Peng Jian deliberately merges Western and Chinese painting traditions, approaching the Song Dynasty ruled-line architectural painting style with a contemporary aesthetic. He is part of the new ink art movement in China, where his delicate and subtle works combine traditional techniques inspired by old masters and a mise-en-abyme of historic painterly reference. He has looked to urban evolutions in Chinese cities, full of disillusion, which he paints in distinctive grey-hued strokes in bold compositional rhythms. Books are his other main subject matter, presented in a colourful, joyous light, they are densely stacked up and adorned with mementos of childhood and daily life. His works portray both an objective, imbalanced world and the interior, subjective one of a scholar’s world, hinting at the artist’s own intimate quest around his inner psyche and daily routines, harmonious and meditative.
Peng Jian, born in 1982, Yueyang, China, graduated with a MFA from China Academy of Art at Hangzhou in 2013, where he continues to live and work. His works have been exhibited at the National Art Museum of China Beijing, Shanghai Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hongik Museum of Art, Sydney City Hall, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Colorado State University and the Pueblo Fine Art Gallery. His work has featured at international art fairs including Art15, London and Art Basel Hong Kong, while his work can be found in the collections of Today Art Museum, Beijing and Liu Haisu Art Museum Shanghai.