Chinese Chen Hongzhu's work, is filled with stark "china doll" portraits of fractured innocence, her figures appear child-like and cute, but at the same time old beyond their years. Sometimes they're cut or bruised, damaged in some way; often they're accompanied by cryptic animal familiars that give them a kind of surreal comfort and company. As Chen describes in her own words: "I believe that in every person's heart live two children- one that turns to the light and another that feeds on darkness. Your entire life you must look after and appease these two children. I often paint people and animals together because I feel animals embody a kind of collective human unconscious. Our inner naive and reclusive self can be expressed well by the animals, almost as if they are mirrors showing a reflection of humanity. My pictures often obscure the boundary between man and animal, and in this way display an even clearer view of humankind."
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