- 2023 Art Basel Hong Kong
- 2023|03.23 - 03.25
- Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) Booth 3E08
Lin & Lin Gallery will present the works spanning more than a century by great artists Wu Da-Yu, George Chann, Chen Chieh-Jen, Shen Liang, and Zhao Zhao at 2023 Art Basel HK to delve into the expression of Chinese painting and the spirit beyond the painting. There is always a realistic portrayal in Chinese abstract painting. A boundary beyond the original subject matter is created through imagination of real objects to form a more spiritual implication. Zhao Zhao also introduces a new conceptual project in Kabinett, a curated presentation organized by Art Basel HK. Starting from the perspective of local cultural aesthetics, Lin & Lin presents the Chinese artists' selection of media, their attention to issues, and even their mastery and interpretation of traditional Chinese cultural themes.
Wu Da-Yu, the first generation of Chinese abstract painting representative, inspired an entire generation of Chinese artists. After he returned from France in 1922, Wu founded Hangzhou's National Academy of Art along with Lin Fengmian. His students include Wu Guanzhong, Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and others. Many of his paintings depict casual subject matter seen in everyday life. He cleverly transforms concrete images with the momentum of Chinese brushwork, blending abstraction with the exquisite charm of Chinese culture. Wu creates impressions that resemble something without being literal. His wild brushstrokes and vivid colors form rhythmic spaces while delivering a spirit of natural harmony.
Chinese characters and ancient artefacts constitute the cultural basis of George Chann's art. Appearance in his work is inspired by the Chinese ritual bronzes, weathered ancient stone tablets, and Chinese characters. Chann creates rich layers and textures that confound the top and bottom, as well as the image and background, in his painting. He also manages to elevate his work to state of momentum that is purer, freer and more organic. Chann extracts the Eastern aesthetic spirit from a mixture of dots, lines and colors that suggests the annihilation of historical civilization.
In his recent works Envisioning Ephemerality, Star Chart, and A Field and Non-Field exploring the concepts of Śūnyatā and transformation, Chen Chieh-Jen imagines the production of images while waiting and watching how these images continually transform. Although these images are destined to be incomplete, perhaps their most beautiful manifestation will emerge at a certain point in this constant transformation, or perhaps some parts of them will persist into a distant future when the artist himself cannot see or even imagine them.
By painting and stacking, Shen Liang depicts everyday objects in a figurative way. His work embodies an aesthetic tradition of object as reality and is composed of depictions of red onions, sunflower seeds, garlic skins and butterflies, which are layered upon one another and positioned in a large and open background. With meticulous brushstrokes, he creates the rhythms and impressions of ink landscapes. Such momentum creates an atmosphere of life.
Zhao Zhao uses a variety of media to transform realistic subject matters and artistic forms. From multiple perspectives, his paintings fusing traditional and contemporary elements will be compared, and the unique development of his art will be explored. Furthermore, Zhao's philosophical thinking, which is positioned between East and West, will be examined, as will his connection to his own culture. This year, Kabinett, a curated project, will present his latest works Landscape, expressing the geographical and human characteristics of Xinjiang and Central Asia. His work illustrates a feeling about the past and the present that people have changed, but things have remained the same through the ferocious faces, distorted expressions and twisted bodies. A ghostly shadow thus is left in the painting.