From December 8th, 2019 to January 12th, 2020, Long Museum (West Bund) will present "Li Geng & Shuang Ning Art Exhibition", curated by Xie Xiaodong, the founder of Zai Art. The abstract ink paintings of two important contemporary artists, Li Geng and Shuang Ning (Tang Shuangning) will be exhibited. All of the works on display are from the collection of Li Keran Academy of Painting. It discusses the contemporary ink painting in a global context and the possibility of eastern abstraction.
Li Geng is an artist with both traditional attainments and international vision. His ink paintings are diverse and full of charm. For many years, he has been diligently seeking the cross-cultural dialogue of ink painting and the contemporary transformation of Chinese art. He is also committed to exploring the relationship between music and painting and seeking the similarities between two different art forms in our current life.
The work exhibited this time, "Das Lied von der Erde Series" uses a brand-new style of Chinese ink painting to interpret the majestic classical Western symphony, but it is also rich in the artistic conception of Chinese classical poetry. Here, the tune and rhythm of music correspond with the tones and brushstrokes of painting. Those ink paintings turn music into something imaginative and creative.
Shuang Ning is an artist with deep philosophical thoughts and innovative spirit. With years of financial management experience and profound literary, historical and philosophical attainments, he has integrated macro-control and dialectical thinking with artistic creation. His bold innovation creates the Eastern abstract art known as "T Abstraction" (T is the initials of Shuang Ning’s surname "Tang").
His abstract paintings inherit the spiritual tradition of Chinese literati painting and are also a creative response to Western abstract art, full of deep thoughts of the universe, human beings and life. The series of human planets reflects the understanding of the universe and the interstellar; the series of great nature reflects the understanding of the nature and the environment; the series of black and white reflects the understanding of society and people.
In these series, Shuang Ning combines rationality and romanticism, and demonstrates his revitalization of the rational Chinese literati painting and exploration of eastern abstraction. Ink painting is only a kind of representation here, while the core is calligraphy, freehand brushwork as well as the ideological foundation of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In his view, Chinese art must form and promote its own abstract art in order to have a stand in the global context.
Among the works exhibited in this exhibition, the epic masterpiece "The Beauty of Nature" specially created by the artist for the Long Museum (West Bund), as well as the latest series "Knowing the White and Keeping the Black" inspired by the twenty-eighth chapter of the "Tao Te Ching". They once again demonstrate Shuang Ning’s exploration of abstract artistic language and his continuous reflection on many ultimate questions.
