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Out of the Sky - November/December 2008
ALP GALLERIES is proud to announce an Exhibition of most recent works (2007/08) by Chinese artist Li Lei: “Out of the Sky” from his series Poetical Abstraction. This will be Li Lei’s second solo show in the US after we showed “Tao” in 2003. In addition, and as a complement, we will show canvasses by Rolf A. Kluenter, who also lives and works in Shanghai and had a solo show with us in 2002.
Li Lei enrolled in the Huanshan Fine Art School at age 14 and after graduating, came as a graphic designer to Shanghai and completed his studies at the Fine Arts Training College there. He became interested in Chinese myths and folk customs, went to minority nationality regions and started to be concerned about cultural and social issues in China. In his artistic development, he has lived through many cycles and work series including print, sculpture and oil painting, yet his work has never been in the traditional style, but rather abstract throughout.
In 1996, he embarked on the research and practice of Chinese abstract art and became a pioneer for that genre in China by merging the essence of Chinese culture with what is generally recognized as abstraction. While deeply rooted in Chinese philosophy and culture, he has surmounted the formal strictness of Asian art and has found a free and open way to paint. In his current series, he applies layers of acrylic paint on the canvas and works them with brush and spatula. The results are striking images full of esthetic and atmosphere. Abstract - and yet concrete, as they always represent personal feelings and emotions; they “come from the heart” (Li Lei).
Li Lei’s work has been widely shown in China, mainly Shanghai and Beijing, but he also had solo shows in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Holland. A comprehensive retrospective of his work and life was published in 2006. Apart from his artistic achievements, he is a respected academic, a member of Executive Council of China Artists Association, and the founder of ArtShanghai. Since 2005, he holds the office of Director of the Shanghai Art Museum, and he presided over the organization of the Shanghai Biennale 2006 and 2008.
Rolf A. Kluenter went the opposite way: from Germany to Nepal and now Shanghai. His recent “Shanghai Works” paintings create virtual spaces with subtly flowing and shading colors by using ink, acrylic, enamel and oil. They are an expression of his intellectual and spiritual exchanges with Asian religion, history and philosophy, and of the interaction between Western and Eastern inspiration and mentality.
LI LEI
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