| EmptinessJanuary 22, 2008- February 9, 2008Reception: January 26, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
ChinaSquare is pleased to present EMPTINESS, Duan Jianghua’s first New York solo exhibition.
Duan Jianghua’s expressionist-style paintings struggle with the ramifications of power; power worshiped, pursued, lost, redeemed. Duan’s violent and strong strokes, dark and dense, question the space between man and his surroundings, the present and past, things plundered and revered. Calculated angles and vanishing points placed precisely on the horizon, pull the viewer into the subject matter through strong feelings of loneliness and isolation. An overarching eerie metaphysical darkness sheds light on the conundrum of the self. Revisited from Duan’s youth, resurrected from China’s political past, historical sites and monuments now deserted, give way to a heroic yet tragic expression, a fierce contemplative vision of reality. Careful examination reveals an echoing desire for sublimation, one with the intent of redeeming power among the hidden vestiges of history.
Duan Jianghua was born in 1963 and grew up in Hunan Province during the Cultural Revolution. A graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Oil Painting department, Duan is the director of the China Oil Painting Society. His works have been shown extensively throughout China, Thailand and Japan and have been collected by China’s National Art Museum and the Beijing International Art Palace.
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