Current Exhibition
Wang Yabin
Wang Yabin: In Search of Lost Time
2023.11.17 - 12.30
TRIUMPH GALLERY is pleased to present “In Search of Lost Time,” the latest solo exhibition of Wang Yabin, which runs from November 17th, 2023 to December 30th, 2023. The title of this exhibition is taken from the seven-character poem The Sad Zither by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin, through which the artist reflects on the passage of time and the remembrance of the bygone, as well as his lasting interest in the interpretation of art in Lao-Zhuang Taoism.Wang Yabin was born in Henan Province in 1974 and graduated from the Art Department of Henan Normal University in 1994. As a leading figure in Chinese contemporary painting, Wang Yabin has garnered much attention for his distinctive style, which the painterly language of the West to convey an Eastern sensitivity. The early works of the artist centered more on the “narrative” but he has turned to a more “Xieyi (to transcribe the idea)” mode in the last decade. He draws inspiration from a plethora of sources such as literature, history, poetry, and classic and modern art. Through his unfettered imagination and inner experience, he finds a balance between the traditional and the contemporary, the East and the West, allowing him to weave his fantasies into beings.This exhibition will showcase a series of recent paintings Wang Yabin has embarked on since 2020. Directly inspired by the enchanting lines in Li Shangyin’s The Sad Zither, these paintings reveal a splendid yet subtle vision. The artist has refined and developed the form of his subjects to an extreme that hovers in a transitory state between abstraction and figuration. His commanding gesture of sweeping and splashing veils his subjects with layers of fluctuating paint, transforming them into beings that “swim” across these layers. Wang’s meticulous control over the hue and the texture conjures up on his paintings the surface of ancient Chinese murals and the pictorial tension of Western paintings, bestowing his compositions an allegorical and symbolic significance.
Current Exhibition
Fang Lijun
Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain
2023.10.15 - 04.14
The solo exhibition Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain by artist Fang Lijun (b. 1963) was inaugurated at the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology Oxford on 14th October 2023. The exhibition has opened to the public from October 15th for six months. The exhibition is curated by Prof. Shelagh Vainker, Curator of Chinese Art at the Ashmolean Museum and Associate Professor of Chinese Art in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. The Ashmolean Museum is recognized as the first public museum in the English-speaking world and one of the earliest and largest university museums with the richest collection in the world. The formation of Ashmolean Museum marks the beginning of modern museums. Its establishment marked a seminal moment in the emergence of modern museum history. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition of Fang Lijun at public museum in Britain.The exhibition Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain showcases hunderds of iconic works by Fang Lijun, from his student days in the late 1970s to the present. The exhibited works encompass drawings, oil paintings, works on paper, woodcut prints, porcelain, porcelain paintings and experimental art education video. The exhibited art works are loaned to the Museum on courtesy of Fang Lijun Studio, public and private collections. The opening events of the exhibition including the opening remarks, symposium, reception, and dinner are jointly hosted by the Ashmolean Museum and New College, University of Oxford.  The exhibition is supported by Clouds Intelligence and Triumph Gallery, and Luzhou Laojiao · Guojiao 1573 provides the brand support.Dr Alexander Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, and Professor Shelagh Vainker, Curator of the exhibition, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Dr Sturgis addressed, "We are very honoured to be able to present a solo exhibition of such an important artist at the Ashmolean Museum, and we thank you all for your dedication and appreciate the support from all parties involved in this exhibition." Following the symposium, Fang Lijun had a dialogue with David Elliott, the renowned curator of contemporary art curator wherein they collectively retraced the artist's artistic odyssey, career milestones, and substantial influences. "A deep understanding of Fang Lijun's artistic life and the social background behind his work is of great significance to understanding Chinese contemporary art and Chinese society." Emphasized by David Elliott.The opening reception and dinner were held at New College, University of Oxford. At the dinner, Mr. Miles young, Warden of New College welcomed the guests worldwide and remarked: "I had the great pleasure of knowing Mr. Fang Lijun for some years. His work seems as much symbolic of the late twentieth and early twenty first century in China as Andy Warhol is of twentieth century America to me. He has always seen an artist who is truly Prometheus, pushing the boundaries of technique in so many innovative ways. He is also someone who is immensely generous in the development of young artists and art education. I also want to welcome HMA Caroline Wilson, his majesty's ambassador to China. The fact that you are here and have made a huge effort about the importance of this event and about the support of cultural exchange between UK and China.”Over 100 guests from China, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Japan, including the British Ambassador to China, and Dr Ian Kiaer, Director of Ruskin School of Fine Arts attended the opening events.
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