We proudly present contemporary ink painting master Li Huayi in March, featuring his latest works of the gilded screen series at Art Basel Hong Kong and his magnificent installation works at our gallery.
The exhibition "Landscapes in New Dimensions" at our gallery comprises of two magnificent installation works which combine large scale ink painting and scroll. The imagery of the scroll in the front is seamlessly unified with the ink painting at the back, creating unique three-dimensional visual effects.
"...In one regard, they resemble a hanging scroll from which a horizontal slice has been taken. From another point of view, they telescope the viewer's eye back into deep space and then pull it sharply forward to the near distance, as might a handscroll by a Southern Song master such as Xia Gui (act. ca. 1195-1230). Yet, the landscape perspective is even more expansive, as though it were a photograph manipulated with contemporary optical technology. The eyes of the viewer are set in a kind of cinematic motion across the landscape, while the mountains themselves seem to jostle one another in space. The fragmentation of his earlier works is now pushed a step further, as Li resists the imposition of perfect quiet, and instead imbues the peaks with a barely controlled sense of motion. As though challenging the imagination with virtual reality, or intervening in a world transformed by new visual technologies, Li Huayi's recent cliffs, peaks, and trees resonate with movement to create a new kind of illusion."
Excerpt from Curator Statement by Dr Shen Kuiyi, Professor of Art History, Theory, & Criticism and Director of Chinese Studies Program at University of California, San Diego.