Heaven & Earth

May 1 – July 1, 2017

Hoedemaker Pfeiffer

6113 13th Avenue South, Seattle WA 98108

In collaboration with onemoon, Beijing, we present Heaven & Earth, an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art.

Please join us for the opening reception Wednesday, May 3rd, 6-9pm.

A conversation with the curator, Jan Leaming, Saturday, May 6th, 2-3pm.

TianDi is a concept originated in Daoism that represents a view of the cosmos based on interdependent bi-polar energies, Heaven and Earth. It is most commonly represented as Yin Yang, the never-ending, continually reinventing, evolution of all things whose oppositions are comprehensive and permeate personal, social, political, and physical forces, as well as divine aspects of the world.

The Heaven and Earth exhibition is composed of work that demonstrates how Daoism lives today in the work of modern Chinese art. The exhibition exhibits the work of Chinese artists after 2005 in mainland China, except Hilda Shen’s Slices, which were created in New York. Daoism is so deeply embedded in the minds of Chinese that its representation may or may not represent a conscious effort to embody its principles.

The work deals primarily with landscapes of various types and in different media. This is consistent with the dominance of landscape as the primary genre throughout the history of Chinese art.

onemoon is currently a consultancy for contemporary Chinese fine art in all media. It was founded as a gallery in 2004 in Beijing by Jan Leaming. It operated out of a Ming Dynasty courtyard including the sacrificial temple where offerings were made to Earth for good harvest during the coming season. In 2010 onemoon lost its lease of the magnificent property and converted to a consultancy, creating exhibitions such as this one, in different locations in China and the United States. Jan Leaming maintains an office in Beijing, a warehouse of paintings in Beijing and in the United States and places art for previous and new clients and for various art consultants and architects throughout the world.

Deng Guoyuan

In the Garden, No. 28, 2006

71” x 56”

Ink on paper

Professor Deng is an ink painter of landscapes who has broken traditions in that field. He says that this piece depicts a person standing at the base of a leafy tree in summer, looking up at the sky. In some places the sky is present (void spaces) in other places there is a single leaf, and in others multiple layers of leaves. The brushstrokes are bold, free and expressive, a characteristic not consistent with traditional Chinese ink painting. Note the monochromism.

Jiang Chao

Landscape, 2007

29” x 20.5” x 21

Silkscreen

Jiang Chao is a graduate of Central Academy of Arts, Beijing, and this piece was awarded the first prize for undergraduate work in the year he graduated, 2007. It is a silkscreen in twenty-one pieces, made by layering the four colors used in commercial printing: yellow, blue, red and black. The scene is imaginary, and placement of the dots was done by hand, one color at a time. This is not monochromatic because it is a play on the work done by computers in the commercial printing practice. But notice the empty spaces.

Chen Zhao

Forgotten Moments, No. 10, 2009

62” x 28” x 3

Woodcut

Forgotten Moments, refers to Chen Zhao’s memories of the forested landscapes in Heilongzhang, a province in northeast China. This piece was created when he was 26 years old. It is a woodcut, created entirely by making crosshatch cuts into the wood block. This is the language created and used only by him. Note the monochromism.

Liu Liping

Reflection of Lotus, 2009

30” x 56”

Silkscreen

Liu Liping is a professor in the printmaking department of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. Lotus in Winter is a seven-screen silkscreen on Japanese paper. According to Daoist beliefs, birth and death are in opposition to each other; death is a counterpart to life. There is beauty in it. Note the empty space and the monochromism.

Qiao Xiaoguang

Flying Birds, 2010

54” x 27” x 4

Ink on paper

Professor Qiao is a professor of intangible culture, in the humanities department of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. He is also an artist, known primarily for his rejuvenation of the paper cut tradition. This piece, Flying Birds, represents the ancient belief that birds are communicators between heaven and earth. Note the use of only red pigment and the relationship between positive and negative spaces in the composition.

Hilda Shen

Slice I, 2011

25″ x 15″

Monoprint, Ink on Paper

Hilda Shen is a professor at New School in New York. Slices is a monoprint. She creates the image on glass where she manipulates the pigments with her hands, palms, fingernails, elbows to imbue them with energy. Note the effective layering, and the use of essentially monochromatic pigments.

Hilda Shen
Slice II, 2011
25″ x 15″
Monoprint, Ink on Paper

Hilda Shen

Slice III, 2011

25″ x 15″

Monoprint, Ink on Paper

Mei Wanting
Autumn, No. 16, 2016
12″ x 26″
Ink on paper

Mei Wanting is a young graduate of Central Academy of Fine Arts department of ink painting. Hers work is more similar to fine style ink painting, except that she selects discrete, up-close encounters with the landscape. Note again the empty spaces and the monochromism.

Mei Wanting
Autumn, No. 9, 2016
12″ x 13″
Ink on paper

Mei Wanting is a young graduate of Central Academy of Fine Arts department of ink painting. Hers work is more similar to fine style ink painting, except that she selects discreet, up-close encounters with the landscape. Note again the empty spaces and the monochromism.

Mei Wanting

Autumn, No. 7, 2016

11″ x 18″

Ink on paper