Lan Zhenghui
Introduction
Lan Zhenghui originally went to college to study engineering, however, in a brief yet impactful moment of observing colour combinations on some small labels, he changed course and switched direction toward art. He was accepted a few years later by the prestigious Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, from which he graduated in 1987. He then taught at Chongqing University until 1993, before devoting himself full-time as an artist, reaching a pivotal point in his career with his selection for a solo exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in 2006. He currently lives and works in Beijing.
Lan's large-scale, often monumental abstract ink paintings, occupy an aesthetic confluence between traditional Chinese ink painting and Western abstract expressionism. Preferring to focus on the relationship of integration and macroscopic processes over detail and realism, he allows the ink to flow freely and paints with bold, kinetic strokes. Through his many years researching the language of vision, Lan's artistic philosophy has evolved to reflect the mantra of one of his favorite artists, Wu Guanzhong: "Good art will shock you." The viewer does not need to understand the specifics of the painting, but rather connect to a quasi-spiritual experience beyond the work, a feeling that is exciting, yet almost jarring, approaching the border of the magnificent.
Lan Zhenghui's work has been collected by museums, universities, and is part of private collections.
Biography
1959 Born in Sichuan, China
1987 Graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts
1987-93 Teaching at Chong Qing University during
2003 Performance Art, Creation of the Work Stride, IS Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2013 Honored guest for the Mephisto Art Seminar, Beijing, China
Limited-edition product co-designed for Schiesser, Germany. Video “Germany Schiesser Culture Tour: Co-operative design by ink artist Lan Zhenghui”
Currently Lives in Beijing, China & Toronto, Canada
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 Lan Zhenghui Solo Exhibition, Sanshang Contemporary, Hangzhou, China
2017 Lan Zhenghui Re-thINK, Ethan Cohen Fine Art, New York, USA; Salotto Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2016 Lan Zhenghui Re-thINK:Landscape, Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York, USA
Solo Exhibition, Ruth Marder Gallery, Maryland Institute of Art, Maryland, USA
2015 Lan Zhenghui: Mana Contemporary residency project & solo exhibition, New York, USA
Lan Zhenghui Solo Exhibition, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong
Lan Zhenghui Re-thINK, Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York, USA
Ink Painting by Lan Zhenghui, Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Customer Experience
2014 The Phaeton and Lan Zhenghui Ink Painting, Author Gallery, Shanghai, China
Color Extending, Canadian Fine Arts Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2013 Vigorous Splash-stroke of Heavy Ink: Lan Zhenghui Solo exhibition, Sanshang Art, Hangzhou, China
2012 Lan Zhenghui Solo Exhibition, Castle of Malcesine, Verona, Italy
2011 Ink Painting Dream: Lan Zhenghui Solo Exhibition, Contrasts Gallery, Shanghai, China
2010 The Great Ink: My Road of Abstraction LAN ZHENGHUI, Jindu Art Centre, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China
Light Ink Deep Feeling, Qie Lu Gallery, Beijing, China
2009 Cross Flow-Motion, Energy Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Mighty Rain: Lan Zhenghui Solo Exhibition, O House Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
2006 Heavy Ink Painting by Lan Zhenghui, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2004 Contemporary Ink Painting Special Show by Lan Zhenghui for 1000 Years Celebration of Porcelain, Jingde Zhen, China
2003 Running Ink, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 International Ink Artists, Ink Asia 2018, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
2017 Imperial Park: Shenzhenism, Selected works exhibition from China-Italy Biennial, Shenzhen, China
Boundless: Ongoing Chinese Ink Art 2017, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan, China
Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Art Central HK, Hong Kong
Ink in the Present Days, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai, China
7nd Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
2016 Traces of Heart, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China
Ink Asia, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Art Miami, Miami, USA
Humanistic Nature and Society, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai, China
Shanghai Project, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai, China
Art Central HK, Hong Kong
6th Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
2015 Art Toronto International Art Expo, Toronto, Canada
3nd Biennial China-Italia, Turin, Italy
Contemporary Ink Art Evolution: Sensibility & Rationality in Abstraction Travelling Exhibition, Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China; Flemish Art Museum, Brussels, Belgium; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA; Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
Venice Biennial: Creating Identities, Venice, Italy
The Exhibition about Abstract Art of China, 798 Shone-show Gallery, Beijing, China
Art Central HK, Hong Kong
The Being of Nihility: Lan Zhenghui’s Art Appraisal Event, Europ'Art China, Shanghai, China
2014 Art’s New World 2014: 1st International Shapers Art Fine Art Expo, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China
Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Rendering the Future: Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting, Asia Art Centre, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China
Memory: 2nd Biennial China-Italia, Beijing, China
Spiritual as Mountains, Pearl Lam Gallery, Hong Kong
Flow: Ink Innovators, Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York, USA
2013 28 Chinese: The Rubell Family Collection, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas, USA
Freedom Degree 4: The Chinese Contemporary Ink Exhibition, Nina Torres Fine Art, Miami, USA
Beyond Colour: Chinese Contemporary Art, Pearl Lam Gallery, Shanghai, China
Beyond Abstraction: Explorations in Contemporary Chinese Ink, Poligono Gallery, Marbella, Spain
Beyond Black and White: Chinese Contemporary Abstract Ink, Pearl Lam Gallery, Shanghai, China
3rd Beauty of Crossover Art Show, Comfort Magazine, Shanghai, China
Forms of the Formless: Exhibition of China Contemporary Art, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
Undoing Shuimo, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2012 2nd Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
4th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Taipei International Modern Ink Painting Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan
2010 Art Dubai 2010, Dubai, UAE
Toronto Art Expo 2010, Toronto, Canada
Ink-Painting Mode and Space, Ink and Wash Union of Song Zhuang, Beijing, China
The Era of Ink Painting, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2009 Ink Painting, Calligraphy: The Third Abstraction, Contrasts Gallery, Shanghai, China
Meditation from the East, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Ink Painting Today: 2009 Shanghai New Ink Art Exhibition, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
Return to Modern, 09 Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition, West Lake Art Gallery, Hangzhou, China
2009-08 I Am In It: Chinese Contemporary Art Expressions, Travelling Exhibition, Florida Gulf Coast University, California, USA; Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
2008 Contemporary Ink Art Evolution Travelling Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; RAAB Galerie, Bonn, Germany; Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, USA; National D. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
China Blue: Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting Exhibition, Katrinetorps, Sweden
Seoul International Modern Calligraphic Art Exhibition, Korea
Big Size Abstract Art Exhibition, Palace Museum, Beijing, China
2007 Love for Ink: 2nd Invitational Exhibition by 100 Renowned Artists, Ink and Wash Union of Song Zhuang, Song Zhuang Art Centre, Beijing, China
2006 Ink and Wash and the Contemporary Era: 1st Invitational Exhibition of the Ink and Wash Union of Song Zhuang, Song Zhuang Art Centre, Beijing, China
2005 China Day Exhibition, Cortland University, New York, USA
Asian Heritage Month GTA: The Great Waterfalls Painting Show, Toronto, Canada
2004 Running Ink Travelling Exhibition, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater, Toronto, Canada
2001 Emotion Accumulation: Five Artists Oil Painting Exhibition (artist and curator), Fan Gallery, Beijing, China
1999 Ink Painting Installation Exhibition, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
14th Asia International Art Exhibition, Fukuoka, Japan
1993 1st China Art Fair, China
1989 1st China Modern Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
SELECTED AWARDS
2006 Art Committee Annual Award, Ontario, Canada
2013 "Comfort" Cross-over Art of the Year, Ford, Shanghai, China
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Florida Gulf Coast University, California, USA
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, USA
Rubell Family Museum, Miami, USA
Chinese Cultural Centre , Greater Toronto, Canada
Consul General of British Consulate in Guangzhou, China
Consul General of German Consulate in Guangzhou, China
National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
MoCA Beijing, Beijing, China
Song Zhuang Ink Painting League, Beijing, China
Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Artron Group, China
Other private collectors from Canada, USA, Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
