Peng Jian (b. 1982) is a graduate of the traditional painting department of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. His delicate and subtle works combine traditional techniques inspired by old masters and a “mise en abyme” of literati’s paintings. Previous series approached the topic of urban evolutions in Chinese cities, their contemporary cityscapes together with their disillusions. They are grey-hued bittersweet works with sharp strokes straining for rhythm and balance.
In the present exhibition, Peng Jian delivers more joyous productions depicting books with vibrant colours. He thereby operates a transition from an objective world to more subjective and personal presentations. Peng Jian commences an intimate quest about his routine and inner psyche. The works in the exhibition are stacked books, hidden in boxes and adorned by sundry mementos of the artist’s childhood or toys of his own son. Beyond its circumstantial appearance, the exhibition evokes a kind of harmony, a meditative kind of elegance. Peng Jian is part of the new ink movement whose work was recently exhibited in Hong Kong and the U.S.A. and has become part of private collections in China and Europe.
