Su Dong Ping was born in 1958 in Shenyang, Liaoning province, where he is currently based. He taught painting and art history for over 20 years after graduating from the department of oil painting at Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 1983. His revolt against traditional art education models during his school years has lead to his becoming a Chinese abstract artist. Su Dong Ping’s artistic language is based on the principles of calligraphy, first introduced to him by his calligrapher father. He employs the measure and spirituality of calligraphy, which emphasises a state of casual fortuity and instantaneity, in his abstract paintings. Su Dong Ping layers thick paint day after day onto his chosen canvas, impregnating it with strong emotional and visual tension while infusing it with his life experience, which reflects his sentiments at that very moment. The insight is beyond there and then, beyond the relativity of time, between instantaneity and eternalness, and beyond spatial relativity. His works are cathartic, having escaped from the constraints of time and space, and enter into a state of purity.
Read MoreSu Dong Ping recently held his solo exhibition Instant Measure: Paintings by Su Dong Ping (2013) at the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing.
