Landscape/Shen Fan: a solo exhibition of Shen Fan
2009-10-12 17:35

Oct. 17th – Nov. 10th, 2009
ShanghART at 796 Huaihailu
796 Huaihai Rd. Middle, Shanghai
Opening Hours: 10am-7pm

ShanghART Gallery is pleased to present Landscape/Shen Fan: a solo exhibition of Shen Fan.

Shen fan's artistic production consists primarily of two-dimensional abstract painting. There images portray the minimalism of Western abstract painting,but are fundamentally different. The Chinese version and approach has been coined with the term Maximalism. This practice attempts to establish a blance between the spiritual and the material components of the process. Shen Fan's work can be regarded as incomplete and fragmenred records of daily meditation:he repeats the same patterns and forms in order to remove individualism or eliminate any desire for self-espression,aiming for the distillation of pure spirituality. This serialization and monotonous process constitute the characteristics of Shen Fan's Maximalism.

Shen Fan's painting come across as visually pure and harmonious compositions devoid of any extravagant or superfluous elements.For Shen Fan,the surface of the canvas becomes a field where color plays a key role. His images consist of monochromatic (and often primary) colors.His works are tactile compositions created using a palette knife,which makes for a restrictive work structure.The result is an ambiguous space in which shapes resembling geometric diagrams are then filled out with beautifully simple and repetitious ornamental figures.With rare radicalism,Shen Fan always accomplishes compositions full of discipline,rigor and perfection.Shen Fan disregards representation or narrtive.He instead emphasizes the pure,clean expressive methodology of the process of production and its serialization.Shen Fan therefore creates a self-referential,or perhaps 'pure' world that follows an inner logic.Silence becomes a powerful concept that addresses the intimacy between the artist's mind and material society.

Shen Fan, now resides and works in Shanghai, was born in 1952 in Shanghai. Selected exhibitions include Out of Shanghai, Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany; Art Taipei 2009, Annual Theme Show, Taiwan, Taipei; Shanghai History in Making from 1979 till 2009, China, Shanghai (2009); Shanghai Kaleidoscope, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, Canada; Art 39 Basel 2008: ShanghART Gallery, Swiss land, Basel (2008); ‘China Today Art Week’ Prism—New Media Arts Exhibition, Art Gallery of Austria chancellor's office,Vien, Austria (2007); 6th Shanghai Biennale: Hyper Design, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai (2006).1).

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