Du Jie：No Place for Subjectivity to Stand

Gingko Space is delighted to open Du Jie’s solo exhibition “No Place for Subjectivity to Stand” on March 20, 2021. This exhibition marks the artist’s second solo exhibition in the space, showcasing her recent exploration with twenty small-scale acrylic paintings on canvas. 

In this exhibition, the artist revisits her early approach of small-scale acrylic paintings on canvas. She often lays down a monochromatic ground to start before she lends her hands to the brushes. Instead of setting up a plan in her head, she prefers following freely the natural movement of her hands.

Compared to her earlier works where the brushstrokes are rather even, showing great attention to detail and a sense of control, her recent works are more generous in terms of contrast. They seem to embody a shift of her approach toward a looser touch which nevertheless stirs up the inner energy under the pictorial surface. Du Jie’s paintings reveal “more” with “less”. They recede when standing far, arise as we approach. Following the passage from a simple to a complex view, these works unfold the dialectical relationship between the being and the non-being, between subjective perception and the state of emptiness.

Du Jie, born in Xiangyang, Hubei, in 1968, had studied physics before shifting her interests and dedication to the practice of painting. Du Jie has been the subject of solo exhibitions including,“No Place for Subjectivity to Stand” (2021), Ginkgo Space, Beijing;“Sixteen Cycles” (2018), Ginkgo Space, Beijing; “Until We Meet Again” (2008), Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing; “Thanksgiving Journey” (2004), Galerie Urs Meile, Lucern, Switzerland and etc. Her works have been the subjects of major group exhibitions in China and overseas, including, “I Prefer Life” (2016), Reydan Weiss Collection, Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany; “Out of the Peony Pavilion – Chinese Contemporary Women Art Exhibition” (2016), The Russia Museum of Ethnology, St Petersburg, Russia; “Chinese Abstract Slow Art” (2012), Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany; “Chinese Abstract Slow Art” (2011), Singer Laren Museum, Laren, Netherlands; “Ten Years of The White Rabbit” (2011), The White Rabbit Museum, Sydney, Australia; “Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art From the Sigg Collection”, Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland; “Prayer Beads and Brush Strokes” (2003), Beijing Tokyo Art Project, Beijing, China. Du Jie’s works have been acquired by renowned private and public collections including：Foundation Olbricht Berlin, Collection Reydan Weiss, The UBS Collection, White Rabbit Collection, Sammlung Goetz Collection, The Uli Sigg Collection and The Fu Ruide Collection.