LI JIN 李津

LIU QINGHE 刘庆和

WU YI 武艺

Michael Goedhuis

61 Cadogan Square, Flat 3London SW1X 0HZ

T +44 (0) 20 7823 1395F +44 (0) 20 7823 2794

london@michaelgoedhuis.comwww.michaelgoedhuis.com

The other China – three views

This is the first time that these three figur­

ative painters have exhibited together in

London. They provide us with a valuable

opportunity to become aware of the breadth

of pictorial, intellectual and social themes

being explored by leading artists in China.

All three are ink painters who have long been

recognised in China as having expanded the

frontiers of the genre to produce work that is

relevant and meaningful to today’s society

without jettisoning its intimate links with

the classical canon.

The subject matter in each case could not

be more different. Li Jin’s buoyant paintings

express the joy of life and emphasise that its

source is in simple pleasures, not the crude

materialism rampant in modern China.

Liu Qinghe also is deeply sceptical about

the orientation of contemporary mores and

poignantly depicts humans left behind by

unfettered capitalism.

And Wu Yi is the satirist similarly alert

to the darker side of Chinese economic

growth but focussing with merciless

humour on the leaden bureaucracy and its

puny insignificance in the context of history.

EXHIBITION held at

16 Bloomfield Terrace London SW1W 8PG

19 April until 10 May 2012

WU YI 武艺

Born in Changchun, Jilin, in 1966, Wu Yi studied traditional Chinese painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He is currently teaching in the Mural Painting Department at the Central Academy. Wu’s early works are charged with heavy philosophical or religious themes, but his later works have become simpler and rigorously economi­cal. Many of them are satirical depictions of the Chinese “estab­lishment,” whether the military or government bureaucracy, which he mocks with merciless humour. The placement of the protagonists against an engulfing blank back­ground also hints at the insignifi­cance of their puny efforts seen in the larger context of history.

1

4 | 5

2 | 3

6

1 Afternoon, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 68 x 138 cm (263/4 x 541/3")

2 Holiday, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 24 x 63 cm (97/16 x 2413/16")

3 Holiday No. 3, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 45 x 68 cm (173/4 x 263/4")

4 Holiday No. 2, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 45 x 68 cm (173/4 x 263/4")

5 Morning No. 2, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 64.5 x 64.5 (257/16 x 257/16”)

6 Mountain Life, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 95 x 195 cm (373/8 x 763/4")

Liu Qinghe 刘庆和

Born in Tianjin in 1961, Liu Qinghe is considered a contem­po rary master of ink and wash painting, renowned for expanding the broad potential of this traditional medium to portray the realities of life in modern China. A member of the painting faculty at the Central Academy of Fine Art, Liu Qinghe has sought ways to express the fleeting moments in people’s daily lives and usually draws his subject matter from the flotsam of today’s society in China – those left behind who struggle helplessly to survive in the new unforgiving “capitalist” environment of today.

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6

1

2 | 3

7

5

8

1 In the Wind, 2009 Ink on xuan paper 200 x 90 cm (783/4 x 357/16")

2 Four Questions, 2009 Ink on xuan paper 200 x 90 cm (783/4 x 357/16”)

3 Yi Yan, 2007 Ink and wash on paper 300 x 90 cm (1181/8 x 357/16")

4 Portrait of Li Ming, 2010 Ink on xuan paper 200 x 90 cm (783/4 x 357/16")

5 Face, 2009 Ink on xuan paper 40 x 40 cm (153/4 x 153/4")

6 Into the Water, 2008 Ink on xuan paper 170 x 90 cm (6615/16 x 357/16")

7 Lake Blue, 2005 Ink on xuan paper 90 x 90 cm (357/16 x 357/16")

8 Growth V, 2005 Ink on xuan paper 65 x 55 cm (255/8 x 215/8")

LI JIN 李津

Born in Tianjin in 1958, Li Jin is one of the best­known and most unorthodox ink painters in the so­called New Literati group. He is currently teaching Chinese painting at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, which is one of the preeminent centers of current literati painting. Li Jin gradually formed his uniquely playful style in the early 1990s, and is now famous for his seductive depic­tions of the good life. In contrast to the formality and stereotyped subjects of historical literati art, food and wine and the simple things in life are Li’s primary subject matter. The Falstaffian figure that appears repeatedly in his work is modeled on himself, and the flirtatious, seductive young women are the artist’s ideal of female beauty.

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2

3

5 | 6 | 7

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1 Bathing, 2007 Ink and colour on paper 53.3 x 114.3 cm (21 x 45")

2 Food Prevails, 2009 Ink and colour on paper 35 x 69 cm (1313/16 x 273/16")

3 Green and Fresh, 2008 Ink and colour on paper 49 x 180 cm (195/16 x 707/8")

4 Eat Drink,Man Woman, 2008 Ink and colour on paper 52.5 x 234 cm (2011/16 x 921/8")

5 Red Tattoo, 2006 Ink and colour on rice paper 139 x 69 cm (543/4 x 271/4")

6 Friends, 2008 Ink and colour on paper 138 x 69 cm (545/16 x 273/16")

7 Spring in the Garden, 2008 Ink and colour on paper 138 x 69 cm (545/16 x 273/16")

This catalogue is published in the uk © Michael Goedhuis, 2012

Spring and summer art­fairs and exhibitions

TEFAFStand 275MECC Maastricht6229 GV Maastricht The Netherlands

16 until 25 March 2012

Irene Kung: the China Series61 Cadogan Square, Flat 3London SW1X 0HZ

1 May until 1 June 2012

Ink – the Art of ChinaSaatchi Gallery Duke of York SquareLondon SW3 4RY

19 June until 5 July 2012

Masterpiece South Ground, the Royal Hospital ChelseaLondon SW3

28 June until 4 July 2012

M I C H A E L

GOEDHUIS

www.michaelgoedhuis.com