Striking the Mountain to Shock the Tiger
An Exhibition Surveying the Creative Ecosystem for Contemporary Chinese Young Artist Groups
August 21st-Octorber 13th, 2010
Curator: Tony Chang

For each generation of artists, the social environment in which they live and create has a profound effect on the development of their art. The curatorial concept behind Striking the Mountain to Shock the Tiger is sociological, using interviews and surveys of nearly one hundred artists born in the 1970s and 80s to observe the living and creative conditions of young artists and the potential effects of the current art ecosystem on future changes in art and the development of artists. Using the creative subject key words gleaned from the surveys as a core set of coordinates, Striking the Mountain to Shock the Tiger seeks out a spiritual anchor in the flourishing, diverse practices of cutting-edge art. The artistic styles of the various participant artists vary widely, but all are brimming with talent and personality. The document segment of this exhibition consists of the artists stories of how they make a living, highlighting the struggle and perseverance involved in their delicate walk between art and existence.

Soul of the Land
The Meditative Aesthetics of Contemporary Chinese Landscape Painting

Amelie Gallery, 2010.7.03-8.21, Opening: July.3rd, 15:00pm
Artists: Wang Keju, Bai Yuping, Ren Chuanwen, Sun Gang, Hong Dan and Zhang Yu
Curator: Tony Chang

Soul of the Land focuses on the important Chinese landscape artists Wang Keju, Bai Yuping, Ren Chuanwen, Sun Gang and young artists Hong Dan and Zhang Yu. In terms of both painterliness and creative concepts, they have made innovative contributions to the ancient tradition of landscape painting. The goal of the exhibition is to explore the developmental trends of contemporary landscape painting, to analyze individual artists and their cultural inheritance to reveal the new aesthetic direction being shaped by China's current reality and humanist landscapes...

163 Years of Obsession-Self Awareness and the Literati Spirit
Artists:Duan Zhengqu, Zhu Jin, Fan Bo, Wang Qing, Ma Ke, and Liu Ruizhao

After socialist realism and beginning with the 85 New Wave, contemporary figurative painting bore the weight of social critique and historical rethinking. Fang Lijun's shaved heads and Yue Minjun's smiling faces spoke of an uncooperative attitude towards mainstream ideology; while Zhang Xiaogang's old portrait photo-style figures looked back listlessly on history. While the individuals in those paintings were portrayed as symbolic masks of the group spirit of intellectuals in a certain time period, the artists in 163 Years of Obsession, Duan Zhengqu, Zhu Jin, Fan Bo, Wang Qing, Ma Ke, and Liu Ruizhao discarded with direct representations of the complex surfaces of social events, and turned their gazes upon themselves. Stretching from the 1950s to the 1980s, these artists, so passionately obsessed with painting, all separately traced out awareness of themselves in brushstrokes that are full of spiritual sensitivity, probing along the lonely path of human dignity...

HuTong Play-Huang Kai Solo Show
2010.01.23~03.15
Celebrating the 3rd Anniversary of Chinese New Year Fine Art Print Festival
Huang Kai carries on the traditions of Chinese panel comics, from the famous pre-revolution comic book, The Adventures of Sanmao the Orphan, the comic drawings of Feng Zikai and on to the early revolution period. With mischief and playfulness, he explores the disparity between memory and reality. His "reminiscences on childhood" mix bitter sadness with sweet joy...

Notes on Fishing-Paintings & Sculpture in 2006-2009
Liu RuiZhao Solo Exhibition
Amelie Gallery, Beijing, Curator: Tony Chang

You love fishing. You once told me that the fish and the mythical dragon are very much alike -swim through waters of untold depths in complete silence. You spend much of your free time refining your fishing techniques, and working on strange problems such as how to release a fish after catching it and how to tell its age from its scales. That is why I proposed Notes on Fishing as an art project. I hoped that it would allow you to bring together your creative experiments and spiritual growth from the past few years¡­

Grace of Printmaking
Printmaking Art from Central Academy of Fine Arts & National Taiwan University of Arts
May 24th-June 12th, 2009
Official Website: www.ChinaPrintArt.cn

In simultaneity with China National Art Museum's two major printmaking art events in May of 2009 (the 9th National Chinese Lithography, Etching & Silkscreen Exhibition and Exhibition of Art Works by Taiwan Artist Liao ShiouPing), Grace of Printmaking is open in Amelie Gallery Beijing and Museum of National Taiwan University of Arts, bringing print artists together from Central Academy of Fine Arts & National Taiwan University of Arts, this is the first official exchange program for the two sister academies...

No Fun without You- Contemporary Artists Frozen in Place
Artists: Liu RuiZhao, Huang Kai,Wang YanBin, Zhang Ying, Cheng QinTao, Wang XiaoOu
2009.3.21~5.10

As the theme of this exhibition, No Fun without You has two layers of meanings. First, the participating artists create playful and joyful scenes: Liu Ruizhao's youths are in a state of absent-mindedness, and are painted with rich, exaggerated color in dramatic lighting. Huang Kai's paintings recall the childhood playmates in the old, demolished Hutong (alleyways). Wang Yanbin depicts naughty chafferers in grey robes and red shoes who are forcing a crane to drink Coca Cola.... This group of young and vigorous artists come together to present a lively and entertaining party, adding humor and fun into the contemporary art scene...

A New Mark in Chinese Print Art-
Survey on the Innovation of Chinese Contemporary Printmaking
2009.3.28~5.13
Venue: OCT Art & Design, ShenZhen
Curator:Tony Chang

A New Mark in Chinese Print Art-Traversing the Labyrinth of the Contemporary Spirit, an academic exhibition surveying the innovation of Chinese contemporary printmaking takes place in OCT Art & Design, a Museum at the fore front of contemporary visual culture in Shenzhen until May 13th, 2009. More than one hundred new works by artists from China's leading fine arts academies are on show. Born in the '70's and '80's, these artists are casting off the restraints of conventional printmaking language as they examine contemporary issues. Artistic Director of Amelie Gallery, Mr. Tony Chang was invited as the chief curator.

Enchanting Landscapes
+Public Printmaking & 8 Printmakers' New Year Cards Exhibition
Artists: Song Yuanwen,ChenQi,He Kun,Gordon Mortensen(US), Ralph Kiggell (UK) etc.

Jan 10th-March 6th, 2009
Amelie Gallery brings you a New Year's treat in the form of beautiful, romantic landscape prints. From China's early modern print masters to the international contemporary academics, through Southeast Asia and North America, this is a journey through the mental landscape that transcends time and space. The enchanting landscapes, lush scenery and acute perceptions of the artists come together here in the art of print...

Fable - Literary Experiments by Contemporary Visual Artists
The Antler Man Plays with his Bird, The Pianist Romances the Robot, The Lunatic Performs, The Swordsman Engages in Zen...

Nov 22nd-Dec. 31st, 2008
This is an experiment that straddles the boundaries of visual art, fables and fairytale literature.

Fables and fairytales are the remains of classical legends; comics accumulate in the psychological memories of adults; this is the most extreme form of self-dramatization; it reflects the archetypes of the collective unconscious and popular culture;Through the storytelling method, the artists will open up their artworks, so that dust-covered fables and the daydreams of today will intertwine, opening the door to the subconscious.

Four Seasons
Spring Paper-Summer Linen-Autumn Ceramic-Winter Wood
Art of Tang Chenghua

October 11th-Nov. 21st, 2008
Tang Chenghua, who teaches at the China Central Academy of Fine Art, has a rich international academic background as far as academics go. Having floated about between East and West for a decade, Tang Chenghua's work emphasizes the serendipity of the creation process, and shimmers with the passion of abstract expressionism and movement art. His abstract art, which straddles the divide between materials and mediums, has traces of a magnificent personal style, but Eastern culture dominates his artistic world...

Kang Jianfei | Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Curator:Tony Chang
Augest 16th-Sept. 24th, 2008
As a contemporary artist, the unique significance of Kang Jianfei is that he has not wasted his talents on superficial social issues. Instead he has focused all of his efforts on the hidden and inveterate illness that lies within Chinese social mores. Kafka turned a man into a cockroach to decry the alienation of man, while Kang Jianfei, "changing the subject", has made use of a controlled form of mockery, wittily maintaining aloofness. His images carry the rich expressions of the Chinese literati tradition, and his painting language shines with sharp ideas and concepts...

Memory or Reality
Existence, History & Memory, A Trilogy of Art Exhibitions on China's Spiritual Adventure Today,Chapter III

Curator:Tony Chang
May 31st-July 10th, 2008
Amelie Gallery's Memory or Reality Contemporary Art Exhibition focuses on Chinese young artists' nostalgic sentiments. In reluctance confronting the inexorability of existence, they try to retreat to the past by art, feeding their canvas with abandoned toys, knocked-down old time cinema buildings, demolished HuTong streets where childhood playmates' Red Army role-play games are still vivid. To them, memory seems to be alive, substantiates their individuality; It interlaces with existence, trapping these sensitive souls in the adjacencies between the real and the illusional...

Mirror of History
Existence, History & Memory, A Trilogy of Art Exhibitions on China's Spiritual Adventure Today,Chapter II

Curator:Tony Chang
April, 19th-May 30th, 2008
"A people without history is not redeemed from time" (T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding). China's current situation leads to the result that we cannot settle in peace with history. Heritage is alive, breathing, connected with the body of reality, it is a cure as well as poisons. Amelie Gallery's Mirror of History exhibition reflects the conflict and rebellion between history and today. The participating artists are sensitive and nostalgic; their sentiments turning back are also prophesies looking forward to the future...

Exile in Existence
Existence, History & Memory, A Trilogy of Art Exhibitions on China's Spiritual Adventure Today,Chapter 1

Curator:Tony Chang
March, 8th-April 18th, 2008
Confused, lost, and trapped by Franz Kafka-like anxiety, they wonder on the edge of illusion and existence, creating their own universe over the dust of reality. Amelie gallery's Exile in Existence exhibition shows an intriguing composition of artworks on individual life experience: Liu RuiZhao's oil paintings speak out a sense of mystery and human dignity; Hao ChongTao embodies his soberness into childhood games, Ju Ting, Lu JingXi and Chen XiaoKe's woodcuts and etchings are powerful and sincere, demonstrating their brave courage confronting human existence...

New Concept Experiential Print Art Exhibition-
Celebration, Major Public Events of 2008 China Prin Art Fesitival

Jan, 5th-Feb 25th, 2008
Over commercialization of Chinese art creates thrilling auction records and contemporary art has been trapped in a small, privileged circle for the rich, manipulated by art investors and opportunists. By printmaking festival, we hope to engage more people socially and aesthetically, especially local Chinese who will become the backbone of the Chinese art market in the long term...

The festival devotes efforts in printmaking art education by live demonstration, trial printing by the visitors, students & kids events etc.