewing will reveal the drawings intensively worked surfaces, heavily loaded with meaning. The obvious craftsmanship employed provides an emphasis: a lightning conductor for the works explosive content.
The subjects themselves are easy to grasp. The human heart, that beating pump which propels our lives, is recognizably represented. As is the bat, an animal that the artist observed flitting through the night skies of Xiamen. Chloé uses firm lines when she renders this physical organ and animal, stressing their shapes, attempting to underline the realistic nature of her subjects.
But those who are sensitive to the evocative atmosphere that emanates from these “normal” drawings will immediately observe an abnormal, uncanny sense of disquiet. It’s not the old issue of life and death that’s at stake here. It’s rather the uncomfortable feeling of an ominous atmosphere.
Dusk, rather than bright daylight, provides the perfect environment for the mental state described by Sigmund Freud as unheimlich (‘uncanny’ in English). Moments that make your flesh creep often surface when you feel uncertain about the realistic aspect of something, for example, the human figure. In literature and art the notion of gothic is akin to the Freudian unheimlich. What differentiates the two sensations is the gloomy, ominous atmosphere of the former. Gothic triggers the intuition of a nightmare; something natural like a bat can be interpreted as being a messenger of evil.
Whilst undertaking research into the gothic during her stay in Xiamen, Chloé discovered that it is not just a phenomenon of the West, but is also present in Asia, particularly in the South East region. She became increasingly aware of the gothic elements within Southern Chinese culture. Many aspects of her daily surroundings, from the bats on Gulangyu Islet, to the ghostlike ships lying stationary on a mist shrouded Xiamen sea, provided stimuli that are now reflected within her new, explosive charismatic drawings.
However, these drawings should not be read as simple representations. They need to be scrutinized inch by inch to be truly enjoyed. Chloé’s works can be as time-consuming for the audience as for the artist. However once the layers start to exude their mysterious gloom, the viewer will be gifted with sensibilities that by far surpass a purely visual experience.
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