" Sensual Encounters " with Pang YongJie

You will never get bored living in Hong Kong. In the last few days, I was running around the town and trying to attend as much events as possible. There're simply too many art events happening all at the same time. But one I could not risk to miss is Pang YongJie 龐永傑's very first solo exhibition in Hong Kong " Sensual Encounters " presented by Fabrik Gallery. And I got to meet Mr. Pang in person at the opening reception! 

Pang's signature style is the abstract, round fluid women figure in his painting and sculpture. This trademark is strongly inspired by beauties in Tang dynasty. As he explained, the painting in the Dunhuang Caves has a big influence as well.  Recently, he spent 3 months in Dunhuang to study the forms and get inspiration.

His paintings are amorous yet comical in a way that they gives you a intriguing and sensual pleasure. This is probably why the exhibition is called the "Sensual Encounters" 

Mr. Pang is a very gentle and friendly person. He patiently answered each of our questions and shared his journey to become an artist and how his artworks evolved over time.  He said when he was young, for 7 concessive years, he did a sketch/painting every single day regardless of chinese new year or holidays, in order to make his painting skill perfect. " You can't start drawing abstract without a basic skills to draw realistic object. " Pang said. What an inspiring and earnest artist! 

Artist Pang YongJie

Got Pang's autograph and took a picture with him, I am officially a groupie :D

This exhibition runs until 12 Jun at Fabik Gallery: 1102 Nam Wo Building, 148 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Go check out those amazing paintings!

Perfection By Chance - @Pearl Lam

wanna quickly post this exhibition before it finishes up on this Sun (10 May) 

I came across this exhibition when I visited "The Inevitable by Simon Birch@Ben Brown" in the Pedder Building which accommodated several modish contemporary galleries. One of which is PearlLam Galleries currently is featuring " Perfection By Chance - A Yi Pai Series Exhibition  忘言 －－意派系列展" 

I am not very familiar with the Chinese Contemporary Art, because I personally prefer the diversity and complexion of western art. However, in views of the growing Chinese art market and more and more Chinese artists become world-famous, I acknowledge that you definitely can't gloss over Chinese Contemporary Art when you look into the art industry.

"Yi Pai 意派" -- an aesthetic theory developed by the distinguished scholar of Chinese contemporary art, Gao Minglu, as a holistic way of understanding modern and contemporary Chinese art - in which Gao emphasizes the spontaneity and formlessness of Chinese abstraction as an extension of ancient Chinese culture and philosophy.

I tried to appreciate the pieces with the introduction sheets on my hand, still found some of them are hard to interpret as the " Yi Pai" artists are famous of " integrating the oriental tradition of meditation, and maintaining an equilibrim between narration and imagery " The level of abstraction is a bit overwhelming to me frankly.

Eight Things (No. 10, 3, 12 Left to right) by Su Xing Ping 蘇新平 oil on canvas 300 x200 cm 

"Folded Moonlight" by Zhu Jinshi 朱金石 is definitely the centerpiece among the whole exhibition. I 'accidentally' overheard the conversation between two good-looking chaps in the gallery (probably a gallerist and a buyer) they mentioned the price of this painting which is something like millions US$....... 

"Folded Moonlight" 摺疊的月光 2014 Oil on canvas 180 x 160 x 3 cm

It is indeed amazing to admire his painting from distant and then study the bold splash of paints up close to see how they are randomly or inadvertently layered.  

I didn't pay too much attention to these two porcelain-like curvy plates in the center of the gallery, but before I was about to leave, I suddenly was curious to find out what's so special about these and turned out these are not porcelain, they are actually a piece of wood with painting, lacquer and linen on it. The artist Su Xiaobai underwent a long process of experiment of the materials especially lacquer and through observing and repeating, lacquer eventually appears the characteristic of porcelain or jade. The spirit and the impeccability of the artist is undoubtedly very respectable. 

"Peace"清靜 by Su Xiaobai 蘇笑柏 2014, Oil, Lacquer, linen , wood 172 x172 cm

There is still so much I would like to share, but as always time is short. If you are intrigued by my post, do visit the exhibition yourself and I appreciate if you could leave a comment and share your view as well.