Bangkok--Feb 21--Gallery 55
“River, Landscape & Sea”
- Shen Fan (b. Shanghai, 1952)
SHEN FAN, one of the most influential & sophisticated contemporary artists from China, brings to Bangkok 20 of his latest series of paintings this March & April: “RIVER, LANDSCAPE & SEA”.
Shanghai-born abstract painter, Shen Fan, paints with his hands. He got the idea while in Europe, watching the performance of a Belgian pianist. “He touched the piano as if it was his lover”, says Shen, “I thought I could do the same with my paintings. So I started to paint using my hands instead of a brush, and then I could suddenly create a soft movement full of emotion.”
Born in 1952, Shen attended the Fine Art Department of the Shanghai Light Industry Institute. In the early 1990s, he became one the first artists to be invited overseas, studied at the European Ceramics Work Centre in the Netherlands. Since then, his paintings have taken him to different corners in the world, establishing him as one of the leading & most influential contemporary abstract artists from China.
The source of Shen’s art is in the city where he was born, brought up & live. Shuzhou creek flows past his studio, located in an old weaver’s factory. It is not a pretty sight. Looking outside his window, Shen sees a running sewer, a dumping place for endless amount of industrial and domestic waste. And yet, he also sees a source of inspiration.
In his most recent series of paintings, entitled RIVER, LANDSCAPE & SEA, Shen attempts to impose harmony where none exists. Using his hands and fingers, he describes swilling patterns in white, red and blue, molding the paint like a piece of sculpture, into a portrait of quiet contemplation. “Life is Shanghai is chaotic”, says the artist, “and everybody is looking for balance in life, and change.”
RIVER, LANDSCAPE & SEA is a serious departure from Shen’s earlier style in its use of colour and abstraction. In his previous works, he used only one colour — a somber black — and had a more realistic approach. According to Shen, abstract art chose him, not the other way around. “I realized”, he explains, “that the viewers’ knowledge of the world portrayed in my paintings destroyed the overall impression.” That led him to believe that true art could only be expressed with one colour.
Like Shanghai itself, Shen is also evolving. Art isn’t static. And the future of art is here, in the city, ever-changing.
“RIVER, LANDSCAPE & SEA”
A solo exhibition by SHEN FAN (b. Shanghai, 1952)
10th March — 20th April, 2005
Gallery 55
2nd Floor, CRC Tower, All Seasons Place, 87 Wireless Road,
Bangkok 10330
tel: 02 685 3877
Gallery hours:
Daily, 11:00 — 19:00
Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net End.