Exhibition Dates :: March 22 – April 16, 2014
VERNISSAGE :: Saturday afternoon March 22, 2014, 3 – 5 pm
Zhang Zheyi, “碧 浮堤飞舞 B45″, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 2014
《张哲溢, 《碧 浮堤飞舞 B45》, 布面油画, 80 x 100 cm, 2014
Chen Jiaye, “To Tear No.13”, oil on canvas, Diameter 100 cm, 2014
陈家业, 《撕系列13》, 布面油画, 直径100 cm
Red Gate Gallery is proud to the announce the opening of Highly Prized Flowers, a show of works by Zhang Zheyi and Chen Jiaye.
In April 2013, Zhang Zheyi and Chen Jiaye participated in Red Gate Gallery’s exhibition Altered Shan Shui States along with four other artists, which marks the beginning of both artists’ collaboration with Red Gate and it is also the start of the two artists’ friendship.
In the new exhibition Zhang and Chen have continued their practice in re-presenting and re-interpreting classical Chinese paintings from a contemporary perspective, and have extended the genres from “Shan Shui” (landscape) to include “Birds and Flowers”.
In his new paintings, Chen Jiaye refers to to old masters such as Zhao Mengfu and Wu Yuanzhi from the Song and Jin dynasties. More than “re-paint” the ancient ink paintings on canvas with oil, Chen creates vivid illusion on canvas in which the paintings are torn, crumpled or burned, which may suggest the artist’s understanding on the influence of tradition in contemporary society.
If Chen Jiaye’s works inspire a pensive mood, Zhang Zheyi’s paintings, on the other hand, are surprisingly playful and humorous. Some of the works shown in the exhibition are an extension of the artist’s acclaimed “cast iron toys” series, in which vintage cast iron toys are placed into seemingly classical Flowers and Birds paintings, while in the new “B45” series, Zhang re-constructs the classical “orchid ” motif in Chinese painting with jet trails.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is a special project in which the two artists paint in response to the same painting – Picture of a Huang Bird on a Pomegranate Tree from the Song Dynasty. The two paintings will be juxtaposed in the exhibition.
The exhibition will be on view until April 16, 2014.
