Event: London Art Fair 2019
Location: Arthill Gallery Booth 26
Preview: Evening of 15th January
Date: 16th - 20th January
Artists: Martin Brausewetter, Shaoyan Li, Shi Rongqiang, Wang Changgan and Zeng Jianyong
Arthill Gallery is pleased to announce that we will be participating in London Art Fair 2019. London Art Fair provides a space to showcase the most exceptional modern and contemporary art of our time, to discover and to buy. The Fair is an established destination for both museum-quality modern and contemporary work, nurturing collecting at all levels, from prints and editions to major works by internationally renowned artists.
Arthill Gallery will be showcasing some of the talented contemporary artists we have on our roster, including Martin Brausewetter, Shaoyan Li, Shi Rongqiang, Wang Changgan and Zeng Jianyong.
Martin Brausewetter was born in 1960 in Vienna. He studied painting at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and has exhibited widely. Brausewetter started out, mainly as a painter, working on fairly abstract compositions of multiple layers of egg-tempera paint, often scratching their surface with a razor blade, so as to investigate the constitution of matter itself, and of space.
Emerging from an interest of the artist in Quantum Physics and new studies on the function and composition of black holes in the universe, his paintings were searching to convey the various dimensions of reality in which we live. Brausewetter likens his way of working to a pendulum, which movement goes back and forth, between microscopic and macro layers of reality. The compositions resulting in his works cannot be understood as purely abstract, for they express the artist’s interest in the constitution and nature of matter in the universe.
Shaoyan Li was born in 1980 in Shandong Province, China. He graduated in 2002 from Qufu Academy of Fine Arts of Shandong Normal University, since this time his work has been exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions and art fairs in Shandong and other parts of mainland China. Li is currently living and working in Shandong, and teaching at the Oil Painting Department at Qufu Academy of Fine Arts of Shandong Normal University.
His work comments on the imperfection, diversity and weakness of human beings. The paintings appear mysterious in colour and content, confusing and intriguing at the same time. Li’s work can be seen as impressionistic interpretation and extension of the Chinese technique Gong Bi which traditionally included birds, insects, fish and flowers. The artists exaggerated form of the technique can be seen as a diary of sorts, which is ‘confessing’ his thoughts to the viewer, a record of his moment-by-moment feelings and ideas.
Shi Rongqiang was born 1973 in Shandong, China. He graduated from Qufu Academy of Fine Arts of Shandong Normal University and Nanjing Art Institute of Fine Arts where he was tutored by Professor Zhou Jingxin. His works are in numerous famous collections such as the Liu Haisu Art Museum, Chengdu Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art and Zhu Qizhan Art Museum.
Rongqiang uses traditional Chinese ink painting techniques to create two-dimensional artworks with the addition of subtle lighting. Chinese ceramics from the Tang dynasty – the golden age – Ming dynasty, and Hung dynasty have all had an influence of the texture and colour of his work. This is most apparent in the prominence of the colours white, green and brown and the use of Gong Bi and Baimiao technique throughout his work.
Wang Changgan was born 1985 in Guangdong, China. He studied printmaking, majoring in lithography which he has used throughout the majority of his work to date. His technique allows the artists to make small and detailed edits to his work; with the ability to create multiple copies of the same print. A selection of Changgan’s work to be displayed at London Art Fair are new oil paintings, which are yet to be exhibited in London.
Changgan chose printmaking as a way to reflect on his generation's, as well as his personal, interpretation of the spirit of the age, delicate emotions, aspirations and determination of life.
Zeng Jianyong was born in Chenghai, Guangdong and currently lives and works in Beijing and Shenzhen. Jianyong has studied Chinese Painting at Huaqiao University and Printmaking at Central Academy of Fine Arts, his work has been widely exhibited throughout China and the USA.
Jianyong’s unique and absorbing work is the product of a wide variety of influences and training, both Eastern and Western. Jianyong has said that as an artist, he 'treasures the weaknesses of human nature, such as irrationality and fragility,' and tries to tap into these qualities when making his art. He takes influence from pop culture, such as manga and pop art, but uses softer pastel colours to create a sublet palette throughout his work. Jianyong has created a series of work specifically for Arthill Gallery which will be making their public debut at the London Art Fair.
London Art Fair is an unmissable opening to the international art calendar and we hope that you will join us in exploring the contemporary artwork that will be shown during this week.