He Hong Bei

He Hong Bei is an Asian artist known for Modern & Contemporary art. His artworks have been sold at auctions, and the prices varied from 5,545 USD to 10,085 USD, depending on the size and medium. The highest recorded auction price for He Hong Bei was 10,085 USD, achieved in 2016 for the artwork titled Dumping Garbage-Relax No. 8 at Germann Auctions.

In He Hong Bei’s latest series of oil paintings, she continues to explore and depict the inner life and emotions of Chinese women. This builds upon her consistent artistic approach, which began with her award-winning work at the First Guangzhou Biennale in 1992, where she portrayed two young girls playing a traditional Chinese musical instrument. Subsequently, her Painted Letters series delved into the inner experiences of Chinese women, touching on themes of love, patience, waiting, unfulfilled desires, and the ongoing tension between tradition and modernity in the lives of contemporary Chinese females.

Understanding these paintings involves recognizing the portrayal of the inner lives of the young women on display. This is expressed through careful and sensitive coloring, along with a high level of skill in form and brushwork, creating a distinct harmony and balance in the composition of the paintings. These qualities are consistent in He Hong Bei’s latest works.

In her Dumping Garbage-Relax series, He Hong Bei introduces notable new elements. The striking beauty of the women immediately captures attention. Their faces resemble models, a blend of masks (acting as shields against the outside world) and delicate features, appearing somewhat unreal in their perfection yet very present. This reflects societal expectations for women to embody beauty above all, subjecting them to significant pressure to conform to this ideal.

Advertisements constantly teach us that being beautiful is best achieved through shopping, as owning top-brand items can make us feel beautiful. However, we are aware that this approach can lead to a harmful cycle: feeling pressure, consuming, feeling beautiful, aging, feeling pressure again, and repeating the cycle, creating a sense of emptiness in our hearts and minds. When taken to the extreme, life becomes a superficial illusion.

He Hong Bei captures this concept in her recent works featuring women with paper heads (and brains). These paper brains symbolize nothing, portraying a disturbing image of beauty combined with the emptiness prevalent in our consumer-driven modern society. Like her previous works, He Hong Bei’s art is powerful in both concept and technical execution. Dumping Garbage-Relax visually represents innocence, reminiscent of European Renaissance portraits of medieval nuns. Yet, the depicted females embody a type that is distinctly characteristic of modern China. It’s rare to witness such a skillful and genuine fusion of styles and expressions

How do we break free from the emptiness of modern life? The idea is simple yet radical: lean forward and let go of the unnecessary thoughts cluttering our minds. The result is a state of relaxation. However, in reality, clearing the mind and eliminating things that promise happiness but don’t deliver is not so easy. Garbage tends to attract insects, some of them aggressive and resembling nightmarish creatures. He Hong Bei skillfully portrays the relaxation achieved by dumping garbage and the pain caused by the emerging insects, symbolizing fears that may suggest difficulty in escaping the mental trap.

Clearly, Dumping Garbage-Relax holds significant social relevance, prompting deep reflection on our lives, behaviors, and attitudes. These paintings showcase the creativity of Chinese artists and emphasize the importance of visual art in our society.

1969
Born in Sichuan, China

1988
Graduated from the Middle School Attached to Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China

1992
B.F.A Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China

1996
She went for ten years to the United States, with her husband, because of his profession.Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, she took part to numerous exhibitions.

2006
Back in China, she opened a studio in Beijing.