The compelling art of Liu Dan and Zeng Xiaojun allows the modern viewer to discover how the art of China’s past can communicate quintessence in a contemporary way. Working in the literati tradition, the artists tackle subjects that are omnipresent in the traditional Chinese landscape – the tree and the rock – but magnify them onto center stage. The tree and the rock are no longer the supporting elements within a microcosmic landscape, but protagonists characterizing the spirit that allows the art to transcend the tradition in which it is aesthetically situated.

This exhibition will feature recent rock paintings by Liu Dan, as well as a lone cypress, the first of its kind he has ever painted. The exhibition will also feature tree and wooden scholar’s rock paintings by Zeng Xiaojun. It is an intimate glimpse into two pioneers’ steadfast passion for the subject matter, their mutual influence in life and in art, and their modern interpretation of the literati spirit.

Well-known for his large-scale, finely detailed depictions of imaginary landscapes and rocks, Liu Dan’s masterful technique of ink on paper is timeless. Through careful study, he creates emotionally provocative forms derived from and inspired by nature that radiate an incandescent vitality and subtle lyricism. Born in Nanjing, The People’s Republic of China, in 1953, Liu Dan studied at the Jiangsu Chinese Painting Academy from 1978-1981, after which he moved to the United States to pursue his artistic career. He has since become an artist of international renown with critically acclaimed exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad, with paintings placed in both private and museum collections. He currently lives and works in Beijing.

Zeng Xiaojun was born in Beijing in 1954. Like Liu Dan, he spent his teenage years living amidst the Cultural Revolution. He attended the Central Art and Craft Academy of Beijing, from which he graduated in 1981. In 1983, Zeng Xiaojun moved to the United States, and exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions. In 1997, he returned to Beijing, where he now lives and works. An avid collector of Ming and Qing furniture as well as scholar’s objects, Zeng Xiaojun is most passionate about wood; his paintings are well-known for depictions of unique trees and scholar’s objects.

An illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition with an essay by Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art at Harvard University’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

High-resolution digital photography with descriptions available upon request.

For further information please contact Eva Wen at ewen@chineseporcelainco.com or Edith Dicconson at edicconson@chineseporcelainco.com.