《小芳》
胡尹萍
2016年12月21 日到2017年 2月20日
值此隆冬之际，65顶造型各异的针织帽子充满了箭厂空间的橱窗式展厅，这是北京艺术家胡尹萍的最新作品《小芳》。
在2016年初对四川家乡的一次探访中，胡尹萍发现她的妈妈和镇上的很多妇女一起在编织一种毛线帽子。她对每顶帽子的低廉价格深感震惊，也对她们声称做这些手工制品只是为了“打发时间”而感到沮丧。胡尹萍随后编造了一个名叫小芳的“朋友”，这位帽子中间商“朋友”愿意以较高的价格收购她母亲的帽子。在接下来的12个月里，胡尹萍目睹着价格的提高给母亲所带来的影响，看着她慢慢的向一个手工艺者和小生意人的逐渐转变。 为了便于与小芳的交易，胡妈妈学会了使用微信，开通银行账户，并最终在货物运输的地址填写时，开始使用自己的名字而不是她丈夫的。胡尹萍妈妈的自信心在这个自力更生的过程中逐渐提高， 随着针织帽子变得更加别出心裁且越来越富有创造性，胡尹萍和母亲之间也找到了一个更多交流与联系的话题。 箭厂此次展出的针织帽子来自胡尹萍母亲一年当中编织的360多顶。
《小芳》从许多方面看都具有正面且积极的色彩，作为一件作品它包含了更深层面的叙事性，指引着虚构与现实间变化莫测的边界。而它同时也要甘冒伤害母亲自尊心的风险，迄今为止，她的母亲仍不知道，可能永远也不会知道她的帽子经销商－小芳，其实是她的女儿－胡尹萍。
尽管是研究生毕业于中央美术学院雕塑系（2010年），但胡尹萍 (1983年生于四川成都 ) 很少进行雕塑方面的创作。与此相反，她更愿意将偶遇之事和偶发情结引向更深刻的情境营建。 她曾在3号空间 (2016) 和魔方MOCUBE (2016) 举办过个展，并参加过北京佩斯画廊的群展“不在图像中行动” (2014)， 她也是“@党事件” 团体一至九回的创始成员(2012)。 胡尹萍目前工作生活于北京。
“Xiao Fang”
Hu Yinping
2016.12.21-2017.02.20
The sixty-five woollen hats that fill Arrow Factory’s window display and signal the arrival of winter are Xiao Fang, a new work by Beijing-based artist Hu Yinping.
In early 2016 during a visit to her hometown in Sichuan, Hu Yinping discovered that her mom, along with other women in the town spent their leisure time knitting one type of hat— which were then sold to a middleman. Appalled by the paltry compensation and disheartened by the neighbors’ claims that they made these handicrafts to ‘kill time’, Hu devised a circumstance whereby a “friend” named Xiao Fang discreetly purchased only her mother’s hats at a significant markup. For the next twelve months, Hu witnessed the effects of this skewed valuation and watched her mother emerge into her own as a craftsman and a small business owner. Propelled by a desire to facilitate transactions with Xiao Fang, Hu’s mother learned to use Wechat (messaging app), opened a bank account and eventually began using her own name—instead of her husband’s, as the return address for shipments. Hu’s mother’s self-esteem rose and she gained a sense of self-reliance. As the knitted hats became more fanciful and creative, Hu and her mother discovered common grounds for conversation and connection. The displayed headgear is a small selection from the over 360 caps that comprise a year’s worth of knitting by Hu Yinping’s mother.
Although positive in many respects, Hu’s work Xiao Fang also navigates a treacherous line between fiction and reality, and runs the risk of hurt pride and injured self-worth. To date, Hu’s mother does not know and must never know that her hat dealer, Xiao Fang, is actually her daughter, Hu Yinping.
Despite earning her MFA from the sculpture department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 2010, Hu Yinping （b. 1983, Chengdu, Sichuan) rarely works in sculpture. Instead, she channels chance meetings and fortuitous situations into insightful scenarios. Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at 3 SPACE (2016) and MOCUBE (2016), and was included in the group exhibition “Unlived by What is Seen” at PACE Gallery (2014). She is a founding member of the “@rt Dang” collective (2012). Hu lives and works in Beijing.