About the Artists
Yun Yongye – Born in Hainan China in 1990, Yun Yongye graduated in 2012 from the Department of Oil Painting of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. He now works and lives in Beijing. Painted in traditional realistic style with many works named after the Eastern and Western Literature and art, Yongye experiments in storytelling and creates a narrative in his works. Yongye’s works have been shown in Asia Now 2019.
Zhang Shujian – Born in Hunan Province in 1987, Zhang Shujian graduated from the 4th studio of the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2010. He currently lives and works in Beijing. Shujian is known for his outstanding technique that seeks to combine Eastern and Western methods. Using oil painting or pencil on paper, he produces grotesque portraits of imaginary characters and close-ups of human faces that seek to draw our attention to rarely noticed features of our anatomy. Following graduation, his work was the object of solo shows in galleries and institutions including UCCA, Taikang Space, C-Space and Canvas International Art in Amsterdam.
Chen Han – Born in Liaoning in 1973, Chen Han graduated in 2005 from the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts where he became a teacher. He now lives in Shenyang and works in Beijing. With his painterly portraits and still lives, the works of Chen Han give the viewer a sense of uneasiness by letting him partake in the intimate moments of the painting’s characters. Chen Han has been featured in both national and international group exhibitions, including Art Brussels, Art Taipei, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Hongding Gallery and M50 Creative Garden Shanghai.
Zhu Rixin – Born in Jiujiang in 1986, Zhu Rixin graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing with a master’s degree. He now lives and works in Beijing. In the past few years, Rixin has been using landscape architecture theory to illustrate maps of the world. He tries to combine it with other disciplines so as to create a new aesthetic system. Using pens or oil paintings he creates imaginary geological phenomena and human conflicts that alter the relief of existing geographical locations, resulting in a collision between natural powers and fictional boundaries. His works have been exhibited in domestic and international museums and art fairs, including Art Museum of Repin Academy of Fine Arts, He Xiangning Art Museum, CAFA Art Museum, Art Brussel and Shanghai Art 021
Peng Jian – Born in Yueyang, Hunan Province in 1982, Peng Jian graduated with a master’s degree from the China Academy of Art at Hangzhou in 2013. He now lives and works in Hangzhou. Like other “New Ink” artists, Peng Jian uses traditional Chinese painting materials to produce contemporary works. His paintings are mainly divided into 2 series: one shows vistas of Chinese cities seen from inside a scholar’s room while the other features piles of brightly coloured books adroitly arranged to resemble abstract works. His works have been exhibited in domestic and international museums and art fairs, including the National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Today Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hongik Museum of Art, Sydney City Hall, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Art Basel Hong Kong, etc
Hao Shiming – Born in 1977 in Heze, Shandong Province, Hao Shiming graduated from the traditional painting department of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. He now lives and works in Wuhan and Beijing. A member of the ‘New Ink’ movement, Shiming uses traditional materials – ink, rice paper, ground colours – to produce a new form of classical paintings which combine calligraphy techniques with western painting methods. Shiming’s subjects range from calligraphy to traditional motifs like birds and mountains to completely abstract works. Shiming was featured in both national and international group exhibitions, including National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Today Art Museum, Sydney College of the Arts SCA Galleries, Royal College of Art Gallery, etc.
Yang Yongliang – Born in Shanghai in 1980, Yang Yongliang graduated from the China Academy of Art in 2003. He now lives and works between Shanghai and New York. Working primarily with photography and video, Yongliang is famed for his wry subversion of Chinese traditional landscape paintings where mountains are replaced by the combined photos of hundreds of skyscrapers and residential buildings. More recently he has been creating videos which extend the scope of his photographs by having animated elements such as cars, boats, waterfalls and advertising boards. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Lu Chao – Born in 1988 in Shenyang, Lu Chao is a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and of Royal College of Art in London. He now lives and works in London. Lu Chao’ s oil paintingsuse a subtle technique with extensively detailed and traditionally Chinese black and white aesthetic to prompt a profound feeling of mystery and imagination. His works have been widely exhibited in galleries and institutions in China and abroad, including at Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris, MOCA Shanghai, in the Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu and the Today Art Museum.
Xie Lei – Born in 1983 in Huainan, Anhui province, China, Xie Lei lives and works in Paris since 2006. He graduated from China CentralAcademy of Fine Arts and École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris and received his PhD (practice-based) in visual arts in 2016 from École normal supérieure and Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. In Xie Lei’s works, the humans and animals are more anonymous, more purely archetypal figures powerfully evoked, but without individual features – ghost forms his nether world – compelling, dark, threatening even. Like dreams, these works are deeply allusive, full of opaque meanings. Xie Lei’s work is included in public and private collections, such as Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL) and Burger Collection. He has also been exhibited widely in France, Switzerland and China.
Ye Linghan – Born in 1985 in Lishui, Zhejiang, Ye Linghan graduated from the China Academy of Art in 2009. He currently lives and works in Beijing. Inspired by the collage work of Henri Matisse, Linghan combines, oil, acrylic, collage and spray paint providing a panorama of the wealth of artistic techniques today. His works capture a state of perpetual layering and transformation; reflecting the repetitive flux of information that engulfs us in an age where the internet and technology are all-consuming and omnipresent. Linghan’s works have been widelycollected and exhibited at notable institutions and galleries, amongst which Shanghai K11 Art Museum, MOCA Shanghai, Shenzhen OCT Art Terminal, Shanghai Mingsheng Art Museum and JNBY Beijing.
Wang Yi – Born in 1991 in Shanghai and graduated from the ChinaAcademy of Art in 2013. Wang Yi now lives and works in Shanghai. Wang Yi’s practice is closely related to the new abstract movement in China initiated by Ding Yi. Obviously influenced by Frank Stella and Vasarely, his works rely on chromatic variations and geometrical shapes to create an illusion of movement and depth within the canvas. His work has already been exhibited at the Minsheng Art Museum, China Academy of Art Museum, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and at the Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art.
Qian Jiahua – Born in 1987 in Shanghai, Qian Jiahua graduated from Hangzhou’s China Academy of Art in 2011. She now lives and works in Shanghai. Jiahua is a painter working mainly with acrylic, she produces geometric abstract works where large patches of colour are delimited by thin contrasting lines. She tries to break the easy balance of a rectangular canvas by the use of simple forms. Her work has already been largely exhibited including at White Cube London, K11 Museum Shanghai, Long Museum Shanghai and Henglu Art Museum Hangzhou.
Manuel Mathieu – Born in Haiti in 1986, Manuel Mathieu studied Visual and Media Arts at the he University of Quebec in Montreal and obtained a Masters in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, the University of London in 2016. He works with mixed media, painting and drawing. Manuel’s work is deeply personal, often paints self-portraits and family portraits that reflecting on his personal history and traumas. Mathieu's works are in the collections of the Rubell Family in Miami and JP Morgan in New York. His works have been shown in major museums internationally including the Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C.; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Quebec, Musée de la civilisation in Quebec. He has also exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris and ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) in London.
Barthélémy Toguo – Born in Cameroon in 1967, Barthélémy Toguo studied art in Abidjan, Grenoble and Dusseldorf before moving to Paris. He now lives and works in Paris and Bandjoun, Cameroon where he created Bandjoun Station, a non-profit arts centre. Known primarily for his ink on paper works that feature exotic animals, fertility symbols and scenes of African animist rituals, Toguo’s practice also includes installations, performance and photography. In the latter, he discusses themes of identity, migration, epidemics and cultural borders. Shown the world over, Toguo’s works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Centre Pompidou Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris, the Drawing Center New York, the Sydney Biennale and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne.
Romain Bernini – Born in Paris in 1979, Romain Bernini graduated with a Master’s degree from the Sorbonne in 2004 where he now teaches. He currently lives and works in Paris. Dedicating himself mostly to oil paintings, Bernini ha developed for years a pictorial work questioning society, space, figuration, mythology and popular culture. In his recent paintings, he has been apt to create a lush and enigmatic life-size forest on canvas with plain and saturated colours. These forests are a starting point for further depictions of exotic animals and vibrant aborigine people. Bernini’s work was exhibited extensively including at the Museum of Chambery, the Abbaye St André - the contemporary centre of art, the Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art Korea and West Bund Art and Design Shanghai.
Martin Kollar – Born in Czechoslovakia in 1971, Martin Kollar studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava where he now lives and works. An award-winning photographer, Martin is known for capturing situations which he considers ephemeral or absurd. He seeks to depict the wounds left in his home country by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. His photos contain a strong documentary streak that records the change from the eternal dogmas of communism to temporary solutions. Martin’s work has been exhibited across the world, including Brooklyn Museum, the Slovak National Gallery Bratislava, Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin, Tel Aviv museum of art and Musee Elysee Lausanne.
Christopher Orr – Born in 1967 in Helensburgh, Christopher Orr graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design with a bachelor’s degree in 2000, then studied at the Royal College of Art and received a master's degree in 2013. Christopher’s works pay tribute to classical painting whilst twisting their familiar aspect and presupposed role. Christopher preserves the transcendental quality of nature whilst often deftly contrasting it with the banal and mundanedepictions of human figures. Meanwhile, in his still life paintings, still, lives are lent an uncanny aspect by the presence of seemingly useless items. Christopher's works have been exhibited widely, including in a solo show at the Kunsthaus Baselland in 2013. Notable group exhibitions include “No New Things Under the Sun” at the Royal Academy (London U.K., 2010), Tate Triennial 2006, “(...) The Duck Was Still Alive” at CAC Meymac (France, 2005) and “Ideal Worlds” at Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt Germany, 2005).
