Galerie du Monde presents Lan Zhenghui’s solo exhibition, showcasing 12 exceptional works by the artist. Lan is known for creating large scale, often monumental abstract ink paintings. He draws on the Chinese painting tradition, using only black ink on Xuan paper, but diverges in his pursuit of individual emotional expression.
Using varying densities of ink, and sometimes splashing directly onto the paper, Lan produces marks that convey a range of complex emotions. Favoring a freehanded approach to the brushstroke, he launched a “power brush” movement with his colleagues in 2000 to promote the natural sense of motion and power in ink brush.
Born in Sichuan, China, Lan Zhenghui graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Art in 1987, and was a member of the “85 New Art Movement”. He has been working in the realm of contemporary ink painting and calligraphy for nearly 20 years.
He began thinking about and discovering the “bodily” or “physical” potential of contemporary calligraphy in 2000. With this he established a new concept that he regards to as “Mian Shu Xie”. In 2006, the artist received funding from the Canadian government and had a solo exhibition at the National Art Museum of China titled “Lan Zhenghui Tiliang Shuimo”.
He is admittedly one of the most influential contemporary Chinese calligraphy artists today. In February 2010, he was invited to the Toronto Art Exposition as the only representative of contemporary Chinese calligraphy, and brought contemporary Chinese ink painting and calligraphy onto the global stage.