Feature Exhibition by Yuan Jinhua

Artist list

Jinhua Yuan

Born in 1964 in China’s famous city of Hangzhou (home to West Lake, a treasured site), Professor Yuan Jinhua has garnered coveted recognition for his highly unusual contemporary works that provide new interpretations of China’s “landscape culture.” The collection of small and large paintings on specially made papers marry ancient Chinese ink techniques with delicate, yet strong, brush and color power.

A master of capturing the vitality and visual power of modern Chinese ink painting, Professor Yuan uses refined inks, gold leaf, and Tibetan pigments, which are made from earth substances, precious and semi-precious gemstones. Dramatic blue is made from azurite or lapis lazuli, exquisite Hangzhou green from malachite, intense red from cinnabar, yellow ochre from limonite. Each of these minerals is painstakingly hand ground to a fine powder, sometimes soaked and rubbed with the fingers to achieve a silky texture. Oftentimes compounds are heated to create different shades and hues to produce bold forms and figures.

“The ‘Embrace Series’ by Yuan Jinhua constructs lighthearted landscapes of contemporary daily life in a style that at once fully elevates the elements of Chinese ink and wash painting, while bidding farewell to the historical tradition with [sic] humor. / Xiaoming Zhao, highly regarded collector, President of the International Publishing House for China’s Culture, and current Chairman of the Board of USA Asian Cultural Academy.

Yuan currently teaches traditional Chinese painting at the China Academy of Art in Zhejiang and is the director of the portrait studio at the Traditional Chinese Painting Institute, Zhejiang Art Museum.