More than Just Paintings… John Berger, one of England’s most illustrious art critic, once commended, “The language of plastic arts, due to its static nature, has transcended the spatial-temporal.
However, the subject matter of paintings is more than just geometry. It explores the sensual, the spectacular, and ethereal. Plastic art straddles metaphysics and the realm of tangible, textile qualities. Plastic art’s crucial rule as the mediator between these two realms is completer and more compact compared to other forms of Art.” (Ways of Seeing, 1972) To inspire by the sensual is the focus of this exhibition.
Leveraging the distinct and creative styles of artists from five different countries, Hann Art hopes to transport the audiences with the emotive powers of plastic art.
Cen Long (China) imbues his paintings with rich sentiments and profound philosophical thoughts. Because of his arresting techniques and the universality of emotions in his works, his paintings have won the hearts of audiences from Taiwan and Europe.
Yasuko Hayashi’s (Japan) paintings are witnesses to her profound respect of nature. Combining realistic and abstract elements in her paintings, she paints of sanctuaries; the sceneries she portrays are beyond the immediate natural world, but emblematic of the spiritual mystery behind our physical world.
Chiu Dou (Taiwan), on the other hand, expresses his artistic intentions with a purely abstract language. In his paintings, one can trace the itinerary of his heart, through buildings, through grasslands, and oceans. Colors blended with the stony gray of charcoal lines creates a sensual world of warmth and tenderness.
Alberto Alvarez (Argentina) has his mind set on combining memory and imagination in his works. By doing so, his works sustain free artistic spaces that invites the audience to boundless reveries. Alvarez attempts to capture life from uncommon perspectives where the spontaneity of the moment fuses the motion and stillness of life. Just like a clock that no longer moves forward in time, by its silence it still invokes the essence of presence.
We hope to invite the audiences to many abstract imaginary spaces with the history of their own persons, thereby enriching the experience of culture and spirituality from this exhibition. Paintings are so much more than just a painted surface… Finally, we have dedicated a section, the Unbending Ukraine, where we show the recent works of four painters still living in Kharkiv, Ukraine. These artists are combatting the evils of wars, some left for Germany as refugees and some have chosen to stay. Under the constant horror of the war, they remain dedicated to their brushes, using it to document the realities of the war and the feelings inspired by it. There is pain, sorrow, regret, and fear. But most importantly, they have still not lost faith in hope.
