Manuscript of Nature

The Cheryl McGinnis Gallery is honored to exhibit Cui Fei’s Manuscript of Nature solo exhibition December 4, 2007 - February 14, 2008.

The exhibit focuses on Cui Fei’s newest body of work as well as revisiting some earlier work.

The concept of nature has been a consistent theme in Cui Fei’s work. As a Chinese artist active in the United States, witnessing radical social changes in China and experiencing cultural differences in the United States, she says her thinking has been permanently altered. In response to a continually changing outside world she seeks the underlying essence of our lives, something that is real and permanent, which cannot be altered by social, political, cultural, or geographic conditions. Cui Fei sees nature as consistent and ordered, thus providing a therapeutic agent for healing and harmony in an otherwise chaotic world. She utilizes materials found in nature, such as tendrils, leaves and thorns composing a manuscript symbolizing the voiceless messages in nature that are waiting to be discovered and to be heard.

Both the concept of nature in her Chinese heritage, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of all beings, and the Western theory of transculture, which stresses living beyond the limitations of any particular culture offer her a unique vision to view the relationships between cultural differences: between culture and nature and between nature and human beings. While the ideas are consistent, the artist explores the expressive possibilities of different media: painting, printmaking, installation, and photography.

Recent Exhibits:

Touched by a Woman’s Hand , Flushing Council of the Arts – Smithsonian Institution, Flushing, NY

New Britain Museum, CT, Delaware Art Museum, Art

Complex Museum, MA, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum,

Queens Museum of Art, Wave Hill, Bronx Museum of the Arts