Feng Bin, 2003•4, 2003

Feng Bin, 2003•1, 2003

Bai Hai, Circle Series 2001, 2001

Adleta Galleries, Canaanville
16060 US 50
Athens, Ohio 45701.9302

740.592.1492
adleta@ohio.edu

“Changing FACA ,” paintings by Feng Bin, Bai Hai, and He Jian

Adleta Galleries is pleased to announce the show, “Changing FACA,” consisting of 11 paintings from three contemporary Chinese artists from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. There will be tea and hot and sour soup Friday evening, January 23rd, at 7:00.

This show promises to be an insightful view into contemporary Chinese fine art. This first show of the new year will run from January 23rd through February 15th. “Changing FACA,” consists of paintings by Feng Bin, Bai Hai, and He Jian. All are faculty members in the Chinese Painting Department of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in Chongqing. Although the works of these three are quite different in style, they share an enthusiastic commitment to two-dimensional expression. The three artists find the limitation of two-dimensionality a source of creative tension and stubbornly insist on picture plane as the focus of their art. The power and appeal of their works may, in fact, be partially based on this firm determination.

He Jian, Faces 2002 Series 8, 2002

He Jian, one of the three artists, uses the most traditional styles and materials to depict his themes. The subject matter he describes includes lurid scenes from contemporary culture. The Western-style costumes combined with the fourteenth-century figure style of the Daoist murals at Yonglegong create a disjunction in time and space and manipulate our interpretation of tradition and modernity. This might well be He Jian’s explanation of today’s cultural phenomena in China. At the same time, he intentionally makes fun of contemporary fashion and its kowtowing to material prosperity.

Feng Bin, the senior of the three artists, focuses on the theme of Tibetan life through his depicting of temple architecture and Buddhist lamas. Bai Hai laces his ideas of contemporary content with influences of material comfort, romantic mood and relaxed life style. Each artist expresses the contemporary spirit of the new work emerging from China. Their work naturally shows the new-awareness and aesthetic taste characteristic of this generation of artists.

He Jian, Faces 2003-7, 2003

Adleta says, “The overwhelming interest of this region’s residents in the work shown at Adleta Galleries echoes the message that southeastern Ohioans maintain and foster a very high degree of support for quality art and creative sensitivity.”