We are delighted to announce that Red Gate Gallery will be participating in the inaugural art fair of ART021 in Shanghai. For ART021, Red Gate presents a selection of works by Jiang Weitao, island6, Li Jinguo, Li Xiaofeng, Liu Qinghe, Su Xinping and Tan Ping, covering a wide range of media, including sculpture, installation, LED Art, ink painting, oil painting and print. These seven artists’ distinctive practices illustrate the diversity and dynamics of the current contemporary art scene in China.

Considered one of the most original artists in China, Li Xiaofeng (b. 1965) is known for his unique use of porcelain shards. Li makes wearable porcelain costume and installation from ceramic shards coming from the Song, Ming, Yuan and Qing dynasties, which are sewn together on a leather undergarment. Some of his projects include a suit jacket and tie as well as a number of mid-length women’s dresses.

island6 is a Shanghai-based art collective of tech-geeks and creative talents. The collective produces cutting edge art that constantly contemplates the future of Asia, engages sights and scenes from old and new China and elevates the skills of new talents by working from a communal forum. The juxtapositions of the LEDs with other media illustrate the incongruities of China, and the inconsistent of our existence an life here. In the rapid forward movement, island6 is finding humanity among the machines and the change.

Being one of the leading advocates of contemporary Chinese ink painting, Liu Qinghe (b. 1961) has exhibited extensively in China and abroad for over 30 years. Liu employs his traditional and formidable skills in the most masterful way to comment on contemporary Chinese society in a way which allows viewers to easily access his commentary between art and culture.

Li Jinguo (b. 1977) is known for his innovative use of resin. Li takes forms from his personal history, a 1930s style attache case, a bird cage, torch light, and recasts them in crystal resin, making them both familiar yet fresh.

Su Xinping (b. 1960) is one of the leading artists in contemporary print-making. The subject matter of his works includes the people of the inner Mongolian plains, as well as horses, cows, and sheep. Solitary, sometimes randomly supported in space, the dramatically lit figures are vested with cultural significance as well as psychological meaning. Vast silent scenes are tranquil while at the same time seem to question reality.

Working with oil painting and prints, Tan Ping (b. 1960) is the one of the most prestigious abstract artists in China. Tan developed his interest in abstract expressionism following the "85 movement" in mid-1980s. From a global perspective, he combines the different cultures of the East and the West at the same time and space with abstract artistic languages. In 2012, Tan Ping had his solo show at the National Art Museum of China, which was the first solo exhibition the museum ever held for an abstract artist. Tan Ping is currently the vice-president and professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Jiang Weitao (b. 1975) is another abstract painter from the younger generation. Jiang asserts his commitment to abstraction and describes his natural arrival at it within the context of traditional Chinese arts. Many of his compositions are dominated by an emphatic horizontality or verticality.The geometric tension of his frameworks is dissipated by the softness of intervening forms and by the gentle bath of delicate colour blends surrounding jewel tones. Jiang is a master colourist in the tradition of Henri Matisse. His saturated palette and handling of gradations are an emotional journey in their own right.

*image (left)
© Liu Qinghe
courtesy of the artist and Red Gate Gallery