Cui Fei, “Read by Touch” (2005–06)

And finally, here is "Read by Touch" by Cui Fei, from her show “Manuscript of Nature” at Cheryl McGinnis on the Upper East Side through February 14. A couple of threads connect the works in this exhibition: written language and materials that are found in nature. This particular piece, one of a series, uses rose thorns on rice paper. It’s a delightfully eloquent work, framed and hung like a page of text, and suggestive of both a sort of spiky calligraphy and—given the title—a painful Braille. And, given that Cui Fei is a Chinese artist who works in the United States, it resonates with all sorts of meanings having to do with translating one language or culture into another. Apparently Cui Fei is being collected enthusiastically by Princeton University. I’m not surprised.

Courtesy Cheryl McGinnis Gallery