Chopsticks is the first joint exhibition of leading Chinese artists Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen. Both artists graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Capital Normal University in Beijing in 1989 but since then have pursued independent careers that have attracted wide international attention.

For both artists the events in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 led to a period of deep introspection during which they questioned everything they had been taught and it was not until five years later that they began to appear in public with installations and performances.

In their work Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen confront broad social issues through an intense focus on gestures and actions that are deeply personal in meaning. Song Dong gave moving expression to deep familial feelings in the video installations Touching My Father and Father and Son in the Ancestral Temple, 1998. Yin Xiuzhen has moved from the touching intimacy of works such as Clothes Chest, 1995 to the more public concerns of Ruined City, 1996 and Transformation, 1997 in which she reflects on the changing face of Beijing as the old city disappears.

For Chopsticks, the married couple has agreed to celebrate their tenth anniversary in their first joint appearance. Whether finely crafted or disposable, two chopsticks are required for the task of conveying food to mouth, a metaphor for the personal bonds that unite them. Chopsticks are also suggestive of food and good cheer and for the occasion of this exhibition, the galleries of Chambers Fine Art will be converted into a ritual space in which the artists will present variations on this theme. A fully illustrated catalog will be published on the occasion of this exhibition.

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