Closely watched since the early 2000s, Chen Ke (b. 1978, Sichuan province) has made a career as a painter whose work evokes a social sensibility even as it speaks to the specific dreams and predicaments of individuals. Her early work often depicted cartoon-like girls, ambivalent avatars for the artist and her generation, raised in an ever-expanding consumer economy. In 2020, she debuted her ongoing “Bauhaus Gal” series, filtering images of women from the archives of the groundbreaking, interdisciplinary German art school and movement through her own feelings and memories. For this exhibition, Chen Ke deepened her research into the Bauhaus—particularly the forgotten women of its textile studio—creating a body of work that includes paintings, works on paper, and a site-specific mural in felt. 

While her canvases imagine and envision the female heroes of this bygone utopian moment, the murals translate two group photographs of Bauhaus students and faculty—one of predominantly male “masters,” the other of predominately female weavers—into abstract grids of squares, circles, and triangles, evoking the color theory of Josef and Anni Albers. The elision of faces and features in the murals echoes the fates of the people in the photographs, some of whom were murdered in the Holocaust, and others whose names have been lost to history. As Chen Ke reminds viewers, alongside the canonical history of the Bauhaus and its mostly male protagonists, there unfolded a wide range of lives and stories that are today unknown. 

The poignancy of these works is heightened by the context of 798 Art District, the post-industrial Beijing compound where UCCA is located: Its spaces were originally drafted in the 1950s by architects from the state design institute in Dessau, the East German city in which the Bauhaus flourished from 1925 through 1932. Chen Ke engages with these images from a place of respect and curiosity, reconstituting and recontextualizing them a century later for a changed and changing world.

“Chen Ke: Bauhaus Unknown” is curated by UCCA Director Philip Tinari. Exclusive wall solutions support is provided by Dulux. UCCA thanks the members of UCCA Foundation Council, International Circle, and Young Associates, as well as Lead Partner Aranya, Lead Art Book Partner DIOR, Lead Imaging Partner vivo, Presenting Partner Bloomberg, and Supporting Partners AIA, Barco, Dulux, Genelec, SKP Beijing, and Stey.

Chen Ke (b. 1978, Sichuan; lives and works in Beijing) obtained her BA from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 and an MFA in 2005 from the same faculty. Her previous solo exhibitions include “Bauhaus Gal—Theatre” (Perrotin Gallery, Paris, 2023); “Bauhaus Gal—Room”(Perrotin Gallery, Shanghai, 2021); “The Unknown Woman Artist” (C5CNM, Beijing, 2020); “The Real Deal Is Talking with Dad” (Yuz Museum, Shanghai, 2018-2019); “Dream · Dew” (Perrotin Gallery, Hong Kong, 2016); and “Cover: Recent Works by Chen Ke” (Star Gallery, Beijing, 2015).

Select group exhibitions include “One and All: New Artistic Styles of Contemporary Painting” (National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2024); “Portraits — The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum” (Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2023); “Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation” (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2021); “Reading the Raindrops—The Western China Artists Documenta” (MoCA Yinchuan,Yinchuan, 2017); and “Chinese Whispers: Recent Art from the Sigg & M+ Sigg Collections” (Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland, 2016). Her works are in many collections including Museum Voorlinden, Netherlands; The Sigg Collection, Switzerland; The Franks-Suss Collection, United Kingdom; BSI Art Foundation, Switzerland; Yuz Museum, Shanghai; and Long Museum, Shanghai.

UCCA has curated a series of public programs throughout the duration of the exhibition. At the public opening, Philip Tinari, UCCA Director and curator of the exhibition, will join artist Chen Ke in guiding visitors through the exhibition, offering insights into the curatorial vision and the meanings embedded in the works on view. At a later stage of this exhibition, Dr. Li Ding, an emerging scholar in cultural studies, will deliver a  lecture focusing on the women of the Bauhaus. Approaching the topic through the lens of art history, Dr. Li Ding will examine the artistic practices and breakthroughs of female artists in the Bauhaus weaving workshops, reconstructing their collective image. Following the lecture, artist Chen Ke and Dr. Li Ding will engage in a conversation exploring the unique contributions of women artists within Bauhaus history and how their legacy continues to inspire contemporary artistic practices. This dialogue will extend into a hands-on workshop that moves from intellectual sharing to embodied experience, inviting participants to discover the joys of textile-making. UCCA will invite architect Jenny Chou to lead the workshop as a guest instructor, introducing fundamentals of the loom and the basic principles and logic of textile art. Under her guidance, participants will explore the boundless creativity that arises from the interplay of warp and weft and experience the distinctive allure of this medium.

Drawing from the “Chen Ke: Bauhaus Unknown” exhibition,  UCCA Kids invites children to explore the profound relationship between painting as a medium and self-expression—or  “reconstructing identity through color and brushstroke”— through two art workshops Guided by a  concept of "returning to purity," these interactive sessions  focus on the language of color and brushstroke. Through  collage, color mixing, and layering, young participants will move beyond  standardized color frameworks, experiencing dynamic interplay of color blocks and painterly gestures. In doing so, they begin to understand how artists reshape  visual logic through material exploration. 

 Children will also experiment with color to  convey emotion and create self-portraits inspired by the idea of  “doppelgangers.”  As they blur the boundary  between reality and artistic interpretation, they will learn to reframe their perceptions of self and  present  circumstances—progressing from foundational technique to personal reflection. 

 For more information, please  visit the official UCCA Kids  WeChat account.

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