［Press Release]

Exhibition Dates
28 May–13 July, 2014
Tuesday–Saturday, 11am–7pm; Sunday, 12–6pm
(Closed on Mondays and Public Holidays)
Press Preview: Wednesday, 28 May, 2014, 4–6pm
Opening reception: Wednesday, 28 May, 2014, 7–9pm
Pearl Lam Galleries, 9 Lock Road, #03-22, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108937

Zhu Jinshi， 2013，Oil on canvas，180 x 160 cm

Singapore—Pearl Lam Galleries is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of works by Chinese artist Zhu Jinshi in Singapore. Zhu Jinshi’s wide-ranging and diverse oeuvre across media as varied as installation, objects, performance, video, photography and painting over the past 30 years is telling of an artist with an ongoing commitment to broadening and advancing his means of expression.

One of the renowned group of artists who left China in the 1980s, Zhu was marked by his move to Germany and his encounters with the work of artists including Beuys, and the Arte Povera and Fluxus movements, among others. Abandoning painting for a short time, he began to engage in more radical forms of expression, producing conceptual, installation and performance work and exploring possibilities for extending art into physical space. Zhu’s practice was characterised by its use of contemporary Western art theory to uncover new possibilities in the cultural resources and materials of China. It is a mark of his quality as an artist that he continues to forge a fresh and profoundly distinctive idiom out of his two ‘homes’.
The framework of the exhibition provides the opportunity to see works from two of the most iconic categories of Zhu Jinshi’s oeuvre, installation and painting, in conversation. Work, an arresting site-specific Xuan paper installation conceived by the artist for the gallery space, stretches over 30 metres and is created from 8,000 sheets of rice paper, a medium which Zhu has returned to throughout his career and which he reinvents through monumental installations, individually crumpled and rolled by hand and partially dipped in black ink. Xuan paper has been used in China for millennia. It is the first paper ever invented for writing and has been traditionally used as a surface for calligraphy and scholarly ink and brush painting, and is steeped in inherited social and cultural associations. Work demonstrates Zhu’s engagement with the installation work that he encountered in Germany in the 80s, yet contrasts the cool, intellectual, industrial nature of Minimalist sculpture with the delicacy of paper that bears traces of the hand, engaging emotion before intellect. This will be placed in dialogue with the sensuous, impassioned surfaces of Zhu’s current repertoire of near-sculptural abstract oil paintings—a medium that Zhu has for over a decade renewed with his attempt to capture the encounter between his own subjectivity and his experience of the world in the form of paint.
In this exhibition, Zhu ruminates on how his engagements with both painting and installation can come together in a manner that conjures up possibilities for understanding the term “simplicity” in relation to the artistic philosophies of Minimalism, Arte Povera and Mono-ha. The terms “simplicity” and “Minimalism” are, in a way, interlinked; both emphasise an extreme idea of subtraction and the use of an utmost economy of expression. The distinction here is that for Zhu, “simplicity” does not focus on the act of singularising, but rather on bringing simple, uncomplicated objects into the scope of art, and allowing them to generate creativity.
Zhu states that, “In today’s world, we are not lacking in concepts, but instead lack firsthand experience, sensory perception and emotional contact. In this exhibition, ‘simplicity’ is not conceived as a theoretical rationale, but rather a term that characterises an approach to art that is regrounded in encountering, experiencing and perceiving firsthand and on-site.”
Pearl Lam, Founder of Pearl Lam Galleries, said, “Zhu’s first solo exhibition in Singapore demonstrates not only how powerful but how adventurous an artist Zhu has been and continues to be. Working together for many years, taking his work to new and broader audiences worldwide, I have seen the constant development and innovation in his work which unites artistic and cultural theories from East and West, culminating in his important solo show in Singapore.”
About the Artist
Zhu Jinshi was born in Beijing in 1954. His selected exhibitions include: Thick Paint: Jean Fautrier, Franz West, Zhu Jinshi (2014) at Luxembourg & Dayan Gallery, New York, USA; Zhu Jinshi: The Reality of Paint (2013) at Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong; Gravity to Balance Violence (2012) at Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA; Power and Territory (2008) at Arario Gallery, Beijing, China; Orient/Ation, 4th International Istanbul Biennial in Turkey (1995); Fang (1990) at DAAD gallery, Berlin, Germany; The 1st Xing Xing (Stars Group) Exhibition (1979) at Gallery in Beihai Park, Beijing, China. His works have been collected internationally by notable public and private collections. His Xuan paper installation Tao of Xuan Paper is in Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

About Pearl Lam Galleries
Founded by Pearl Lam, Pearl Lam Galleries is a driving force within Asia’s contemporary art scene. With over 20 years of experience exhibiting Asian and Western art and design, it is one of the leading and most established contemporary art galleries to be launched out of China. Playing a vital role in stimulating international dialogue on Chinese and Asian contemporary art, the Galleries is dedicated to championing artists who re-evaluate and challenge perceptions of cultural practice from the region. The Galleries in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore collaborate with renowned curators, each presenting distinct programming from major solo exhibitions, special projects and installations to conceptually rigorous group shows. Based on the philosophy of Chinese Literati where art forms have no hierarchy, the Galleries is dedicated to breaking down boundaries between different disciplines with a unique gallery model committed to encouraging cross-cultural exchange.
Contemporary Chinese abstract art is heavily represented in the Galleries roster. Influential Chinese artists Zhu Jinshi and Su Xiaobai, who synthesise Chinese sensibilities with an international visual language, are presented internationally with work now included in major private and public collections worldwide. The Galleries has also introduced leading international artists such as Jenny Holzer, Jim Lambie and Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA) to markets in the region, providing opportunities for new audiences in Asia to encounter their work. Pearl Lam Galleries encourages international artists to create new works, which engage specifically with the region—collaborating to produce thought-provoking and culturally relevant work.
Pearl Lam Design shows works by established and emerging international designers, including Maarten Baas, Mattia Bonetti, André Dubreuil, and Studio Makkink & Bey, in exhibitions and design fairs around the world. They are invited to push the boundaries of traditional Chinese art and craft techniques and create new works that reflect their experiences in China. A fourth gallery and concept store devoted solely to design will open shortly in Shanghai.