Leo Gallery proudly presents the Young Artist Show, our first group exhibit featuring emerging artists. The exhibit features the distinct works of Liu Ye, Liu Lei, and Du Haijun. Through this exhibit, Leo Gallery offers the community a view of what the top fine art schools in China can produce. The group exhibit will be on display from Saturday, February 6th until Sunday, March 28th, 2010. Please join us for the cocktail reception on Saturday, February 6th from 5 to 7pm.
 
Twenty-five year old Liu Ye’s approach to painting is one of continued exploration. He does not depend on a singular visual identity to trademark his work. He produces figurative works with an abstract painter’s hand. His mixed media works occupy a space of quiet self-reflection manifested through unexpected textures. It is this combination of emotional gravity and free-spirited technique that identifies Liu Ye’s paintings. In 2007 he received the Excellent Graduate Work Prize of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Graduate Department, awarded by the Chongqing Art Museum.
 
The “Building and Windows” print series was produced while Liu Lei was a student at the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Staring out of her dorm room window were the faces she became most familiar with – common, nondescript building facades typical of 1980’s Northern China. Like a portrait artist, Liu Lei carefully chose the angle and composition most befitting each of her “neighbors”.  This series earned the artist recognition from the CAFA Art Museum as well as the Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artist Award.

Du Haijun’s paintings focus on the activity one can glimpse within buildings; the exterior walls only serve to frame the biographies inside. Each life is as diverse as the windows are indistinct.  In this way, each building serves to encapsulate a microsociety representative of Shanghai. When he is not in his studio painting, Du Haijun is taking photos of building facades around the city. In the past two years, his work has earned awards from the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, Shanghai Art Museum, and the Liu Haisu Art Museum. His work has is part of the permanent collections of the National Art Museum of China, the Shanghai Artists Association, the Korean Consulate, and the Mingyuan Art Center.