Chinese Artist Fen Weng

Chinese Artist Fen Weng was born in Hainan, China, and is currently based out of two cities: Beijing and Haikou, China. She graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, in Guangzhou, China. Her specialisation is photography.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009	Fataurbana-Weng Fen	Centrum Kultury ZAMEK , Poznan, Poland
2008	Weng Fen-Beautiful New World	JamJar Gallery, Dubai
	Weng Fen-My Olympics	Contemporary Art Society, Rome, Italy
2007	My Olympics	Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
	Schone Aussichten: Weng Peijun’s Photo	Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany
	Weng Peijun’s Heaven	Galeria Moriarty, Madrid, Spain
	Return of the Silent Traveller	Lowood Gallery, Armathwaite, UK

Selected Group Exhibitions
2009	Stairway to Heaven	H&R Block Artspace At Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas, USA
	Spectacle — To Each His Own	Museum Of Contemporary Art, Taibei, Taiwan
2008	Mediation Biennale 08 Mediation Biennale	Poznan, Poland
	New World Order – Contemporary Installation Art and Photography from China	Groninger Museum, Groningen, Holland
	Stairway to Heaven	Bates College Museum of Arts, Lewiston, US
	Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection	Berkeley Art Museum andPacific Film Archive BAM/PFA, Berkeley. US
	la cina e vicina	PAN-palazzo delle arti di napoli, Naples, Italy
	Food and Shelter	Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing, China

Fen Weng describes her artistic philosophy:

Every morning I walk to work along the same boring road. Day after day I repeat the same actions. Sometimes I leave Haikou to go to Guangzhou, Beijing or some other place, but after I step out of the airport or railway station I feel as though I am still in Haikou. The buildings that line the streets seem to be the same kind of modern buildings, with the same mosaic tile or brick wall facing, the same architectural styles. Even the sky seems to be the same shade of blue.

Just that same morning I had still been sitting at home; now it is afternoon and I am already in Beijing or Shanghai. If I take a flight from China to America today, and spend 24 hours travelling, when I arrive in America it will still be today, departure and arrival seem to be the same time. These many similarities and repetitions make me think that reality must be false, that sensory perceptions are ambiguous.

Faced with this 2-dimensional kind of life, an utopian dreamland for the common people, I can only make subjective conjectures – it is like an empty, insubstantial body or ornament, and I have no way of freeing myself. It seems that it is because of reality that I am searching for this kind of fabricated sensation, reality – that you cannot possibly resist, that you cannot ever go back to.

Please enjoy some work images!

"Sitting on the Fence"

"Watching the Lake"

"Sitting on the Fence"

"Watching the Sea"

Chinese Artist Xia Hang

Xia Hang was born in 1978 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China, and is now currently living and working in Beijing, China. He earned a B.F.A. from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in China in 2002, and is currently pursuing a M.F.A. from the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. Xia Hang specialises in Sculpture and Mixed Media. His works have been featured in solo and group exhibitions across Asia, including:

Solo Exhibition

2008 

Please Don’t Touch: Xia Hang Solo Exhibition, New Age Gallery, Beijing, China

Group Exhibitons

2009

China International Gallery Exposition (CIGE), Beijing, China

2008

Art Singapore, Suntec, Singapore

Loft: Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, 798 Art Festival, Beijing, China

Declaration of the Only Child, New Age Gallery, Beijing, China

New Age: New Blending: New Generation Chinese and Indonesian Artists, Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia

The Age of Innovation: Being Persistent, New Age Gallery, Beijing, China

Xia Hang says,

“(Veiwing of artwork) is just like the worshiping Buddha. The worship for thestatue surpasses their worship for Buddha himself. There is such a saying that “when you dismantle a temple, you are nearer to Buddha.”

Melanie Ouyang Lum, from ML Art Source, had this to say on Xia Hang’s works:

“TOYS” are the essence of Xia Hang’s works. His intricate stainless steel sculptures conjure up childhood memories of puzzles, Legos and Transformers. Maintaining the interactive spirit of build-able toys, each sculpture can be disassembled and its parts assembled again to create the piece. His sculptures are not meant to be viewed at from a distance or on a pedestal. There are no “Do Not Touch” signs. The audience is encouraged to have a hands-on experience and explore the creation process, therefore breaking down the boundary and distance between the collector as the viewer and the artist as the creator.

Please enjoy some work images from Xia Hang!

Chinese Artist Chen Hongzhu

Chen Hongzhu was born in Chongqing, China in 1982. She is currently living and working in Beijing, China where she specialises in painting. In 2006, she earned a B.A. in Oil Painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Academy in Sichuan, China. Chen’s works have been shown at exhibitions throughout Asia, including:

Group Exhibitions

2010

Animamix, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

2009

Beijing 798 Biennial, Beijing, China

Chinese International Art Fair, Beijing, China

Singapore Art Fair, Linda Gallery, Singapore

2008

Surfing Animamix, Linda Gallery, Shanghai

Chen Hongzhu says the philosophy behind her works is “to stir and upset all the hypocritical and artificial behaviour.”

Please enjoy her work images!

"Not in Control", oil on canvas, 200 x 120 cm, 2010

"Oh, to Fly!", oil on canvas, 150 x 110 cm, 2009

"What`s Memory No.2", oil on canvas, 150 x 110 cm, 2010

"Secret Alliance", oil on canvas, 180 x 130 cm, 2009

 

The Space Between – Opening Reception

The Space Between, Oriental VisArt’s third exhibition, began 3 March 2011 with an opening reception / vernissage at 6 p.m. at La Cave in Geneva, Switzerland. We were extremely lucky with the spring-like weather, and guests from around the globe were treated to the works of three Asian artists: Wook Heo (Korea), Can Kang (China) and Kumaresan Selvaraj (India). This was the second exhibition in Geneva for Kumaresan (his works were shown at Threshold to every-day life in October 2010), and the debut in Switzerland for Wook and Cang. Their works were received with curiosity and interest; engaging each guest with a sense of wonder about each Artist’s individual perspective of identity in this fast-developing world. The exhibition will continue everyday at  La Cave until 13 March.

Please enjoy images from our opening reception.

Main entrance of La Cave in Old Town, Geneva

 

Display view 1

 

Display view 2

 

Display view 3

 

Display view 4

 

Display view 5

 

Guests in the Room 2

 

Guests in the Room 1/ ‘Between tiers- cars 282′ by Wook Heo

 

Can Kang’s work ‘Ice age crazy’

 

Wook Heo’s work ‘Between tiers- books 112′

 

Wook Heo’s work ‘Between tiers- football 67′

 

Can Kang’s Works ‘Come back to T’ang in my dream (above)/ ‘Horse doesn’t move (below)

 

Guests

 

Guests and the OVA team

 

Guests

 

Garden of La Cave

 

Reception

 

Guests

 

Guests

 

Young guests

 

Organiser Kayla Hye K. Yang/’What we see conceals a lot behind it’ by Kumaresan Selvaraj

 

Photographed by Iryna Manzhosova

 

Oriental VisArt’s 3rd Exhibition in Geneva

We are pleased to present Oriental VisArt’s third exhibition in Geneva, The Space Between, a group exhibition featuring three different Asian Artists: Wook Heo, Can Kang, and Salvaraj Kumaresan.

The Space Between features works that respond to each artist’s individual perspective of their mercurial identity within a world that is changing rapidly by globalisation and breakneck urbanisation.

The three artists commonly explore how objects, images and surfaces can be viewed in a myriad of ways.  It is not the point to merely create an interpretive framework based on the subject matter, nor on the layers of medium used to create the work.  What each artist strives for is an analysis of what lies between reality and representation; an investigation of The Space Between.  The Space Between represents a connective point between the convergence and divergence of cultural life and identity in contemporary civilisation.

Korean artist Wook Heo finds new space and meaning by analysing and mixing an object from diverse angles. Created in unique form, his work is neither painting nor relief. His work is layered with puzzles to create and combine divided images. His colour fields create new planes, and when layered, form a solid structure. They do not come to a standstill. Planes become solid figures, and solid figures spread out on a two-dimensional surface. Disassembled objects are reassembled, and reassembled things are disassembled again. Elements expand and reduce. His work is full of constantly circulating energy.

The paintings of Can Kang are surreal narratives in response to his native-born China’s own process of internationalization and development. According to the artist, babies are the ultimate symbol of human purity – entering the world simple and unadulterated – and when juxtaposed against a contemporary context Kang transforms pre-existing notions of these symbols, creating a new disposition suggestive of this fanatical age of consumption.

Contrasting meanings collide and circulate in the work of Indian artist Kumaresan Selvaraj. Selveraj is interested in what the surface textures of his chosen medium implies about the ‘subterranean emotions’ of his memories and consciousness, not only of his state of mind now, but historically. The process of his awareness is filled with the energy of contradiction and harmony, and subsequently Selveraj explores mediums to blend diversely contrasting concepts such as matter and non-matter, time and space in his work.

The opening/vernissage takes place this Thursday, 3 March, from 6 p.m. 9 p.m. at La Cave in Geneva.

"Between tiers - football 67" mixed media, 81 x 122 cm, 2010 - Wook Heo

"Telescope", oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm, 2010 - Can Kang

"What We See Conceals A Lot Behind It", ink on magazine paper, 60 x 84 in, 2010 - Salvaraj Kumaresan

 

Chinese Artist Ma Hongjie

Oriental VisArt is pleased to welcome Chinese Artist Ma Hongjie! Ma Hongjie was born in Luoyang, Hunan Province, China, and is currently living and working in Beijing. He graduated from Wuhan University in Wuchang, Hubei, China and specialises in photography. His works have been shown in the following exhibitions:

Solo Exhibition

2009

Family Belongings    Eastern Europe

2008

Family Belongings Beijing 798 Gallery, Beijing

Group Exhibitions

2003

Group Exhibition Local Central Plains Pingyao

2002

International Photography Festival Exhibition Pingyao

He says,

Since I work in a Natural Geographic Magazine as a photographer and editor I have a lot of opportunities to photograph places that people will never have access to. In China, people’s lives dramatically differ according to where they are geographically located. One famous Chinese saying is “Yi Fang Shui Tu Yang Yi Fang Ren” which means different places cultivate different people. China’s land is so vast, there are deserts, tropical climates, rivers, mountains, etc. The lives in these different places are unlike each other, the rich and the poor, the plateau and the water habitats, draught and rainforest. Therefore I pay attention to how these people inhabit their environments and how these environments mold these people’s lives.

Please enjoy some images of Ma Hongjie’s works!

Location: Chen Baer Huqi Ba Village in Hulunbeier grasslands in Inner Mongolia, Date: at 3pm, 19th August in 2007

Location: The Nansha Islands, Date: 20th May in 2010

Location: Taihang Mountain in He Bei Province, 2007

Location: Qinghai Lake, 2006

Chinese Artist Liu Ya Ri

Liu Ya Ri was born in 1975 in Shan Xi, China. He is currently living and working in Beijing, China. In 2000, Liu earned a degree from Beijing Institute of Education in the Department of Fine Arts. In 2008, he earned another degree from China Central Academy of Fine Arts, The Fourth Class Criticism. He specialises in painting and mixed media. His works have been shown in group exhibitions throughout China, including:

Group Exhibitions
2009	Special Touch	Zhong De Securities, Beijing, China
	“Reading from the Finished Products” Installation	Sunshine Art Base, Beijing 798, China
	Die Verwandlung	Shang Bao Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Spiritual Ceremony	Shang Bao Art Museum, Beijing, China
	100 Art Dreams	Original Art Expo Center, Beijing, China
	Highland of Spirit	Proud Gellary, Beijing, China
	The Tone	Original Art Expo Center, Beijing, China
	Rhetoric and Review	Original Art Expo Center, Beijing, China
2008	New Year, New Look	Yang Gallery, Beijing, China
	Plastic Arts Exhibition	National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
	I Love Songzhuang	Around the Island Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Living in Songzhuang	Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Poly Autumn Auction	Guangzhou, China
	The 4th Songzhuang Art Festival	Beijing, China
	“To the Oak” the opening exhibition of contemporary drawing	Beijing, China
	Works of Creative Activity “Landform”	Songzhuang, Beijing, China
2007	Hypertext work “Concealment”	Songzhuang, Beijing, China
	Post Songzhuang Art Exhibition	Ou Art Space, Beijing, China
	Group Exhibitions	Tomorrow Art Museum, Shanghai, China

He says,

“The nature of abstract Art is pure format, which takes means as the purpose. Here means refer to the form of contents.

In the entire history of Western contemporary Art, what have been presented are the various skills and technologies applied in means, and the notion that means could serve the contents on a traditional sense. In the category of contemporary Art, the things reversed are notions, contents and thoughts all work for means. Means are notions, thoughts, contents and format as well in the context. In my opinion, art is not only the absolute pursuit of format, but also the pure pursuit of format, which can be interpreted as methods and purpose.

Once the Artist has mastered the methods he pursed, his works will be endowed with life. The works I have created will neither seek the contents with intensive attention, nor consider those beyond the format. In my eyes, abstract painting should not be limited to fixed format, because anything that keeps constant and unchanged will be destroyed and die out.”

Please enjoy images of his works!

"Match Gun", 20 x 30 cm, 2009

"Match Gun", match, iron wire and bicycle chain

"Emptiness", oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm, 2008

"A Chain Gun - 1", print, 35 x 30 cm

Chinese Artist, ‘Wang Mian’

Wang Mian was born in 1980, Chongqing, Sichuan Province, China and he currently lives and works in Beijing, China. He was given a M.F.A from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sculpture Department in 2005 and another Master from the Middle School attached to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2000. He got an award from ‘The 6th Nanjing Road Sculpture Exhibition, Superior Prize’ in Shanghai in 2006 and ‘Exhibition of Outstanding Graduation Works of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute’, First Prize, and Second Prize of the ‘Pu Yu Cup’ of Graduate Students, in Shanghai in 2005.

He says,

“This old legend sets in China in the Tan Dynasty around a Buddhist monk Tripitaka who rides on a white horse and leads three of his distinct looking disciples on a journey westward to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras.  This story is widely known in China and has become notable throughout the world.

I am always fascinated by the world of magic that only comes to life from description of my parents, and I have once even believed that the imagined legend exists as a part of the history. In my childhood, Monkey King – Sun Wukong was undoubtedly my biggest hero. He carries the Golden-Banded Staff that can size itself according to his will. Among all Tripitaka’s disciple, he is the most powerful who has Fiery Golden Eyes that can look through all the disguise of ghost and monsters, the ability to master 72 methods of transformation and ride with somersault that travels thousands miles. The commanding Monkey King, who can defeat all the approaching demons, has become the most favored mythical character in China.  His importance even surpassed Tripitaka, who is a real life character from the 7th century, and also becomes my first source of interest to the mythical tale.

I was raised by my parents. When they were busy, I would stay quietly at our place that was no more than 24 square meters. For someone imaginative, it was spacious enough. I would take out my sketch book and draw down people who I have “encountered” and events that had taken place. Certainly, Monkey King was the one who I have illustrated the most. At times, I felt as if he was right outside my window hiding behind the cloud despite how little sky I could see from my small window. Until Transformers and Saint Seiya come to my life, my perception for hero has then finally changed. “Transformer, transform! Let’s go!” I would yell on the top of my lung the way Optimus Prime would. “Pegasus Fan-ta-sy!” I swing my fist and shout out my fatal move. Later on, countless American and Japanese cartoons and video games rush over my life. Slowly but surely, the Monkey King on top of the cloud seems to be overshadowed by robotic characters, magnificent helmet, and high-tech product……”

Enjoy his work images!

Chinese Artist ‘Hongbei He’

Hongbei He was born in 1969, Chongqing, China and she currently lives and works in Beijing, China. She was given a B.A. in Fine Art Painting, from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, China. She has shown her work globally as below;

Solo exhibition

2009  Beijing Zhou Gallery, Beijing, China

2008  Beijing Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing, China

2001  Noel Gallery, Charlotte, NC, USA

Selected group exhibitions

2008  ’Chinese Art group Exhibition’, Zurich, Switzerland

2007  ’Critical Thread Contemporary Art Associated Exhibition’

Awards

2002 Annual Art Exhibition, Parimus, NJ, USA Best of Show

1992  The First 90′s Biennial Exhibition of Arts Guangzhou, China 3rd Prize

Enjoy her work images!

“Throw Away the Trash – Relax”, oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm, 2009

“Throw Away the Trash – Relax”, oil on canvas, 2009

“Throw Away the Trash – Relax”, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm, 2009

“Throw Away the Trash – Relax”, oil on canvas, 2009

Chinese Artist ‘Fan Xiaoyan’

Fan Xiaoyan was born in 1983, Gaomi, Shandong Province, China and she is currently living and working in Beijing, China. She was given a B.F.A. from the Sculpture Department of Central Academy of Arts, Beijing, China. She has shown her work globally as below;

2009

Buy Art Fair Leaflet, Urbis, Manchester, London, UK

Green, Beijing, China

ShContemporary, Shanghai, China

Scope Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland

‘Moving’ Li KaiLin Contemporary Fine Art, London, UK

“The Best of Beijing” Contemporary Chinese Art, Melvin Art Museum, Florida, USA

Group Show of Fourteen Chinese Contemporary Artists, Ekfineart, New York, USA

She says,

“The violent contrast between delicate, yielding flesh and cold, hard steel gives rise to an extremely intense visual effect. The attachment of heavy paraphernalia to the female body gives rise to a kind of strength and sweetness……the work appears to proclaim the arrival of a new era, a new kind of human being, a new power, a new sensation. I aim to express, I am creating a surrealistic virtual world in which men and women are really equal!”

Enjoy her work images!

“Physical Attachment – 04“, stainless steel, 216 x 93 x 133 cm, 2008

“Physical Attachment – 01″, stainless steel, 171 x 88 x 110 cm, 2008

“Physical Attachment – 03″, stainless steel, 185 x 113 x 71 cm, 2008

“Physical Attachment – 02″, satinless steel, 160 x 65 x 143 cm, 2008