In recent years, Chambers Fine Art has not only worked closely with established artists, but also has been actively discovering and supporting young artists. This will continue to be an important focus for the gallery in the next few years. In a separate space, we are pleased to include works by three young artists, Lu Hui, Pan Lin, and Zhang Zhiwei. They work with ink, oil and photography, respectively. Not only have these young artists achieved a high level of proficiency in their choice of medium, but they also draw thoughtful inspiration from traditional culture, current affairs and their daily lives alike.

Born in Beijing in 1986, Pan Lin received MA degrees from the Oil Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Art in 2014 and from Boston University in 2016. Her abstract paintings are filled with unpredictability due to a multi-step process—first, she collects intriguing images from everyday life and folds, tears or cuts them into fragments; she then carefully selects and collages these images to form a fragmented image. Finally, she randomly selects different pigments to balance the rhythm of each fragment in the painting, in order to free herself from the constraints of personal painting habits or preference. Through this process, the realistic images from the collages are replaced by different colour blocks and expressive brushstrokes. Looking at the work as a whole, the spontaneity and randomness in the process become the most interesting part of her works.

Born in Anhui province in 1984, Zhang Zhiwei studied photography at the Fine Art Department at University of Auckland in 2002, and graduated from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design with degree in photography in 2008. He works mainly with photography, but uses the medium to convey the aesthetics of Chinese traditional landscape paintings and literati style. In this exhibition his works have waterfalls as the subject matter, stylistically inspired by Southern Song Dynasty painter Ma Yuan's Scholar Viewing a Waterfall. The images are rendered in black and white, with the waterfalls appearing as thin and delicate as white silk, while the surrounding scenes dissolve into the background. The drastic contrast between the long exposure of the waterfall and the dark background adds a sense of mysteriousness to the waterfalls. Similarly, Lu Hui also creates contrast and conflicts between black and white, by using ink to depict scenes from everyday life, often of nature. His unique portrayal of these detailed images provides the objects or views with a distinct sense of depth and meaning. Lu Hui was born in Pizhou, Jiangsu province, in 1977, and graduated from Nanjing University of the Arts in 2003.

Press release courtesy Chambers Fine Art.