 n and Out of Time — Yu Hong' is this artist's most significant solo exhibition to date. As one of China's most celebrated female artists, Yu Hong's autobiographical approach to her art-making encapsulates, and indeed chronologically highlights, the corresponding upheavals endured by contemporary Chinese society in the last four decades. As a child who endured the reforms of the Cultural Revolution, whose attitude towards the relationship between family and society has been shaped by a country's political and economical desires, Yu Hong's varied paintings, drawings and installations offers a particularly intuitive contrast between China's past and present.
 'In and Out of Time — Yu Hong' is curated by Guo Xiaoyan (Senior Curator, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing). It is organized by the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou and co-organized by Long March Space, Beijing.
This exhibition will include not only her recent exquisite, color stained sketches on silk, these works at times encased within resin, but will also showcase two new large-scale masterpieces that have been two years in the making. These paintings take inspiration from historical works of Chinese and European classical periods. The six meter high painting, 'Ladder to the Sky' (2008) is related in subject and composition to 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent from Saint Catherine's Monastry on Mount Sinai' — though the figures climbing this ladder to heaven are not the saintly figures of this twelfth century painting, but rather the familiar faces of Yu Hong's everyday life. In 'Romance of Spring' (2008), a work over ten meters in length, Yu Hong takes the classical Chinese Tang Dynasty painting 'The Court Ladies Preparing Newly-Woven Silk' as direct influence. In this lustrous work, Yu Hong depicts her middle-aged female confidantes as her romantic idols — the title a particular play of words challenging ideas of time and regeneration. For Yu Hong, the search for ideas of beauty, the divine and the sacred is a relished daily task found in her immediate social community, her figures carefully rendered in colorful detail depicting each individual's strength and spirit. Also on view will be Yu Hong's entire 'Witness to Growth' series (1999-2008) of over 50 works. Taking  media images from popular news stories since her birth, Yu Hong contrasts these social moments with the development of her own daughter's life, these large scale painterly and photographic images illustrating particular narratives that reflect the psychological conditions of individual survival during China's rapid period of modernization since the late 1960s.
This exhibition will also include the premier screening of two new documentary films, ‘Days about Yu Hong’ (a piece specially created for this exhibition and produced by Long March Space) and ‘My Name is Red’ — both directed by Wang Xiaoshuai . These two films will also be screened along side ‘The Days (Dong Chun De Rizi)’ – the very first film produced by this famed director in 1993 and the first documentary film produced on Yu Hong.
'In and Out of Time — Yu Hong' will begin the Guangdong Art Museum's exhibition schedule for 2009. A full-color exhibition catalog will be produced by the Guangdong Art Museum, published by Jiangxi Art Publishing House. 'In and Out of Time — Yu Hong' is a traveling exhibition with a second, yet to be confirmed venue in Beijing.
Below are part of the works by the artist and pictures from the exhibition:
1974 8 years old Learning painting in Beijing Child
1983 17 years old Drawing with Henan
Romance of Spring No.1, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
Romance of Spring No.2, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
Romance of Spring No.3, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
Romance of Spring No.4, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 2008
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Artist: Yu Hong
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