1918artspace is pleased to present “Crouching Tiger，Foxy lady!”, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles based Hong Kong born Chinese female artist, Stella Lai, whose series of paintings and wall installations weave a wonderfully adventurous and exciting tale of Chinese female warriors, with seductive foxy tails, challenged by tigers, fire-spitting dragons, panda spirits, reflect the nervous condition of the aggressive and obsessive Chinese society today. Growing up in westernized Hong Kong, a dynamic city being perceived as driven by the consumption of western advertising and Japanese comics and popular icons, Stella Lai’s works are an attempt to make us see beyond these clichés and focus on her collective memories of a being a Chinese woman in a male dominated society. It is a voice longing to be heard, to be understood, to be celebrated for her heroic and sensitive nature.

Having studied graphic design from California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco, Stella Lai’s style of painting is influenced by the Japanese anime with flat figurative imagery infused with Chinese elements and precisely painted in multiple layers. Stella Lai’s works are a fantastic blend of the magical, mythical and the romantic, reminiscent of the Chinese martial arts epics where miracles were credible and spirits and gods were present in the man’s world. Throughout Chinese literature and martial arts genre, there have always been very strong women figures – warriors, swordswomen, true heroines with supernatural powers who defended honor and loyalty and battled with villains. Stella Lai’s works as understood in the Chinese cultural context raise some gender issues with its center a female consciousness. The stereotypical image of the Chinese woman as demure, very quiet, strong in a very silent way, has evolved into a rebellious, daring, exotic and unique heroine. One can also view this Chinese female action hero as an allegory asserting a transnational Asian identity within an emerging global economic and cultural environment.