MONIQUE ROLLINS: "Beijing Memory, Nostalgia Paintings"

BEIJING - Aug. 24, 2015 - PRLog -- W. Ming Art is pleased to announce that artist Monique Rollins has been selected by the Beijing American Center to present her solo exhibition Beijing Memory, Nostalgia Paintings. The exhibition will be on view from August 28 through November 30, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Friday, August 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Coinciding with the opening is a panel presentation exploring Monique’s work and its relation to the history of contemporary painting within both China and the United States.

Earlier this year, Rollins was invited to paint in the IU Artist Residence founded by artist Cui Xiuwen, in Beijing, China. The current show comprises work done during the winter of 2015. The acrylic and paper collage paintings are brilliantly colored works of art that address Rollins’ experience of Beijing and its lively circumstances. In their emotional treatment of memory, these works of art both explore and document the experience Rollins had while in China. It is difficult to keep alive the memory of a place and accompanying feelings, yet the artist has given herself over to memorializing Beijing as a city, its colorful life and intensity of purpose.

Rollins spent two months in Residence in Beijing. During this period, she experienced directly the quality of Chinese urban life. On seeing her work, the Beijing American Center, a bridge between Chinese and American cultures committed its space to showing the artist’s sensitive, vividly hued treatment of her feelings for the city—its families, its stores, its crowded streets. Eleven paintings are included in the exhibition, and each of them beautifully contextualizes Rollins deeply felt journey and stay. “I was very touched by the neighborhood and Chinese community in Laiguangying East Road. I found the culture there very interesting and stimulating.” Rollins comments. “The pieces in the exhibition are the beginning exploration of this incredible culture and country.”

The panel on the opening night is comprised of esteemed artists, curators, and scholars including independent scholar and exhibition curator, Catherine Cheng; independent curator and Director of Finding Projects Association, Aida Eltorie; Director of the Zhu Nazheng Museum and Deputy Director of the Qinghai Museum, Professor Hsingyuan Tsao; Associate Curator for Contemporary Art at the Delaware Art Museum, Margaret Winslow; and artist and founder of the IU Artist Residence, Cui Xiuwen.

Monique Rollins

Born in 1980, in Wilmington, Delaware, Monique Rollins received a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from Syracuse University in New York in 2002. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting, as well as a Master of Science in Theory, Criticism and History of Art degree, specializing in Venetian Renaissance art. In this upcoming year, Rollins’ artwork will also be exhibited at Art Miami Context 2015 in Art Basel Miami, Arte Fiera Bologna 2016, and the National Museum of Taras Shevchenko in Kiev, Ukraine.

W. Ming Art

W. Ming is an international art advisory and consulting company founded in 2010 by Xiaoming Zhang. W. Ming represents artists for exhibitions and sales, and provides private sales and art advisory services for private and institutional clients globally. The company specializes in modern and contemporary art, particularly Asian modern and contemporary art.