The Land of Ink

 

July 23 - Sep 24, 2022

 

Kylin Gallery is pleased to present “The Land of Ink,” a two-person exhibition by the Asian American landscape artist Wang, Shouzhi (b. 1946) and Japanese abstract landscape artist Ikezaki, Yoshio. The exhibition will be on view from July 23 through September 24, 2022, with an opening reception to be held on Saturday, July 23 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, artist Yoshio Ikezaki will attend the opening reception and give an art talk about Asian ink art. “The Land of Ink,” features 18 paintings selected from two artists’ collections.
 

ARTIST

Wang Shouzhi was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Since 1987, he has been engaged in the research and teaching of design theory at Chester College of Pennsylvania State University and Madison College of the University of Wisconsin, and later participated in the establishment of the design major at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Wang has been a professor at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles for twenty years and served as a doctoral tutor at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and China Academy of Art for many years. His works were exhibited in both US and China and collected by Chinese major art institutes and universities such as the Guangdong Museum of Art. Wang also published many books which are the most influential design theory and history publications in Chinese.
 
Wang Shouzhi has been in love with the landscape style of the Song Dynasty for ages. He considers landscape paintings in Northern Song Dynasty has a unique character. He uses ink painting skills developed in this period to create a magnificent atmosphere in his ink paintings. Song Dynasty, in between Tang and Yuan Dynasties, is a tremendous important transition and transformation in Chinese art. Great numbers of masterpieces were produced at that time. Tranquility, hermitash, magnificence, and force of Nature are fundamental visual languages, which bring a sense of aesthetic power to the people. Wang tries to express this feeling throughout his ink paintings.
 
Yoshio Ikezaki was born in Kitakyushu, Japan. In 1978, Yoshio received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the same school in 1980. After graduation, he returned to Japan to study with Japanese paper masters Shigemi and Shigeyuki Matsuo, to study Japanese traditional paper-making and ink painting in more depth. Yoshio uses self-invented organic painting materials for his painting and sculpture, the techniques he learned allowed him to master and control the texture of the paper and then cooperate with the direction of ink and wash, so as to show the effect he expected. Yoshio’s paintings and sculptures are interpreted in contemporary contexts based on Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, techniques and materials.
 
Yoshio has taught as a professor at major art universities and colleges including Art Center College of Design, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Tama Art University and Musashino Art University in Japan. Yoshio has exhibited his work in solo/group exhibitions at venues including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Center College of Design, Kitakyushu City Museum of Art, Fukuoka City Museum of Art, and Musashino Art University. Six pieces of his works will be featured in the traveling group exhibition “Washi Transformed”(curated by Meher McArthur) at various museums, starting October 2021 to December 2024