Su Xiaobai (Hong Kong)    17. Jan - 17. Feb 2013

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HONG KONG—Pearl Lam Galleries will present Su Xiaobai’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, opening to the public Thursday, 17 January, 2013. Curated by David Chan, over 20 new paintings will be installed in a manner that subtly alludes to a Chinese literati setting including a traditional study, scholar’s chamber, and garden. Visitors will be able to gain a first-hand insight into the process behind Su Xiaobai’s impenetrable layered canvasses through the presentation of a work-in-progress and a series of paper cutouts used by the artist to conceive the artworks.

Su Xiaobai has been based in Germany for the past 20 years, but was born in China in 1949 and trained in classical oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He received a scholarship in 1987 to Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied under artists including Konrad Klapheck, Markus Lüpertz, and Gerhard Richter at a time when Su was striving to break away from his learnt expressive and traditional painting techniques and questioning the very structure and language of painting.

Su states: “All paintings are real and responsible for their existence. The art of painting should try to express what cannot be expressed in other ways. What I care for is the possibility for painting methods to exist independently as the painting itself does.” Upon his return to China in 2002, he discovered a newfound appreciation of traditional Chinese lacquer. From this, he developed his extraordinary visual language incorporating multiple histories and traditions, creating arresting canvasses of layered lacquer and oil on linen and wood—modernist in form, traditional in medium and deeply poetic in nature.

Su’s new works exemplify his distinctive style and use of lacquer, but their subdued composition speaks of human ideals and achieving harmony with nature. Inspired by the literary titles of Su’s artworks, taken from China’s tumultuous history, this exhibition rejects the conventions of reading the artwork in the context of the Western cannon. With references to cartography, form, time, and materiality, the installation of Su’s artworks provoke associations with architecture, interior design, sculpture, furniture, calligraphy, nature and materiality. In this setting, Su’s artworks are not merely two dimensional objects hung on the wall but instead become highly evocative entities which are displayed in such a way to provoke deeper contemplation.

Pearl Lam says: “I have long held respect for Su Xiaobai, an acknowledged Master artist in China and am thrilled to be presenting his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. With the presentation of his work in the context of a traditional Chinese literati setting we aim to question traditional values and stimulate dialogue about Su’s art and process.”

About Su Xiaobai
Su Xiaobai (b. 1949, Hubei, China) studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1984, receiving a scholarship to study at the Dusseldorf National Art Academy in 1987 and subsequently moving to Germany in 1992 where he has been based ever since. Su’s solo exhibitions include Su Xiaobai (2011) at Another Gallery in Shanghai, Su Xiaobai Solo Exhibition (2010) at Raketenstation Hombroich in Germany, and The Dynasty of Colours (2009) at Lagen Art Gallery in Germany. He has also exhibited in museums and galleries across Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Moscow.

About David Chan
David Ho Yeung Chan is a curator based in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He was the Director of the Shanghai Gallery of Art at Three on the Bund from 2007 to 2009 and subsequently the Director of the Osage Gallery until 2011. Chan has curated many exhibitions with artists including Chen Shaoxiong, Gu Dexin, Lee Kit, Lin Yilin, Michael Lin, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Wang Jianwei and Yan Lei amongst others. With Pearl Lam Galleries, Chan has curated Lei Hong: Non-Geometric Study, Tsang Kin-Wah: Ecce Homo Trilogy I, Fictional Recoveries and the upcoming Su Xiaobai solo exhibition. He holds an M.A. from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, New York, USA.

About Pearl Lam Galleries
Pearl Lam started exhibiting and promoting Chinese contemporary art and design in 1993 in Hong Kong. Currently, Pearl Lam Galleries consists of two spaces in Shanghai: a Fine Art Gallery and special project space; and the recently-launched gallery in Hong Kong. Pearl Lam Galleries will also open a new design gallery in Shanghai this autumn, and a major space at Gilman Barracks in Singapore in 2013.

Presenting an exhibition program of the highest quality, Pearl Lam Galleries has championed the promotion and re-evaluation of the philosophy, perceptions and aesthetics of Chinese art for almost 20 years. From an early stage, popular touring shows such as Awakening: La France Mandarine, the French influence on Chinese Art (2004–06) characterised the exhibition program with their intercultural dialogue and dynamic work by international artists from established and emerging markets. Exhibiting Chinese artists such as Lan Zhenghui, Li Tianbing, Wang Dongling, Zhang Huan, Zheng Chongbin, and Zhu Jinshi reinterpret traditions, fuse cross-cultural influences and examine China today. The exhibition program also presents major solo exhibitions of international artists stimulating cross-cultural dialogue and cultural exchange between China and the rest of the world.

Pearl Lam Galleries has tirelessly promoted design as an art form in China. Pearl Lam has funded an artist-in-residence program for artists and designers across the globe. Pearl Lam Design shows works by established and emerging international designers including André Dubreuil, Maarten Baas, Mattia Bonetti, and Studio Makkink & Bey. They are invited to push the boundaries of traditional Chinese art and craft techniques and create new works that reflect their experiences in China.

Pearl Lam Galleries Hong Kong
Pearl Lam Galleries, Asia’s most dynamic art gallery dedicated to Chinese and international contemporary art and design, holds a 340sqm gallery located on the 6th floor of the historic Grade II listed Pedder Building, alongside Gagosian, Ben Brown and Hanart TZ, at the heart of Hong Kong’s growing contemporary art scene.

The Hong Kong gallery programme features both fine art and design exhibitions to complement the existing programs of the Shanghai galleries. It will continue to support young emerging artists such as Tsang Kin-Wah. The gallery will also bring solo shows by major international artists and designers to Hong Kong including Jenny Holzer and Yinka Shonibare in 2013.

Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong will further build the Galleries’ long-standing ethos for presenting an exhibition program of the very highest quality, collaborating with emerging and established artists and renowned curators, and promoting cross-cultural and multidisciplinary art from both Asia and the West.