PIFO Gallery presents the artist Chen Kun’s self-titled exhibition on 30 November, which is Chen Kun’s first exhibition at PIFO Gallery. Bringing together his latest 30 works including oil paintings on canvas together with works on paper, the exhibition is for the first time a full-range presentation of the artist’s nearly two decades of investigation in abstract painting. 

Born in the 1960s, Chen Kun has constantly maintained a sort of objectivity and rationality that is quite singular in the times, focusing on how the inner universe works within. In the tranquilizing brushstrokes, the artist articulates an extraordinarily tense experience of life. Intermittently from 2000, his artistic practice has witnessed a few profound changes where the non-representational images have been weakening progressively. The artist has dedicated more to the internality and been attracted to the lines themselves, which allow him to immerse himself in the internalization of spirituality. As the lines are repeatedly overlaid one by one and the number of line rises, they appear to be more consummate and comprehensive. In spite of the “abstract” presence, the perceptibility of spirituality in the paintings readily resonates with the originalities of Chinese culture. As the artist figured out, he is able to engage in a more thorough-going, tranquil conversation with himself in such a massive, extensive cultural context.

During the early years when the artist endeavored to explore in the works on paper and canvas, the diagonal lines as tender as blood vessels and as twisted as nerve endings onto the blurred objects allowed the viewers a spiritual experience that is perceptible and tangible. In addition, in regard to the process of integrating and disintegrating the brush and canvas, the unevenly scattered lines were endowed with a sense of liveliness, which denoted a sort of endeavoring, devoting, wandering, and marshaling. The lines began with fineness and ended with vastness. In a manner of questioning and answering, the repetitive overlapping of curved and straight lines precisely illustrates the process of Chen Kun’s attempt to glimpse the world and examine himself through the thousands of lines and gaps.

The prominence of Chen Kun’s works that intrigue us doesn’t lie in the power of his images, quite the contrary, it lies in his calmness and persistence. Acting like a meditator, he insists on sitting in the studio every day to elucidate his innermost persistence layer by layer. What he exerts himself to do is by no means what he paints but how he paints.

Where there is painting as accomplished as losing the spiritual anchor, there is nothing about image but soul. Chen Kun has practiced painting on the canvas in a way resembling the modeling things in contour. Transforming complexity into nihility, incorporating tininess into extraordinariness, the artist accomplishes intangibility through subtlety and unites manifold in one. The instant the artist arrives at a moment like this, there is nothing tangible, nothing personal, and nothing realistically incorporeal.

Installation view

Photo: Lv Wenzhi

Chen Kun

1961 Born in Yaan, Sichuan Province, China. He graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 1987, currently lives and works in Beijing.

Solo Exhibitions

2018   

Chen Kun, PIFO Gallery, Beijing

2012   

Creeping Motion Sensing, 4-Face Space Gallery, Beijing

2008   

Clew, Joy Gallery, Beijing

Life Line, New China Gallery, London

Group Exhibitions

2015  

Contemporary Art Exhibition, Enjoy Art Museum, Beijing

Ji-Contemporary Art Exhibition, Enjoy Art Museum, Beijing

2013   

Dispersion, Enjoy Art Museum, Beijing

2012   

Distorted, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

2011  

Grayness, Dantongyi Gallery, Beijing

2009   

Sichuan Artists Group Exhibition, New China Gallery, London

2008   

The Third Minds-in-Hands, PIFO Gallery, Beijing

Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, Shenzhen

Lonely Body, Yiyouyun Gallery, Beijing

Warm Earth, No.1 Art Zone, Beijing

2007  

Format, Jiang Art Space, Beijing

2006   

Discommodiousness, Zhuangtang Art Space, Beijing

1986   

“New-concrete” Southwest Group Exhibition, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing

Related link: 展览 Upcoming Exhibition | 陈坤 Chen Kun (2018.11.30-2019.01.06)

关于画廊   About Gallery

偏锋新艺术空间成立于2006年，是中国专注于抽象艺术研究与发展的主要画廊。坚持对中国当代艺术进程的洞察以及对欧洲战后艺术大师的探索，并在两者的对话与碰撞中寻找各种可能的艺术力量。偏锋深信艺术的体验产生于一个又一个的变革中创造的新世界。艺术家的作品，正是探索世界的第三只眼睛。对于收藏家，我们为其提供专业知识，鼓励他们发掘个人独特的视角，只因两者的充分结合，才能构建卓越的收藏。我们希望更多的藏家可以秉持鉴赏家的心态，更深入的理解亚洲与西方的抽象艺术，以及欣赏画廊发掘、重塑并坚信的艺术家。

PIFO Gallery was founded in 2006. Which is China's premier gallery to present abstract art. PIFO brings together the works of contemporary Chinese artists with European post-war masters. At PIFO we believe that the experience of art is profoundly transformative. Seeing the world differently through the works of artists is an inspiration. We encourage our collectors to develop their individual vision and share our expertise in art to help them build excellent collections. The goal is to spread connoisseurship for Asian and Western abstraction in art and deepen the understanding and appreciation for the artists that we (re-)discovered and believe in. 

媒体/图片垂询 Press enquiries/images

郭萌萌 Mengmeng guomengmeng@pifo.cn

T: +86 10 59789562-8005

其他垂询 All other enquiries

王彧涵 Sophia Wang sophia.wang@pifo.cn

M: +86 18210011135

作者：偏锋新艺术空间