Opening Reception: 9 May, 2009, 2 - 6 pm

In his 2nd solo exhibit at Pekin Fine Arts, Marvin Mintofang’s latest work combines the interests of an artist, an architect of public space, and a botanist with a keen eye for garden design. Grouping a large number of camphor-carved “trees-reborn from trees” in the gallery space, resulting in a peculiar Chinese garden of hand-manicured flora and fauna. Mintofang’s garden is interactive and tactile rather than meditative, and is comprised of sweet smelling wood sculpted trees, marble and concrete installation, and painted tree images covering the gallery walls.

Seoul-based sculpture artist Bae Hyung Kyung’s first Beijing exhibit includes a monumental installation of Buddhist luo han each “housed” in a life-size packing crate, piled one on top another. Visually, the stockpiling of luo han’s alludes to the dismantling and re-building of Buddhist temples. Implicitly bearing witness to the exponential growth in cross-border trade and communication between Seoul and Beijing resulting in nearly a quarter million persons of Korean ethnicity living in Beijing.