Walk in Asia Ⅱ: Song Yuanyuan, Li Ran, Qin Qi, Jia Aili, Yee I-Lann, Gu Wenda, Sun Xun, Wang Dong Ling

Song Yuanyuan (b. 1981, Shen Yang) graduated from the Photography Department of Lun Xun Academy of Fine Arts. After studying photography, Song Yuanyuan has settled on becoming a painter in Shen Yang. Therefore photography plays a major part in his creative process. The rooms after humans have left them are main subject of his recent paintings. There are full with all decorative and Westernized-taste interiors. Like many young artists of his generation, Song Yuanyuan uses traditional realism painting techniques whilst choosing subject matters and concepts that are more contemporary.

Qin Qi (b. 1975, Shanxi) graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Lun Xun Academy of Fine Arts. In "West Mountain" the landscape in a suburban area of Beijing is de-familiarized by a technique of Western oil painting. Jia Aili (b. 1979, Beijing) attended Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art. Recently he had a successful solo exhibition at Singapore Art Museum. Aili's works narrate private moods rather than public events or modern-day China and reflect on the dramatic changes in Chinese society after 2000. In the solitary figures in the midst of his desolate landscapes, there exists a yearning and hope for a possibility of redemption and saving.

On the other hand, we show the works of young artists who studied media art in Southern China and are exploring a new region of art through video or animation. Sun Xun (b. 1980, Liaoning) studied printmaking at the China Academy of Fine Arts and creates animations that combine hand-drawn renderings and traditional materials with new media as an artist of new generation in China. His drawings in this exhibition imitate the imaginary movie poster and criticize politics.

Li Ran (b. 1986, Hubei) completed Oil Painting Department in Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, his works question about understanding of history through their humor. He plays the role of a Soviet soldier in this work which is mimicry of a Soviet film, "The Fate of a Man." And Yee I-Lann (b. 1971, Sabah, Malaysia) received her BA in Visual Arts from the University of South Australia, majored in photography and cinematography. She has been challenging in various media including photography, film, and installations. She has taken part in APT3 (Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane), 'Global Photography Now' seminar at the Tate Modern, London in 2006.

Furthermore, this exhibition includes several ink painters who work internationally in foreign countries. Gu Wenda (b. 1955, Shanghai and lives in New York) is one of the most influential contemporary artists from China. Much of his works play off of traditional Chinese calligraphy and poetry, and a main letter with strong brush-strokes in "China Park -#3 Emperor" is a word coined by him which means "emperor." Just like Gu Wenda, the most successful contemporary monograph of calligrapher and ink painter Wang Dong Ling (b.1945, Jiangsu) graduated from a calligraphy department of China Academy of Fine Arts, then has taught in that academy. The original title of "The moon over the River on a Spring Night" is a poet by張若虚. He expresses the title of films of Wong Kar-wai and Hong Kong pop song lyrics in his works, trying to re-construct calligraphy in contemporary way.