The 2013 LA Art Show presents a special exhibition - China: FUSION organized by China’s National Base for International Culture Trade, under the commission and guidance of the China Ministry of Culture and Shanghai Municipal Culture Radio and Television Bureau. China: FUSION showcases emerging artists from Mainland China and highlights the artists’ fusion of Eastern and Western culture through content and form.

 The 4,032 square feet exhibition space will be designed as a traditional Chinese style “9-Couleurs”, with the main exhibition area highlighting Chinese artists who were cutting-edge between the 1940s and the 1980s. Flanking this area are eight contemporary art galleries from Beijing and Shanghai, each featuring some of China’s top artists.  China:  Fusion will feature more than 100 works of art.

This exhibition's theme is FUSION.  Apart from being an endeavor to share creative contemporary artistic expression and life style through a now fearless exchange between Chinese and Western traditions and culture, the exhibition pays special attention to the interpretation of Western and Eastern arts. 

For decades, Chinese artists have been striving for a conscious blending of Chinese and Western arts.  In the 1920s, Lin Fengmian became a frontline pioneer of this endeavor and advocated for a synthesis of the traits in Chinese and Western arts.  Lin claimed to have been the first to incorporate Western art concepts into Chinese artistic expression.

Society progresses by integration, and culture develops by different cultures coming together.  The lending and collision of Eastern and Western culture has existed more than a century; if we examine the developmental history of painting in China, many artists have effectively integrated and borrowed ideas from Western art both in terms of form, medium, content and way of thinking.  This form of cultural integration has manifested itself in China through works of art, and has provided the Chinese with a license to think and express ideas in many different ways.  The resulting artistic works are more rich and varied than those from any other period.

With more than 100 works of art on view, China: FUSION showcases Chinese artists in different age groups to cast a spotlight on the relationship between traditional Chinese culture, contemporary arts and lifestyle in western and eastern worlds in the 40 years span between 1940 and 1980.

China: Fusion Artists

Artists included in China: FUSION are: 

Liu Yi has received several awards for art direction in box-office blockbuster films like The Red Detachment of Women, Xiao Hua, Miao Miao and Sunset Street.  After moving to Australia, his works attempt to merge into the local life, he has adopted an intriguing approach to blending Chinese Painting techniques and colors into his works to express his views and emotions. 

Li Fuyuan, at the age of 16 became a student of Wu Guanzhong - who is perhaps the best-known contemporary Chinese painter in the world. The bold use of black and white contrasted with strong colors are commonly found in Li Fuyuan’s paintings.  Several of his paintings were auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong      

Deng Yonggang, also known as bkra shis dar rgyas, is an ethnic artist.  His works interpret specific features in Tangkar and Tibetan painting. Searching for a Revolutionary visual experience to be added into his paintings, he has given new meanings to traditional patterns by image opposition, paste-up and space arrangement.

Chang Yan was born in Gansu province. His series The Scarf are full of regional characteristics and featuring traditional female characters adored with the colorful scarves worn by people living at the foot of Qilian Mountain. The paintings are created with a monochromatic pattern, which is a blending of Chinese and western artistic expressions.

Ren Xianyin was born in a small city nearby Dunhuang. He was heavily affected by Chinese traditional culture in his youth.  A graphic artist, his works focus on emotions, which, as a form, are more closed to western thinking logicality. Ren Xianyin uses abstract ways to reflect natural objects and express complicated personal feelings and emotions.

Pan Xinyi is the only female artist in the main exhibition. Her works outline Pan Xinyi’s views about modern society through strong color and comparisons and metaphor.  Her works are imbued with a black humor, more inline with Western ideology.

Bai Hongwei grew up in Shanghai but his homeland is in north China. He focuses on Chinese ink and water painting.  He paints traditional water and ink topics of flowers, birds and objects using western oil painting techniques. 

Surrounding the center of the 9-couleurs will be 8 Chinese galleries.  Z.T.S. Art Gallery, XYZ Gallery,  and HUB Art Gallery from Beijing; Author Gallery, Tianqing Gallery, Rainbow Art Gallery, Taste Art Co. and Spring Art Salon from Shanghai.  These galleries will feature works by nationally recognized artists including:  Wang Xiaosong. Zhou Guangwei, Kang Shixin, Zhu Zhe Chi, Wu Aizheng and Fan Xueyi among others.

The Los Angeles Art Show takes place from January 23-27, 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, South Hall 1201 Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015. Los Angeles Art Show programming is included with show admission. For additional information about the Los Angeles Art Show, to register for lecture or purchase online tickets, please visit www.laartshow.com.