Talk
Talk by Dr. Katie Hill: Painting and Regionality in Contemporary China
21 Jun 2018
Royal Opera Arcade (ROA) Gallery
London, United Kingdom
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Chen Li, The Well of Longchuan 2016, oil on linen canvas, 100 x 130cm
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Chen Li, Spring Mountain Village, 2005-10, oil on linen canvas, 130 x 97cm
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Chen Li, Summer Breeze, 2016, oil on linen canvas, 100 x 73cm
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Chen Li, House on the Mountains, 2017, oil on linen canvas, 100 x 80cm
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Chen Li, Wild Forest 2016, oil on linen canvas, 100 x 130cm
Exhibition
Chen Li: Spirit of Landscape
17 Jun 2018 – 23 Jun 2018
Event times
Monday - Friday 10:30am - 6:30pm
Saturday 11:00am - 4:00pm
Cost of entry
Free
Address
- 5b Pall Mall
- London
- SW1Y 4UY
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Buses to Picadiily Circus and Charing Cross can also be found.
- The nearest tube station from which thegallery is only a 5 minute walk is Picabilly Circus or Charing Cross.
- The nearest train station is Victoria (from where there are frequent buses to Picadilly).
Event map
Katrine Levin Galleries brings extraordinary Chinese artist from Yunnan Province to London's St. James's. Meet the artist during his first visit to the U.K.
About
Chen Li (b. 1971, Kunming) is an artist of extraordinary scope and originality who is attracting serious interest from public and private sectors.
This is his third solo show in London, and his first visit to the U.K.
Breathing new life into an existing medium, Chen Li reaches out from within the cultural context of his native Kunming, the capital of China’s frontier Yunnan Province, in a way that speaks to universal experiences.
Inspired by the spectacular landscapes and Buddhist philosophy of Yunnan, Chen Li weaves East and West into a unique visual language full of harmony, spontaneity, and a brilliant interplay of colours and textures. His works are joyful, dynamic, and intoxicatingly peaceful.
Defying categorisation, he says “Chinese art and Western art have different views about reality. But when I paint, I ignore the rules to create living artistic images. Just like writing a love letter, content is key; what pen you use is not important."
ABOUT CHEN LI
Chen Li lives and works in Kunming. Born into an artistic family in 1971, he grew up surrounded by the avant-garde artists of the post-Cultural Revolution, equally inspired by the works of Bruegel and de Kooning as of Guan Xiu and Zhao Wu-ji.
Chen Li defines his practice as a constant transformation, a living art. The freedom of Chen Li’s thoughts is echoed in the freedom of his strokes and the originality of his compositions. His flying strokes render wind, clouds, the universe – transporting the viewer into the experience.
After a turbulent youth and a near-fatal accident, Chen Li goes deep inside himself to find peace, harmony and balance. This search gives his works an extraordinary power and great energy. “I paint what I feel in my heart... For this I have to face my past, and have the courage to see past successes and failures.”
Chen Li’s works have been placed in significant private collections in the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States, and have been shortlisted by the Royal Academy of Art.
