Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery has been around since 2006, therefore they have experienced the sudden rise and fall of the Chinese contemporary art market. Withstanding the test of time, the gallery is still one of the strongest forces in 798. Their current exhibition Birthday Present featuring the artist Wen Feng does not disappoint.

Wen Feng is an established female artist in an art scene that is heavily dominated by males. Birthday Present is her third exhibition with the gallery. This exhibition showcases her new installations, each pinpointing critical issues that plague modern China.

Pollution is one of China’s most dire issues. In poor provinces, families live among the trash and sewage, without clean water. Chinese would refer to this situation as knives falling from the sky aka the worst possible situation. Here, the artist has printed photographs of desolate and polluted living conditions on knives.

For this installation, Wen Feng took screenshots of television and internet news coverage of events that occurred in China in 2008, such as the Beijing Olympics, the Sichuan earthquake and the tainted milk scandal.

Each image was printed onto a brick and the bricks were assembled to create a replica of the CCTV tower, one of the most expensive buildings ever built. If a fraction of that money was spent on building sturdy schools in Sichuan the earthquake would not have claimed over 5,000 children.

To Keep on Living targets a very serious issue. Orphans are forgotten souls in Chinese society. Orphanages are run down and constantly suffer from lack of funding. A orphan is useless to a society that enforces a strict one child policy. Google Dying Rooms, a TV documentary about Chinese State Orphanages for more information.

Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery
Oprah and Lisa Ling coverage of Dying Rooms