Chen Jianhui and Feng Feng Dual Exhibition Art Scene Art Scene Classic April 5 - April 19, 2008
Art Scene Classic, a new space within Art Scene Warehouse, presents a dual exhibition featuring new works by established Chinese contemporary 1950's-born abstract artists Feng Feng and Chen Jianhui. Both artists are strongly influenced by traditional Chinese art and both are innovators, mixing the historical with their own, unique and exquisite style and modern interpretation. Feng Feng, who is very popular in Shanghai already, portrays Chinese historical literature in his own abstract and semi-abstract style. Feng Feng, who is also a poet, uses a variety of edgy techniques and media within his paintings, such as wax, rubbings, block prints, and his own secret mixture of media. Chen Jianhui's Chinese ink works are clearly rooted in the traditional. Chen started as a classical ink artist and has been developing his own style over the past few years. Chen Jianhui's abstract and visionary ink works offer a contemporary and experimental approach to a traditional medium. The artist's paintings are abstract landscapes and scenes, painted in a bold new style; his works powerful and appealing in a contemporary way.
Chen Xinmao – Solo Exhibition Art Scene WAREHOUSE April 12 - April 30, 2008
Chen Xinmao is one of Shanghai’s most important contemporary abstract artists. His works have been exhibited throughout China and at many shows in Europe and the USA. Chen’s mainly Chinese inkwash works are painted in a variety of series. Some of the artist’s paintings are comprised of four to seven adjoining 1.5+ meter tall panels, which compose abstract and stunning landscapes flowing across the breadth of multiple canvases; the pieces are truly epic in their beauty. Chen Xinmao often uses blocks of texts, which he prints layer by layer onto the paintings – signifying the layers of history and time passing by. The texts are unique in that they also serve as abstract strokes of ink paint, highlighting certain parts of the paintings and darkening other parts. Chen's comprehensive use of mixed media combined with poetry and ancient scripture evokes a playful spirit and a romantic vision. Chen Xinmao even uses gold leaf, exquisite rice paper, crude paper and even sand in some of his works. He employs a tranquil yet seductive colour palette.
Wang Xiaojin - Solo Exhibition Art Scene Art Scene Classic April 19 - May 3, 2008
Art Scene Classic presents the latest work of Inner Mongolian artist Wang Xiaojin. The artist's oil paintings combine his own unique modern style with traditional Chinese culture and history. The work features graceful and delicate Chinese upper class women clad in traditional Chinese dresses in various scenes of leisure. The women's proportions, express in an extreme, almost exaggerated way, traditional Chinese qualities of beauty - small hands and feet, a tiny mouth, etc. The artist captures the beauty and femininity of Chinese women in a traditional setting because he believes modernity has washed away the elegance once held by these women.????In the paintings, the cool, expressionless women lounge demurely.????Although the faces of these women are passive, their eyes express a cultural depth that turns the paintings into a narrative sequel. Their eyes express everything from boredom, melancholy, quiet seriousness to scheming.
Born in 1968, Wang Xiaojin began this series of work by painting his wife and his wife's sister. The first painting in the series was entitled "Cinderella" due to the artist's fond memories of the beauty and elegance of this childhood story. Another one of Wang's influences is the Chinese story of "Hong Lou Meng". As a child, he enjoyed the nice illustrations inside the book and imagining the traditional settings and Chinese drama. His parents even took him to see a Shao Xin opera performance of "Hong Lou Meng", which sparked the artist's imagination even more. After growing up, the artist's childhood memories were still deeply engrained in his mind. Instead of throwing them out in the name of modernity, he decided to embrace his Chinese traditions and his childhood fantasies. The artist finds that the most beautiful things to him are his pure and innocent childhood memories. He says that when painting his works, he feels that he is painting his childhood dreams and escaping from modern day reality.
Wang Xiaojin describes his work: "I want to capture the beauty and features of women in a traditional Chinese setting, as I believe that modernity has lost an elegance once exemplified by such women. Within my paintings, upper class women in various scenes of leisure lounge demurely. The faces of the women are quite passive, but their eyes display the inner feeling of everything from boredom and melancholy to somber and scheming. Some friends and former classmates have said that they find my work to contain a kind of "sexiness", due to the poses, expressions and makeup that the women adorn. Certainly, it is fine if they relate to my paintings in that way, but this aspect was not intentional on my part."
The artist has his own website: www.wangxiaojin.com
