Artists

Events

1.19 Opening Reception and Artist Talk
艺术家对话和开幕

3.9 Between Mountains - Song Dynasty Style Tea Ceremony and Class
山间茶课——点茶纪事

3.16 Between Mountains - From Schubert to Strauss 山间—从舒伯特到斯特劳斯

New York -  Fou Gallery is pleased to announce that we will present a two-person exhibition Between Mountains by Renqian Yang and Lan Zhaoxing from January 19th to March 17th, 2019. Lan’s paintings seek for a balanced sense of order in the landscape with rhythmic musicality. Yang will present ceramic works created at the Craigardan Residency in the Adirondack Mountains in 2018. In her new work she experiments with porcelain paper clay, continue creating organic sculptures and returns to the inner strength and spirit.

Images of mountains have remained a potent source of inspiration for artists and writers, often with contradictory meanings. Wang Yuanqi's Wangchuang Villa conveys the shared cultural ideals of a reclusive world in a turbulent political environment through the symbolic villa between the mountains. In Turner's Snowstorm: Hannibal and His Army Crossed the Alps, the mountains brought war and death. Generations of Macondo have tried to climb over the mountains and open up new territory, while Chinese artists from Ming Dynasty devoted themselves to self-cultivation through reinterpreting the landscape styles of Yuan scholar-painters. The mountains evoke a feeling of tranquility, but also can be seen as a battleground for the military. The eternal theme of mountains leads into the distance while returning to one’s internal mind. Coincidentally, the theme of mountains become an inspiration for both Lan Zhaoxing and Renqian Yang.

Lan Zhaoxing attempts to use the language of painting to express the philosophical realms of spirituality. In her work she chooses the elements from the two mutable worlds of nature and self, and gives them color and form, trying to make an emotional response and intellectual thinking logically consistent. Lan grew up in the mountains and served in an institution isolated in the mountains during her 10-year service in the military. The mountains pinned her contradictory feelings about the homeland. Most of the paintings in the exhibition were created in Lishan, Shanxi, and Fujian Fuding. She linked between the real landscape and the art history references to extract a painting language between naturalism and abstraction, attempting to give clarity and balance to order, with both rhythmic musicality and architectural eternity.

Yang's previous ceramic works are characterized by vibrant color, with a focus on urban and social issues. However, her residency in the Adirondack Mountains gives her a completely different sentiment. The Craigardan Residency provides a collaborative platform for artists. The farmhouse between the mountains of Adirondack brings together creators from different fields, including artists, writers, and chefs. Living in a mountain that is completely away from busy city life, Yang began to explore a new rhythm of creation, returning to the material itself. She added paper pulp to the liquid clay then drying the clay; this process improved plasticity of the clay. In the new body of works, she returns to simply colors, adding only a small amount of black, red, cobalt, yellow ocher, etc. She also explores the limit of materials. Light, clay, water, the spirit of the mountains, as well as the traces of hands fully reflected in these sculptures. The pieces are so thin and fragile, almost transparent, as if light will pass through.

Yang is interested in the concept of binaries. Her work addresses the unity and the contradiction of dichotomies: restriction and freedom; pessimism and optimism; complexity and simplicity. The peaceful atmosphere in the mountain allows her to look into connection between the internal and external worlds. With the minimal palette and style, Ren looks for the balance between inner and outer, dynamic and static, light and heavy, strong and pale.

*Chinese Press Release: Echo He; English Translation: Yuan Fang; Academic Advisor: Du Lin.

纽约 – 否画廊荣幸地宣布，我们将于2019年1月19日至3月17日举办杨人倩和兰昭形的双人展《山间》。兰昭形以油画为主要创作媒介，在风景中寻找平衡的秩序感，和跳动的音乐性。杨人倩将呈现2018年在阿迪朗达克（Adirondack）山脉Craigardan驻地艺术项目前后创作的陶瓷作品，实验黏土和纸浆结合，在继续研究自然有机形态雕塑的同时，回归内在的力量。展览将于1月19日举办艺术家对话和开幕酒会。

在艺术和文学中，山间常被人赋予种种矛盾的意向。在王原祁的《辋川图卷》中，山林承载着田园和归隐的想象。而在透纳的《暴风雪：汉尼拔和他的军队越过阿尔卑斯山》中，山又带来战争和死亡。马孔多的一代代族人尝试翻越山脉，开拓疆土。明代遗民艺术家则寄情山水，回避政治纷争。崇山峻岭给予人宁静的感受，却也是兵家必争之地。山亘古不变，引向远方，又指回内心。无形之中，山成为两个人的创作中的重叠。

兰昭形试图用绘画语言来表述形而上学的哲学领域。她从自然和自我这两个可变的世界中选择需要的作品要素，并赋予了色彩和形式。山寄托了她对故土的矛盾情结，也是在军队十年服役生涯中的精神寄托。展览中的画作大多在山西晋南历山和福建福鼎创作，而她将现实风景和视觉经验联系在一起，提炼出一种介于自然主义和抽象艺术之间的绘画语言。在对山中风景的描绘中，她寻求一种理性而平衡的秩序感，而在其中又有跳跃的音乐性。

杨人倩此前创作的陶瓷作品多具有强烈的色彩，关注城市和社会议题，而在山间的创作经历给予她完全不同的感悟。Craigardan驻地项目为艺术家提供一个共同创作的平台，这个位于阿迪朗达克群山之间的农庄汇集了不同领域的创作者，包括艺术家，作家，厨师等。在一种与现代都市忙碌节奏完全相反的山中生活，杨人倩开始探索一种新的创作节奏，回归材料本身，在瓷泥制作过程里加入纸浆来提高其可塑性，以纯色为主，只加入少量的黑、红、钴、赭，等色料，用一种缓慢而专注的状态挑战材料和造型本身的局限。在这些陶瓷作品中，可以看到自然的光、泥、水、山留下的痕迹。手的痕迹与造型融合，纱一般的轻薄，光一般的透明，山一般的延绵在这些雕塑上充分体现。杨人倩一直对二元对立非常感兴趣，关注对立属性的矛盾和统一，而这次山间特殊的创造环境，让她的关注点更为内化，在内心和外界的关联，简单的色彩和造型中寻找内与外，动与静，轻与重，浓与淡的平衡。

Read the full press release CLICK HERE
查看完整的新闻稿，请点击这里。

News and Reviews

Costigan, Johanna，“否画廊：生活和艺术互为补充”，Neocha，2019.10.21.

Costigan, Johanna. “Fou Gallery.” Neocha, 2019.10.21.

Lin, Zi. “Renqian Yang and Her Porcelain Prose,” Tussle Magazine, 2019.06.

林梓，“杨人倩与她的陶瓷散文”，典藏，2019.04.

“Lan Zhaoxing and Renqian Yang: Between Mountains,” Aisan Art Archive, 2019.01.15.

“Fou Gallery presents ‘Lan Zhaoxing and Renqian Yang: Between Mountains’ in New York,” CAFA Art Info, 2019.01.29.

“华裔文青与纽约布鲁克林褐石建筑的浪漫情缘”，建筑志微信公众号，2019.02.14

“对话山间瓷与画——和兰昭形与杨人倩的访谈”，艺术中国，2019.03.13

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