A visitor views Tha Nite Could Last Ferever at Christina Quarles: Dance by tha Light of tha Moon at the X Museum in Beijing on Saturday. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
In psychedelic colors, a couple of limbs and torsos collide and entwine with each other, refusing to be locked by the frame of the canvas.
"How stylized and fantastical! These bodies are exaggerated, surreal, cartoony, and grotesque, reminiscent of Dali," said William Weydig, an art lover at Christina Quarles: Dance by tha Light of tha Moon, an exhibit that opened at the X Museum in Beijing on Saturday.
Curated by Rao Kuizhen, the show, running through May 30, brings together 13 large-scale acrylic paintings of Quarles, marking the Los Angeles-based artist's first major museum solo in Asia.
A new darling of the art world, Quarles received an Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Art in 2016 and has since risen to fame. This year, aside from the Beijing show, she is invited to hold another major one-man show at the Museum of the Contemporary Art Chicago in the United States and an upcoming one at the South London Gallery in the United Kingdom.
"I was grabbed by her distinctive style the moment I saw her work for the first time three years back," Rao told China Daily website, adding that David Hockney and Willem de Kooning jumped to mind.
Quarles' vibrant palette, as the curator revealed, evokes that of Bradford-born and LA-based master Hockney who is known for his signature Californian palette typified by bold and bright colors; the way Quarles painted human bodies recalls abstract expressionist de Kooning's distorted, dismembered female figures.
Lay Yer Burden Down, a painting created in 2020, is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Yet, unlike traditional portraitists who treat the human body in a realistic and anatomical manner, Quarles fragments them or twists them into humanly impossible postures trough digital sketching without assigning them with specific genders or identities.
Born to a black father and a white mother, the 36-year-old artist identifies herself as a queer cis female, attributing her identity and personal experiences as her major source of inspiration.
Despite so, Quarles is often misidentified as white because of her lighter skin.
Thus, Quarles regards painting as an interesting and conceptual medium to explore living within a body grappling with the excess of identities, the artist revealed in a 2019 interview.
American artist Christina Quarles' painting Yew Don' Wanna Pick From My Apple Tree, is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Furthermore, Quarles thinks her works describe what it's like to feel the sense of needing to compartmentalize, fracture and fragment herself in order to be socially acceptable.
As such, the artist hopes people caught up in similar circumstances can find solace and a sense of being understood in her work; in addition, for those who may have been unaware of their multiple identities, Quarles thinks her paintings can inspire them to reflect on the other aspects of themselves and question the actual limits of who they are.
"Though Quarles' art deals with race, gender, and identity, what her art impresses me most is that it tackles what it means to be human because almost everyone, in one way or another, has wrestled with who they really are," said Rao.
The artist's Beijing exhibit speaks volumes about Rao's observation.
Featuring her recent works produced in COVID-19-imposed lockdown, the exhibit spotlights Quarles' ability to capture universal emotions – anxiety, fear, loneliness, and a longing for freedom and joy, in her body paintings.
American artist Christina Quarles' painting Cast Out is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Feeling like an insect trapped in amber, Quarles, confined to her home and studio in Los Angeles, produced a number of paintings influenced by the social events such as the pandemic, the Californian wildfires and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Seeing her work as visual representations of experiencing the world within a body, Quarles treats the body as a medium through which people perceive and connect themselves with the outside world.
"These twisted bodies remind me of the anxiety and pain I experienced in home isolation especially during the first few months of 2020," said Chang Zhen, a visitor to the show.
Aside from the negative emotions characterizing the dark, volatile 2020, Quarles also tried to search some sort of serenity and hope in the darkness. This is achieved through the vibrant candy hues and the moon, often painted in red or orange with a fuzzy halo.
In Tha Nite Could Last Ferever, under a starry sky, an androgynous figure's body is bent backwards by a blue lake surrounded by green bushes; standing next to them is a balletic figure, ready to dance. A sad spectral presence, bowing its head, hovers at the upper-left corner of the canvas.
American artist Christina Quarles' painting, Tha Devil's in Tha Details, is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
"Like many of us, the artist also tried to seek consolation and inner peace amid the endless chaos," said the curator. "The painting captured her effort and the bittersweet feelings she experienced in 2020."
To enable viewers to interact with Quarles' work in a more intimate manner, Rao decorated the galleries with carpet, respectively in crimson, red, and pink.
Apart from echoing the hue featured in a gallery's showpieces, the fluffy carpet and its color can help better connect the viewer with Quarles' work, the curator explained.
Running parallel with Quarles' solo at the museum is The Endless Garment: Research Station, an exhibit co-curated by Wu Dongxue and Jeppe Ugelvig.
American artist Christina Quarles' painting, O Holy Nite, is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
Featuring 22 artists and designers from South China and Southeast Asia, a region considered the world's garment factory, the exhibit explores themes including authorship, authenticity, labor, and identity through fashion objects, installations, and films.
If you go:
11:00 am-6:00pm, Tuesday to Sunday; #11 Building, Cuigezhuang International Financial Art Demonstration Area, Chaoyang district, Beijing (86)1 33-8120-9323北京市朝阳区崔各庄国际金融示范区11号楼X美术馆
American artist Christina Quarles' painting, Pried/Prayed ( Hard Rain Gon' Come), is on show at the X Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
A roster of mannequins present outfits by contemporary fashion designers hailing from China and South East Asia at The Endless Garment: Research Station at the X Museum in Beijing on March 13, 2021. [Photo by Yang Xiaoyu/chinadaily.com.cn]
