Deng Shiqing's 'Agent of Birth' at C+N Gallery CANEPANERI Examines Surrogacy and the Body as Contract

Deng Shiqing's second solo exhibition in Milan, 'Agent of Birth,' opened June 10, 2026 at C+N Gallery CANEPANERI, running through July 24, 2026. Curated by New York-based critic Charles Moore, the show presents a cycle of paintings exploring surrogacy, reproductive ethics, and the commodification of the female body. The Chinese-American artist, born in 1992 and based in Brooklyn, blends classical painting techniques with pop culture influences, creating technically rigorous yet unsettling works. Paintings like 'Where Life Is Placed' depict nude figures around a single egg in a container, merging Renaissance composition with modern contractual objects like barcodes and packaging. Deng designs the clothing for her figures, using fashion as a narrative layer that can evoke glamour or reproductive servitude. The exhibition follows her 2024 European debut 'Forgery of Reality' at the same gallery. Deng won the third Bennett Prize in 2023, the top US award for figurative women painters, and had a solo show at the Muskegon Museum of Art in 2025. Her institutional trajectory includes the National Museum of China, the United Nations in New York, and Sotheby's.