Pearl Lam Galleries is pleased to announce its second participation in Art Cologne, at what will be the fair’s historic 50th edition. Pearl Lam Galleries will be the only gallery from Asia to participate alongside 88 other galleries in the Contemporary Art section in Hall 11.2, and it will be one of only three Asian galleries across all sectors of the fair out of the 219 participating galleries. In addition to presenting 14 leading international contemporary artists in the Galleries sector, the Galleries will present three installations by Chinese artist Ma Yujiang in ‘New Positions’, a sector that highlights innovative young artists. Art Cologne will take place at Koelnmesse Hall 11.2 from 14–17 April. The vernissage will be on 13 April.
The Galleries will showcase contemporary artists from around the globe to demonstrate its longstanding ethos of stimulating cross-cultural dialogue on contemporary art between China, the rest of Asia, and the West. Exhibiting artists include Chinese artists Jiang Dahai (b. 1946), Qin Yufen (b. 1954), Qiu Deshu (b. 1948), Su Dong Ping (b. 1958), Su Xiaobai (b. 1949), Yuan Zuo (b. 1957), Zhang Jian-Jun (b. 1955), Zhou Yang Ming (b. 1971), and Zhu Jinshi (b. 1954), as well as Chun Kwang Young (b. 1944, Korea), Aldo Cristofaro (b. 1970, Italy), Leonardo Drew (b. 1961, USA), Gonkar Gyatso (b. 1961, Tibet), and Pino Pinelli (b. 1938, Italy).
The Galleries sector of the stand will strongly focus on Chinese abstract artists, whose works are rooted in Chinese philosophies and traditions such as ink painting and calligraphy. Differing from Western abstractionism, the work of these artists draws heavily from a cultural heritage of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. As well as exhibiting many artists who have been presented by Pearl Lam Galleries for many years, the Galleries will also be showing the work of Yuan Zuo for the first time.
In addition, Art Cologne will represent the first occasion where the Galleries will present work by Aldo Cristofaro (b. 1970, Scordia), a Berlin-based artist of Sicilian origin. In his works he creates combinations of vivid colours through vertical, horizontal, and oblong brushstrokes, inspired by patterns on the street or graffiti art he encounters on the walls, transferring visceral impressions of modern city life into his paintings.
Finally, emerging artist Ma Yujiang will show three separate installations, The Letter of HK to N; Mother, I want to be a little bit closer to you; and The Wedding Ring, in a 25 square metre section of the stand allocated for New Positions. Ma Yujiang’s practice centres around the artist’s desire to escape reality and exist within his own created utopia, allowing access to the viewer. Because of this, the works on display will be extremely personal with a wide range of subject matters, including the devastation of losing his mother, the disorientation felt when arriving in Hong Kong for the first time, romance, and even seemingly mundane experiences like the loss of his house keys. These three installations comprise video work, photography, and rubbing on paper.
“This year’s edition of Art Cologne marks its 50th anniversary, and I’m pleased that the Galleries will be so heavily involved in not only the Galleries sector but also in New Positions. We take seriously our role here as the only participating Asian gallery in the Contemporary Art sector of the fair and will be bringing with us not only Chinese artists but international artists too, continuing our mission to promote cross-cultural exchange between the East and the West.”
About the Artists
Chun Kwang Young (b. 1944) combines his early experimentations with Abstract Expressionism with his mastery of mulberry paper, a uniquely Korean material, in his search for a culturally authentic mode of artistic expression. Wrapping individual triangular pieces of polystyrene in hand dyed mulberry paper, Chun creates the textured surfaced of his wall-hung assemblages.
Aldo Cristofaro (b. 1970) tends to create abstract, graphic patterns overlapping with grid structures and colour fields, broken apart by figurative elements and the structural division in foreground and background. In 2009 and 2010, he depicted a number of landscapes displaying an alteration of abstract and figurative shapes. His personal and typical language reveals a combination of rectangular fields and outlined shapes.
The practice of Leonardo Drew (b. 1961) is centred around his choice of medium. Drew reflects on the universality of existence and the interconnectivity of all beings to one another through his works, illustrating these relationships through a combination of the visceral qualities of his chosen materials with the abstract sculptural forms that they make up. These cosmological frameworks are meant to mirror the organic reality of existence and reveal the resonance of life and humanity.
Gonkar Gyatso (b. 1961) seeks introspective contemplation in 9,784 Prayers, a graphic work that mimics the veneration of stupas by walking around it in a clock-wise direction. Gyatso uses characters from the Tibetan alphabet to construct the circular form. In an effort to use his work as a vehicle for spirituality and mindfulness, each character also represents a prayer said by Gyatso, similar to the recitation of mantras by Buddhist monks. Gonkar Gyatso’s works will be featured in a solo exhibition at Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia in 2016.
Born in Nanjing, Jiang Dahai (b. 1946) is one of the most prominent contemporary Chinese artists. The artist transforms traditions of Chinese landscape paintings and aesthetics of nature into a personal abstract artistic language, adding modern techniques. His cloudy painting is created through an abstract stippling technique, which gives an illusion of blurred and vaporous mists. Jiang’s work expresses a historical nostalgia that recalls traditional Chinese landscape paintings of the Five Dynasties, and Northern and Southern Song periods.
Ma Yujiang (b. 1988) majored in Public Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he graduated in 2010. The emerging artist currently lives and works in Hong Kong. Ma began exploring conceptual art at an early age. Human relationships, the exchange of emotion, displacement in different cities and the passing of time are all major influences in his work.
Pino Pinelli (b. 1938) hails from Catania, Italy. Pinelli’s works explore the essence of painting itself through the innovative use of materials and formal experiments, creating mixed-media geometric forms which mimic either outlines or geometric trails. Pinelli was one of the leading artists of Analytical Painting, defined by art critic Filiberto Menna and characterised by the artists’ interest in the material components of the painting and the relationship between the painting and the artist.
Qin Yufen (b. 1954) began to create abstract art in the late 1970s. In the mid-1980s, she moved to Germany where she was influenced by Western painting. Her works from this period used both Western and traditional Chinese ink painting techniques, while still depicting Oriental aesthetics of tranquility and ethereality embodied by Zen meditation.
Qiu Deshu (b. 1948), a trained traditional Chinese painter, has developed his own technique to create his signature Fissuring works. Qiu applies colour to delicate Xuan paper, which he then tears up before adhering to a base layer, often leaving space in between the fragments to create a pictorial field with the crack and crevices that he feels are symbolic of life’s journey.
Engaging with the struggle between the calligraphic and the rule-following methods of painting, Chinese artist Su Dong Ping (b. 1958) will present 2015No.4, which investigates these thematic concerns. The artist allows thick layers of paint to accumulate over extended periods of time to make up the tactile surface of the painting.
The Galleries will also present a pair of mystical works by Su Xiaobai (b. 1949), one of China’s most distinctive painters. From 1985–87, he studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. In 1987, he received a scholarship to study at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, where he was exposed to avant-garde Western art. During the 1990s, his work became progressively less figurative and following his return to China in 2003, it has increasingly focused on essential characteristics of colour, shape, and surface. Su’s works straddle sculpture and painting. Ranging from shell-like finishes to sensuous, curved profiles and abraded textures, they exist entirely on their own terms, exuding their own history, character, and independent presence.
Yuan Zuo (b. 1957) studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, and later graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, with a BFA and an MFA. Yuan exquisitely conveys a lush exuberance in his oil paintings, referring to some of the best abstract-expressionist painting traditions. He suggests the specificities of ink painting using the medium of oil paint. Yuan’s art is between realist and nonobjective painting, articulating a vision that approaches the traditions of Chinese landscape painting without exclusively relying on its stylistic devices.
Another innovator in contemporary Asian art, Zhang Jian-Jun (b. 1955) is an astute observer of time. He explores the elemental fabric of historical and cultural ideology, demonstrating the transience and mutability of the urban environment through a work from his First Drop of Water series, on display at the stand.
Zhou Yang Ming (b. 1971) has been living and working in Beijing for over 20 years. Since childhood, Zhou has been interested in art and is now one of the most distinctive Chinese abstract artists in China. Zhou’s works are all based on line and space, which ultimately reflect his thoughts and ideas at that specific moment. By drawing and painting line upon line, he creates a colourful surface which shows great training of both hand and mind.
Renowned Chinese artist Zhu Jinshi (b. 1954) will exhibit an oil on canvas work, Four Scholars on New Year’s Eve–3. Using traditional Chinese aesthetics, Zhu’s canvases incorporate a series of ‘mind images’ that emphasise the harmony between mankind and the natural world. Zhu, one of the pioneers of Chinese abstract and installation art, began to create abstract paintings in the late 1970s and moved to Berlin in 1986, where he began to experiment with performance, installation, and conceptual art. In 1994, Zhu returned to China, dividing his time between Berlin and Beijing until 2010. Currently, he lives and works in Beijing.
About Pearl Lam Galleries
Founded by Pearl Lam, Pearl Lam Galleries is a driving force within Asia's contemporary art scene. With over 20 years of experience exhibiting Asian and Western art and design, it is one of the leading and most established contemporary art galleries to be launched out of China.
Playing a vital role in stimulating international dialogue on Chinese and Asian contemporary art, the Galleries is dedicated to championing artists who re-evaluate and challenge perceptions of cultural practice from the region. The Galleries in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore collaborate with renowned curators, each presenting distinct programming from major solo exhibitions, special projects, and installations to conceptually rigorous group shows. Based on the philosophy of Chinese Literati where art forms have no hierarchy, Pearl Lam Galleries is dedicated to breaking down boundaries between different disciplines, with a unique gallery model committed to encouraging cross-cultural exchange.
The four branches of Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore represent an increasingly influential roster of contemporary artists. Chinese artists Zhu Jinshi and Su Xiaobai, who synthesise Chinese sensibilities with an international visual language, are presented internationally with work now included in major private and public collections worldwide. The Galleries has also introduced leading international artists, such as Jenny Holzer, Leonardo Drew, Carlos Rolón/Dzine and Yinka Shonibare MBE, to markets in the region, providing opportunities for new audiences in Asia to encounter their work. Pearl Lam Galleries encourages international artists to create new work which engages specifically with the region, collaborating to produce thought-provoking, culturally relevant work.
Pearl Lam Galleries represents these artists: