Cao Jigang shows work at Bluerider Art's Shanghai and London spaces
Cao Jigang's solo painting exhibition, "Skypath"
Bluerider Art Shanghai has recently launched Cao Jigang's solo painting exhibition, "Skypath." As a pioneer of Chinese contemporary art, Cao, 68, is also a representative artist joining the inaugural exhibition at Bluerider Art's London space, which opens this weekend.
The Shanghai space showcases more than 10 new paintings Cao has created during the past three years, which show a significant change and breakthrough in his artistic practice and a turn to minimalism.
As a Chinese landscape painter who studied oil painting in his early years, and also understands well the properties of ink and water, Cao composes something distinct from either of the two styles to balance the stability of Western techniques and the fluidity of traditional ink and wash, and creates an ambiguity of cultural recognition.
Using an altered tempera technique, he brings a modicum of traditional landscape painting elements into his work.
He preserves the outlines and solidness of the mountains in his overall picture, but in the details, seemingly abstract smears of the brush, subtle contrasts and minute transitions in color evoke an overarching atmosphere. The repeated washing and polishing of the tempera, as well as the use of wash methods from ink painting to transform the tempera, leave traces of time with each stroke of the brush on the painting surface.
Cao's work transcends the limits of either Chinese or Western painting, and he tries to demonstrate the "emptiness" in Chinese ink art by assorted methods. The way to depict "emptiness" in ink and wash painting is liubai, leaving blank, or not painted. It corresponds with the concept called wuwei, doing nothing, to represent the void.
In contrast, Cao intends to show "emptiness" by youwei, or doing something. He smears his art piece dozens of times, and therefore, layers of thin material settle as the painting dries. The "emptiness" formed through this thus has a strong sense of texture and materiality, and imparts a feeling of heaviness. This kind of "emptiness" is "substantial" and Cao's "void" comes from being "enough."
"I am slowly moving toward minimalism and de-landscaping," Cao said. "My focus is on how to eliminate more things in the picture, how to draw less, and use simple shapes and low-saturation colors to make the picture appear cold and dull."
He wants to create a deserted and desolate place with his landscapes – cold, grim, and triggering no desire or warmth.
Since 2020, Cao's painting language has simplified even more obliquely, and separates his pictures into black and white. With the minimalist compositions of the paintings, the tableau exudes with peacefulness, plain poetry, and profound empty-cold feelings.
Exhibition info:
Date: Through November 19 (closed on Mondays), 10am-7pm
Venue: Bluerider Art Shanghai
Address: 133 Sichuan Rd M.
四川中路133号
