Pei's world A brief history of a Chinese Gallery in Italy

About

The story of a brave and enterprising young woman arrives in Venice, with the exhibition Pei’s World - A brief history of a Chinese gallery in Italy, at Spazio Thetis during the new edition of Biennale 2019 from May 10 to November 24. This exhibition tells the world of Pei and of the artists, coming from different continents, which she represents exclusively. “For once, therefore – says the curator Luca Beatrice - an exhibition is not only focused on artists, but also on those who have literally created a project from scratch.” Peishuo Yang was born in Tian Jin, a metropolis in the north-east of China that has a population of 15 milion inhabitants. Over twenty years ago, when she was very young, she left China to come to live in Italy, attracted by the quality of life, by the history of art and by the landscapes of our Country. Since 1997, therefore, Pei (so called by her friends) is resident in Italy. She studied Literature and Philosophy, and then she graduated a the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in 2008. In the same year she founded the company Present Contemporary Art: its mission is to establish relations between Italy and China whose market is experiencing a period of extraordinary and growing expansion. In 2011 she opened her gallery in the center of Florence and then, in 2013, she moved to Milan, where she founded MA-EC, not only a traditionally art gallery, but a real interactive platform, a center for international meetings to enhance creativity and exchanges between West and East, organize events, promote synergies. Recently MA-EC has moved to a new venue, the prestigious Palazzo Durini, very close to the Duomo di Milano.

Artists

Afran (Cameroun), Jorge Cavelier (Colombia), Ma Cong (China), Huiming Hu (China), Tannaz Lahiji (Iran), Giorgio Piccaia (Italy).

Bios:

Afran (Francis Nathan Abiamba) was born in Bidjap (Cameroon) in 1987, he lives and works in Italy since 2009. Trained in Africa, he studied at the Academy of Bergamo; works with different languages from painting to sculpture to public art. He has numerous international exhibitions in Africa, Europe and America. He has received various international art awards including the first San Fedele in Milan and the Liliana Nocera della Permanente award in Milan.

Jorge Cavelier was born in Colombia in 1953 and lives in Florida. Attentive to the images of nature, he is a painter, slow and sophisticated, introduces the dimension of the passage of time into his delicate watercolors. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions since 1983 in United States and South America.

Ma Cong, born in Nachino in 1970 devotes himself to design, 3D graphics, virtual sets for an extremely current proposal, between irony and social criticism. Red Dot Award Winner: Best of the Best in Germany. As an experienced design consultant in Greater China for global hotel brands including Hilton, Hyatt and Carlson.

Huiming Hu was born in China in 1990 and like most artists of her generation works on specific projects, as in the case of Wall, the installation for this exhibition. At MIA Photo Fair 2018 was selected among the top 15 photographers in the BNL A Curator's Guide. She has exhibited all around Italy, in Spain and United States.

Tannaz Lahiji was born in Tehran in 1978 from a family of artists, very active in every field of creativity. Her constant research prompts her to experiment continuously with new forms of artistic expression an reworking in painting, performance art, and installations. She recently completed in Florence her new project "Riflessioni su Dante" at Palazzo Vecchio, at Museo della Casa di Dante and at Palazzo Bastogi. She has exhibited in shows all over Italy and abroad, in London, Moscow, Los Angeles, Shanghai.

Giorgio Piccaia was born in Geneva. He studied architecture with Corrado Levi at the Milan Polytechnic where he was strongly involved in performance art. He works with the papyrus technique and a pottery maker. In 2019 he was invited by the Italian Embassy in Egypt to realize a Murales inside the Embassy headquarters.