NEW TRACES OF THE BRUSH CALLIGRAPHY AND PAINTING BY ANDRÉ KNEIB AT CONTRASTS GALLERY, SHANGHAI
APRIL 12 – MAY 14, 2009
Vernissage: Sunday, April 12, 3-6pm Contrasts Gallery, No. 181 Middle Jiangxi Road, G/F, Shanghai, China 200002
SHANGHAI – André Kneib’s ink and acrylic calligraphy and landscape paintings (2005-2009) will be on view at Contrasts Gallery from April 12-May 14, 2009. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, April 12 from 3 – 6 P.M.
To Kneib, Chinese characters are his life. He has been studying and journeying with them for over thirty years between France and China. He writes: “They open doors wide and offer so many unexpected encounters…Witnesses of an instant, they succeed in carrying within their completeness all and every moment of our life.” Having immersed himself in Chinese culture and language, calligraphy is an extension of the artist. The journey often begins with a single Chinese character inspired by a feeling or experience. Kneib approaches the character from a cross-cultural perspective, combining Chinese and European elements. Influences range from work by 17-18th century Chinese calligrapher Zhu Da to 20th century abstract painter Hans Hartung, a leader of the art informel movement.
Kneib infuses traditionally monochromatic Chinese characters with colour using lyrical abstraction coupled with Chinese calligraphy techniques. The characters come to life when the pigmented brush connects with the paper. The varying pressure and movement of his brushstrokes express the artist’s emotional and physical engagement with his subject. A myriad of emotions can be conveyed in a single stroke, drawing audiences into an infinite realm of possibilities. Mysterious (2006) captures the inner essence of the word, while challenging its viewer with its multidimensional undertones. Kneib’s works are engaging, even to those unacquainted with Chinese characters.
Also on show will be landscape paintings inspired by the grasslands of the artists’ hometown of Puberg in Alsace-Lorraine. Kneib applies the same calligraphic principles as his Chinese characters to these highly gestural works, incorporating the surrounding blank space of the paper into the dynamic of the piece. He writes that the influence of the Chinese characters are there “when the wind is blowing, when the lightning is cutting through our heavy summer nights, when the hoarfrost is sparkling on the moss on grey winter mornings”. The same poetic sentiments that he expresses in words are captured by each brushstroke.
Kneib’s works truly embody the “three perfections” of Chinese art: painting, poetry, and calligraphy. He melds traditions with modernity from the East and West to reveal new traces of the brush.
Originally from the French region of Alsace-Lorraine, André Kneib (b. 1952) divides his time between France and China, where he studied traditional Chinese calligraphy at the University of Nanjing and the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. He has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the National Art Museum (China), International House (Japan), Musée Champollion (France), and the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts (Taiwan).
Contrasts Gallery, No. 181 Middle Jiangxi Road, G/F
Shanghai, China
200002
Beijing
China
Asia
