Imagine creating a structure that is 39.370-feet long (12 meters) and made of 8,000 sheets of rice paper (specifically, Xuan paper, which has historic and cultural significance), 800 bamboo shafts, and cotton. Chinese artist Zhu Jinshi (b. 1954) did, and his Rice Paper Boat (2013), exhibited earlier this year at the inaugural Art13 London, an international art fair, is a wonder. Learn more about the conceptual art installation, which took three days to complete, here, here, here, and here.
Zhu Jinshi, who is represented by Pearl Lam Galleries (Shanghai and Hong Kong), is an abstract painter who showed in "The Stars Group" exhibition of 1979, the first show of avant-garde art in Beijing after the Cultural Revolution. Since then, he has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in China and in Germany, Turkey, Korea, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, among other countries. His first solo presentation in the United States was in 2012 at Blum and Poe in Los Angeles. His work is in the Rubell Family Collection (Miami) and the collection of the Long Island Watermill Foundation (New York); select museums in Korea; the White Rabbit Collection, in Australia; and the collections of Duetsche Bank in Germany and Zurich Bank in Switzerland.
The artist is known for his use of dramatic and sensuous color, expansive brush stroke, and densely layered, thickly applied oils, which give his large and weighty paintings a sculptural feel. When asked* to describe his painting technique, Zhu Jinshi said he calls it "thick painting." He added, "In front of the canvas, first there is the material, then the paint. . . What I pay attention to is the material. Painting is first an object, then a canvas. But the "thickness" is not absolute — "emptiness" in the painting is also a "thickness"."
Of Interest:
"Zhu Jinshi" at The Miami Rail, Summer 2013
"Lush Art: Zhu Hinshi at Peal Lam Galleries", Lushgazine, June 26, 2013
"Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong Presents the Solo Exhibition by Zhu Jinshi", CAFA Art Info, May 14, 2013
* "Interview with Zhu Jinshi", The Art Collector, August 25, 2012
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1 comment:
Thick painting, indeed. How interesting to focus on the depth and layers within a piece of art...to bring a flat canvas up into the world!
Thanks for sharing this, Maureen...a very happy Thanksgiving to you!
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