We still remember not long ago people were complaining that the TVs in public transportations are too disturbing. Nowadays people may be too busy playing with their iPhones, replying WhatsApp or reading Facebook while riding in the train, having lunch or walking. It’s phenomenal that the social network development has been influencing the way people share themselves to the public. For centuries, artists somehow share their own parts of lives in their art forms. Especially growing up with the social network technology blooming, the young contemporaries are more comfortable in expressing their personal stories while reflecting them into their paintings, sharing their various daily objects, their friends, some activities and their surroundings.

Born in Hunan, China, Tan Bian completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Throughout her time in college, Tan had participated in many important group exhibitions in China, Macau and Hong Kong. Tan Bian is one of the most talented female artists searching her way to present a form of Chinese painting with a spirit of tradition. We often find her work with a formation of Classic Chinese painting with foreground, mid ground and background. She makes contrast with the exaggerated foreground figure and the background landscape in black and white. Looking more carefully, we find the figure’s hair, accessories and clothing are highly stylized and colourful. Element by element is carefully chosen by the artist and designed onto the canvas with overall composition. Sometimes we see the figure is sitting on the toilet, or holding a Polaroid reacting to the mid ground birds and flowers. Although some of the sceneries are dreamlike, many details are what we find in everyday life. The canvas is where Tan shares her parts of life and knowledge of tradition, where perhaps she finds the merging point of contemporary and tradition.

Image: © Tan Bian, EC Gallery