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Past Exhibitions

Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click “View” for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea

DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea

September 15, 2005 to December 18, 2005

"Respecting the awesome power and drama found only in the sea," writes curator Catherine Evans, "DoDo Jin Ming creates violent black and white images that transport the viewer to a precipice about to be submerged under a cascade of water. Printing her pictures from a combination of two negatives, one of the sea, the other sky, Ming has intensified the power of the surging waves by blanketing them under an engulfing sky. Although this technique of multiple-printing harks back to the mid-19th Century and the majestic and peaceful seascapes of Gustave LeGray, DoDo Jin Ming's turbulent images are more akin to the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and Winslow Homer. … Ming made most of her exposures along the coast of Maine and the outskirts of Hong Kong. Often at great personal risk, she was able to capture on film the power and rage of the sea that would stir the heart of any sailor."

DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea marks the first public presentation in St. Louis of DoDo Jin Ming's work. The exhibition draws from two bodies of work and includes 32 photographs, a medium in which Jin Ming is self-taught. The Behind My Eyes series features evocative images of sunflowers (some hooded for protection from birds) photographed in France and North Dakota. Printed in negative, these haunting compositions suggest figures in procession, or perhaps in flight. Darkened and stormy skies heighten the apocalyptic sensibility of the pieces.

The dramatic seascapes of Jin Ming's Free Element series call to mind artists such as Gustave Le Gray and J. M. W. Turner, who found sublime meaning in vast, sometimes ferocious seas. She goes to great lengths to capture these images, often combining two negatives to create the final work. Art historian James Yood writes that they present "the ocean as ominous and revelatory, a spiritual theater of awe and power that by implication renders humans insignificant and trivial."

Born in 1955 in Beijing, DoDo Jin Ming is an artist with a growing reputation; a recent New York gallery exhibition was featured in The New York Times. She is receiving international accolades for her breathtaking photographs, and she has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as in galleries in New York, Europe and Asia. The Saint Louis Art Museum recently purchased one of her photographs. Jin Ming's career in visual art began later in her life; she trained as a classical violinist and performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Her life course changed in 1988 after visiting an exhibition of Joseph Beuy's drawings; she abandoned her musical career and began a pursuit of art.

These dream images make up the landscape of my soul, my second vision. | DoDo Jin Ming

MOCRA thanks Catherine Evans, Chief Curator of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, and the Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, for their assistance in presenting this exhibition. This exhibition is made possible in part by financial support from the Regional Arts Commission.

above:
DoDo Jin Ming, Free Element – Plate XXXI, 2002. Digital C-print. Private collection, St. Louis.

Related programming

Robert Rosenblum: “DoDo Jin Ming: An Art Historian's View”

Read the Riverfront Times review of DoDo Jin Ming: Land and Sea.