Two of the loveliest photographs in “China Revisited” are by Gao Yuan, who places nude Chinese women before striking landscapes—a hazy, industrial-apocalyptic construction scene, an ocean beneath roiling clouds. The women recline before the camera as if posing for a portrait. But their bodies are turned away from the viewer, the better to expose the ornate tattoos on their backs. In other pieces by Gao, who divides her time between New York and Beijing, women are posed in front of moody cityscapes, holding babies up to the camera. Gao intends the juxtaposition between the Renaissance-madonna-like foreground image and its urban surroundings as a comment on China’s rapidly changing economy.
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Through 2/25: Tue-Fri 10:30 AM-5 PM, Sat 11 AM-5 PM, Schneider Gallery, 230 W. Superior, 312-988-4033, schneidergallerychicago.com, free.
