11 April – 11 May, 2013
at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Central, Hong Kong

Young Chinese painter Pan Jian, identified by his quiet and pensive landscapes, will debut in Hong Kong from 10th April to 11th May with his first solo presentation The Realm of Shadows at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Central.

Pan Jian’s night-time landscapes show a new generation of Chinese contemporary artists. Born in the 70s, his individualized style and concept derives from his personal emotion rather than collective thinking driven by socio-political themes. He explores the forefront of the unknown. His calm and intricate brushstrokes convey abstraction at first glance in a dark blue, almost black, duo-chrome, however when your eyes adjust, the night landscape slowly emerges.

The forest scenes and minimal landscapes are captured as if from an instant in a film. He is inspired by the words, “the beauty of a scene originates from its sadness.” There is a deep melancholy or nostalgia that lingers within in his works and it is precisely his intent, which is to capture a mood, state of mind or emotion within the silence and stillness of the night. His works are almost alive yet create a feeling of psychological dislocation. There is no beginning and no end to a narrative however, each work, says Pan Jian, has a story behind it that he doesn’t speak about wishing to keep a somnolent obscurity to his work. His flashes in time portray neglected corners, he says, “in the uninhibited corners, silence can be broken at any moment.”