Barbara Edelstein's Art Exhibitions

Barbara Edelstein’s installation “HongKou Stones Part 2", will be on display at the Shanghai Sculpture Space show “Pursuing Dream” opening November 12th. “HongKou Stones Part 1” was a public arts event sponsored by the Zendai Museum of Modern Art that took place in the HongKou District of Shanghai in 2008.

Edelstein’s sculpture installation will evoke a World War II story of converging cultures, where 20,000 Jewish refugees found sanctuary in Shanghai and were welcomed to start their lives anew among the local Chinese. The exhibit will consist of a collection of stones drawn with Chinese and Jewish symbols -- a menorah atop a Chinese yin and yang sign for one, a yin and yang sign becoming the Jewish Star of David on another.

“In Jewish tradition, stones are placed upon graves as a memorial, as a way of saying: I was here and remember you,” Edelstein says. “I have a personal connection to this time and area of Shanghai, and therefore chose to highlight its history. My cousin’s grandfather was one of the Jewish refugees,” she recounts.

Barbara now looks forward to this upcoming exhibition that will feature a sculpture installation of her stones at the Shanghai Sculpture Space in Red Town, set for November 12th, where fifty years of Shanghai sculpture will be celebrated in academic and experimental pieces.

NYU Shanghai’s art professor Jian-Jun Zhang will also be showcased at this exhibit, presenting his “China Chapter” sculptures and paintings on photographs. These works comment on the clash of old and new, tradition and modern in China, utilizing antique ceramics now transformed in shape and, for the sculptures, into the contemporary material of silicone rubber.

Edelstein’s artwork will also be part of an upcoming exhibition at the Leo Gallery, entitled “Soft Power.” Barbara will be showing sculptures, ink drawings with photographs, and a video in this show of 4 women artists. The opening is on Sunday, November 16th, from 5:30 − 7:30 pm.

Information for the Shanghai Sculpture Space:

“Pursuing Dream”
Opening Wednesday, November 12th at 2 pm
Shanghai Sculpture Space
570 West HuaiHai Road, Building A
Shanghai

Information for the Leo Gallery:

“Soft Power”
Opening November 16th from 5:30-7:30 pm
Leo Gallery
Ferguson Lane, 376 Wu Kang Road, (near Tai’an Road), Xuhui District
Shanghai

Photo and written by Charlotte San Juan