Alisan Fine Arts is one of the first professionally run galleries in Hong Kong and has been a pioneer in the field of Chinese contemporary art and New Ink Art. After more than twenty years, the gallery is very excited to be once again participating in Art Taipei this year. For the occasion, the gallery will showcase a selection of Chinese diaspora artists as well as Contemporary Ink artists. Diaspora artists include Chao Chung-hsiang, Chuang Che, and Walasse Ting who were part of the first generation of Chinese artists to emigrate from the mainland during the 1940s to 1950s, eventually settling in the United States. Also, works of two internationally renowned Chinese diaspora sculptors Jiang Shuo and Wu Shaoxiang will be showcased. Contemporary Ink artists include Gao Xingjian, Fung Ming-chip and Zhang Yirong.
Prior to moving to the U.S., both Chao Chung-hsiang and Chuang Che lived in Taiwan in the 1950s, they later co-founded the Fifth Moon Group. While in the U.S., these artists including Walasse Ting worked together with many of the Abstract Expressionists, such as Willem de Kooning and Sam Francis, and were engaged in the creation of an artistic style imbued with Abstract Expressionist aesthetics and Asian traditions. For the fair we are bringing two important iconic works of Chao and two works of Chuang Che, one from 1981 and a recent never before exhibited work painted earlier this year.
Gao Xingjian is currently living in Paris, is renowned globally as a canonical writer and playwright of the twenty-first century and as a distinguished artist. He was the first Chinese-born writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2000 for his novel Soul Mountain. In contrast to his controversial novels, his black and white paintings combine elements of abstraction and Chinese ink, creating a meditative body of work. We will be bringing two recent works, one abstract and the other figurative.
Fung Ming-chip, an avant-garde artist, has lived between New York, Taipei and Hong Kong. He seeks to expand calligraphic practices and the conceptual field of Chinese calligraphy. The two works on display are examples of the one hundred and forty new strains of calligraphy that he has developed to date.
Jiang Shuo and Wu Shaoxiang, two international sculptors who participated in the New Wave Movement in China in the 1980s, left for Austria in 1989 and currently work between Beijing, Berlin and Austria. Their sculptures seem simple but indeed they are imbued with humour and meaning. In the “Symbol of Love” sculpture series by Wu, he adds an additional dimension to the previous money-themed “Coins” series by posting dollar bills on the surface of a heart; this demonstrates the inter-exchangeability of the sign of money and love. Jiang uses the well-recognized “Chinese Cat” to symbolise wealth and economic development in mainland China. Both reflect the attitude towards money of Chinese society.
Zhang Yirong is a young female artist whose ink paintings offer a refreshingly new aesthetic sense. Influenced by Song Dynasty painters, her meticulous paintings of larger than life flowers display her ability to capture painted subjects in exquisite and analytical details. Upon graduation from Peking University in 2008, she studied under the internationally acclaimed artist Liu Dan. Zhang’s works were included in Alisan Fine Arts’ group exhibition of four up and coming young women artists, “Beyond the Jade Terrace” in 2014 and a joint exhibition “One with the Universe” with well-known ink artist, Tai Xiangzhou in 2017. These two new works are painted especially for Art Taipei and are the first time they will be exhibited.
About Alisan Fine Arts Alisan Fine Arts focuses on promoting Chinese diaspora artists as well as mainland Chinese artists and established Hong Kong artists since 1981. The gallery was the first to organise a commercial exhibition of Zao Wou-ki's works in Hong Kong in 1993 and since then has held five more solo exhibitions for the acclaimed artist. Alisan has also organised solo exhibitions for well-known artists Chu Teh-chun, Lui Shou-kwan, Walasse Ting, and manages the estate of Chao Chung-hsiang. Over the years, under the leadership of Alice King, the gallery has organised over 100 exhibitions in Hong Kong and abroad. In 1996 Daphne King Yao joined the gallery and in 2005 was appointed Director, formally taking over operations in 2011. Currently, the gallery manages two premises in Central’s business district and Aberdeen.
