zhao kailin bo bartlett - mandarin fine art gallery · zhao kailin spring blossom 2014 oil on linen...

ZHAO KAILIN

V I S I O N

BO BARTLETT

V I S I O N

A R E A L I S T W I T H A M O D E R N I S T V I S I O N ,

H E F I N D S T H E B E A U T Y O F E V E R Y D A Y

L I F E A N D M A K E S I T E X T R A O R D I N A R Y

A M A S T E R O F C O N T E M P O R A R Y R E A L I S T

O I L P A I N T I N G M O V E M E N T , H I S Q U I E T

A E S T H E T I C S P E A K S O F I N N E R B E A U T Y

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V I S I O N V I S I O N

Z H A O K A I L I N

Spring Blossom 2014Oil on Linen 107 x 123 cm

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Return to My HometownOil on Canvas132 x 142 cm

Vibrant Black with ViolinOil on Canvas

173 x 94 cm

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Beautiful LifeOil on Canvas117 x 147 cm

Green AppleOil on Canvas

61 x 61 cm

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Memories of My ChildhoodOil on Canvas127 x 147 cm

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FragranceOil on Canvas142 x 117 cm

SpringtimeOil on Canvas76 x 91 cm

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SpeculationOil on Canvas152 x 107 cm

The Bride IIOil on Canvas91 x 152 cm

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B O B A R T L E T T

Dreamcatcher 2006Oil on Panel33 x 33 cm

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The Light Years 2011 Oil on Linen80 x 100 cm

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Siren 1999Oil on Panel11 x 18 cm

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Lobster Girl 2004Oil on Linen

58 x 48 cm

Signal 2000 Oil on Linen 94 x 86 cm

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The Day Everything Changed Forever 2016Oil on Linen48 x 60 cm

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Sleeper Awake 2003Oil on Linen40 x 84 cm

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V I S I O N

Bartlett was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy

of the Fine Arts, where realist principles must be

grasped before modernist ventures are encouraged.

He pushes the boundaries of the realist tradition

with his multilayered imagery. Life, death, passage,

memory, and confrontation coexist easily in his

world. Family and friends are the cast of characters

that appear in his dreamlike narrative works.

Although the scenes are set around his childhood

home in Georgia, his island summer home in Maine,

his home in Pennsylvania or the surroundings

of his studio and residence in Washington state,

they represent a deeper, mythical concept of the

archetypal, universal home." - Tom Butler, excerpt from

the book Bo Bartlett, Heartland

The first noble truth is: "there is suffering." The

knowledge of this keeps one continuously on their

toes. Any sadness or joy is tempered. Knowing that

there is suffering grounds us in all of our emotions,

even joy. Nothing is permanent. We are lucky and

grateful for the time and space to create. One of the

great joys of this realm is that we get to work in it. We

are creative creatures and no one here knows what's

next. My feeling is that we should work hard while

we are here. We may not have such possibilities in

other realms. How great that we have bodies (which

age and creak) with which we can build and paint

and make things, write, make music and dance.

“The key to contentment is trust. We have to trust

something. We can build our houses (and studios)

and fill them with technology (or not) where we can

work and live and gather information. But there are

natural laws. These win out every time. Things fall

apart. Things age, we age, everything new grows

old... or dies in the process. Nothing lasts. This isn't

depressing; this is a reason to celebrate. Time has its

way with us. We don't have to feign humility (there

is nothing worse) as we age, we acquire humility

naturally. Or rather, humility acquires us. The more

time we spend in nature, away from the technology

of the "civilized" world, the clearer we will be, the

more clearly we will see what is, what the nature

of reality is. Information, news, comes and goes,

becomes out dated, passé, all the latest, on Facebook

and twitter and social media blurs together into

blathering babble. But, nature persists, in its ever

changing wonder. I trust nature with all it's beauty,

splendour and ferociousness.” - Bo Bartlett

W H E N I W A S E I G H T E E N I N F L O R E N C E I T A L Y , I W A S V I S I T I N G T H E G R E A T I T A L I A N F R E S C O P A I N T E R P I E T R O A N N I G O N I . I A S K E D H I M W H O I C O U L D S T U D Y W I T H , W H O W O U L D B E T H E B E S T T E A C H E R F O R M E . A N N I G O N I L O O K E D M E S T R A I G H T I N T H E E Y E S , S P E A K I N G I N E N G L I S H B U T W I T H A S T R O N G I T A L I A N A C C E N T , I N H I S D E E P B A R I T O N E V O I C E , H E S L O W E D D O W N A B I T S O A S T O E M P H A S I Z E H I S P O I N T A N D M A K E S U R E I W A S L I S T E N I N G , A N D H E S A I D . . . ‘ L I F E I S T H E G R E A T E S T T E A C H E R . ’ Y E P

BB

BO BARTLETTBo Bartlett

V I S I O N

" B O B A R T L E T T I S A N

A M E R I C A N R E A L I S T W I T H

A M O D E R N I S T V I S I O N .

H I S P A I N T I N G S A R E W E L L

W I T H I N T H E T R A D I T I O N

O F A M E R I C A N R E A L I S M

A S D E F I N E D B Y A R T I S T S

S U C H A S T H O M A S E A K I N S

A N D A N D R E W W Y E T H .

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V I S I O N

Mandarin Fine Art Gallery | [email protected]

Zhao Kailin felt, even as a young child that he wanted to be an artist. "By the age of eight, I knew I wanted to be a painter," Zhao relates. "It was my second grade teacher in elementary school who taught me basic painting skills and encouraged and challenged me. Most important, she taught me how to soar with imaginary wings through the secret world of art." Under her tutelage, Zhao's painting abilities matured, so much so that his work began appearing in children's juried art exhibitions in Bengbu. In 1988, Zhao Kailin was accepted for graduate studies at the prestigious oil painting department of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, China's most illustrious and rigorous fine arts institution. "From 1988 to 1990, I studied there and learned traditional western-style oil painting," states Zhao. "It was the most important period of art studies in my life." During this period of intensive training, Zhao was exposed to the galvanizing portraits of Dutch Renaissance master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) and was immediately taken with the work's luxuriant brushwork, jewel-like color and

commanding manipulation of light and shadow inspired by Italian Renaissance painter Caravaggio (1573-1610). It was during this same time that Zhao also became enamored of the elegantly voluptuous society portraiture of American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Sargent's Madame X (1884), a full-figure portrait of a mysterious porcelain-skinned woman dressed in a long black dress that scandalized Paris's Salon of 1884, most certainly has left its silky mark on many of Zhao Kailin's portrait paintings.Kailin lived in Stockholm, Sweden from 1992-1994, where he began creation of oil painting while studying the works of the European Masters.

More recently, Zhao's work has concentrated on depicting beautiful, introspective young women, most of whom are Asian and dressed in traditional Chinese attire. Several of the latest pieces feature females with musical instruments. These paintings capture the essential aura of young women suspended between the innocence of childhood and the smoldering sexuality of womanhood, evoking a sense of longing, dreams and desire.

" E V E R Y P A I N T I N G I D O I N V O L V E S P E R S O N A L S T O R I E S A N D M E M O R I E S , " Z H A O E X P L A I N S . " I A M A L W A Y S S T R I V I N G T O C O M M U N I C A T E N O T O N L Y T H E B E A U T Y A N D U N S P O K E N P E R S O N A L N A R R A T I V E S O F T H E S E W O M E N , B U T A L S O T H E I N H E R E N T B E A U T Y O F C H I N E S E C U L T U R E A N D L I F E . "

ZKZHAO KAILIN

John Tabacek

V I S I O N

O N E O F T H E M O S T

I M P O R T A N T A N D

C R I T I C A L L Y A C C L A I M E D

C H I N E S E M A S T E R S O F

C O N T E M P O R A R Y R E A L I S M

W O R K I N G T O D A Y ,

P A I N T E R Z H A O K A I L I N

W A S B O R N I N 1 9 6 1

I N B E N G B U I N

S O U T H E A S T C H I N A .

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zhao kailin bo bartlett - mandarin fine art gallery · zhao kailin spring blossom 2014 oil on linen...

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