Jun Jiang "Crystal Dystopia", verlängert bis 9. August 2014!

The Thomas Rehbein Gallery is pleased to present works by the Chinese artist Jun Jiang (*1982, Shanghai), a master student of Prof. Aernout Mik at the Kunstakademie Münster, in a solo exhibition.

In his intricate landscape paintings, he intertwines Western visual concepts and experiences with the values of traditional Chinese landscape painting, where recurring elements include mountains and water. Through this newly found freedom of expression, he develops a unique contemporary visual language.

With remarkable attention to detail, Jiang’s large vertical and horizontal formats, often comprising multiple panels, offer a contemplative glimpse into a nature filled with rock and architectural formations viewed from shifting perspectives. Mist envelops the mountain landscapes, while a river meanders gently through rocky, green terrains into the plains. Only sporadically do vibrant color accents, such as flowers, appear. In the predominantly blue and gray-toned landscapes, figures occasionally emerge, bathing in the lake or sitting in a meditative pose along the bends of a river.

Through the restrained use of color, the eye glides over the landscape in a futile search for a central perspective.

The connection of various delicately executed scenes initially gives the impression of a cohesive pictorial space. Only upon closer inspection do fractures reveal themselves, along with the realization that Jiang’s paintings follow a logic of their own. He creates an additive web of relationships that is both spatial and temporal.

Through the skillful intertwining of horizontal and vertical lines, a narrative thread and a reading direction within the image are established. Equally captivating is the impressive depth effect of the landscapes. They are neither snapshots nor images with timeless significance. Instead, they oscillate between the different concepts of time found in Western and Chinese thought. Jun Jiang’s paintings invite a departure from dualities and habitual ways of seeing.

(Miriam Walgate, 2014)