Tokyo Gallery + BTAP is very honoured to present an exhibition by a Chinese painter Zeng Jianyong. On view at our gallery space in Tokyo from June 6th to July 11th, this show marks the artist’s first exhibition scale solo presentation in Japan, which premieres 15 newly executed ink-wash paintings from the The Lost Land series.
Born in Guangdong province of China in 1971, Zeng Jiang yong majored in Chinese painting during his colleague studies and proceeded to study prints at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. Zeng is currently based in Beijing.
Since his incipient period as a college student, Zeng Jiang yong was a known as a voracious learner and practitioner on broad range of art practices and techniques, including oil painting, both Chinese and non-Chinese prints, which led him to absorb and contemplate on both Eastern and Western aesthetics and methodology. Zeng’s works, many of which use children and animals as their motifs, depict a colourful fairy-tale world that can be thought as unconventional in the realm of traditional Chinese ink-wash painting. His intricate, light, and calm paintings are filled with delicate and lively expression, and explore new possibilities in the medium of modern ink-wash, while attempting to reflect the relationship between society and the self through his works.
Zeng’s works directly reflect life his human experience. At the same time, Zeng’s painting becomes a new thought experience that aims to reify emotions. By re-examining the experiences of life and thought, the artist aims to reaffirm something forgotten, and in the process attain a comprehensive understanding of life.
The works comprising The Lost Land are set against the extreme backdrop of the apocalypse. By configuring such an extreme premise, Zeng explores the true nature of human beings, as revealed in the face of death, and attempts to bring out a quintessential part of human existence that we have lost.
The opening reception is scheduled from 4pm to 6pm on June 6th with the artist in attendance.
