Press Release 11th March, 2014 Attention Arts and Features Editors For Immediate Release Osage Gallery is pleased to share snippets from the solo exhibitions: MA SHUQING: TOUCH curated by HUANG DU LEUNG MEE PING: PEARL RIVER DELTA SERIES I: MADE IN HONG KONG curated by VALERIE DORAN CHEN SAI HUA KUAN: SPACE DRAWING The three solo exhibitions have opened to great reception. The opening event was lively and inspired an impromptu performance by one of the visitors. The exhibitions will continue to be open to the public until April 1st and all are welcome. The three artists present extremely different approaches to artistic production, the contrasts of which have filled Osage’s space with interesting tensions and conversation. For example, curator Wang Dong (of He Xiangning Art Museum) states, “The juxtaposition of Leung Mee Ping and Chen Sai Hua Kuan’s exhibitions once again presents art’s spirit of experimentation and complex nature. Leung’s works are conceived in Hong Kong, produced in Shenzhen. In her work, we see the visual employment of post‐modern tactics: appropriation and misappropriation. Her work also touches on the histories, memories and true cultures of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Chen Sai Hua Kuan’s video reminded me of art’s ability to go beyond the norms, which moved me. The translations and exchanges between video and drawing, time and space are presented here, opening up new fields of discussion.” Chen Sai Hua Kuan’s solo exhibition features his work Space Drawing 07. The artist explains, “My main idea is about drawing in a space – it’s just a bungee rope, cutting across the space that I filmed…The very first space drawing I did was a static sculpture, but then I accidentally released the rope and it went SNAP – POW! I was like, damn, that’s fun, and it evolved from there.” Leung Mee Ping’s Pearl River Delta Series I: Made In Hong Kong is continually evolving; each week sees some new paintings being added to the exhibition. Leung says, “The exhibition is designed so that the paintings line two opposing walls, to create the effect of having all these sights to take in as you walk down…” Such a setting highlights the fact that the works are simultaneously an installation and a performance, bringing to the forefront the role of the audience, or consumer, in Leung’s work. Also featured in the exhibition is Ma Shuqing’s series of abstract paintings, which present the artist’s latest artistic concerns and explorations. The artist states, “Time and space are invisible; the only visible thing is colour. Vibrant or not, layered or not, I want to use the visible to present the invisible.” Curator of the show, Huang Du adds, “When you look at Ma Shuqing’s paintings, you can treat it as that – a painting, but you could also understand it to be a sculpture since the painting is so layered. Ma’s works embody a malleability with the relationships between colours and their combinations. Most importantly however, is what the paintings bring to the viewers through its forms and language.” Osage is proud to present the work of all three artists, and hopes that their respective first solo exhibitions in Hong Kong will be a way to testify to their artistic careers and the different points of development of the exhibited bodies of works. ABOUT THE ARTISTS AND CURATORS Ma Shuqing 1956 Born in Tianjin, China Works and lives in Beijing, China and Paris, France Education 1994 MFA, Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany Studied freestyle painting from 1989 to 1994 under professor Ludi Troeger and Professor Jerry Zeniuk, earning the Kunstraum Daxer schorlarship. 1976 Graduated from Tianjin Arts and Crafts Vocational College, Tianjin, China Selected Solo Exhibitions 2014 Touch, Osage Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2013 Color – Whispers, Art Hall, Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center, Tianjin, China 2011 Ma Shuqing Solo Exhibition, Kogo Art, Hangzhou, China 2011 Space – Painting, Shi Fang Fine Art, Düsseldorf, Germany 2011 Whispering to Myself, Shuimu Art Space, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China 2011 Ma Shuqing Solo Exhibition, Art Space, German Embassy in Beijing, China 1994 Ma Shuqing Solo Exhibition, Galerie Klaus Lea, Munich, Germany 1994 Ma Shuqing Solo Exhibition, Galerie Finkel, Munich, Germany Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 Paper – Being: the 2nd Exhibition of Works on Paper, Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China 2013 Sanya Art Season, La Flora Plaza of Yalong Bay, Sanya, China 2013 Being Entangled with Paper: An International Survey of Works on/by/of/with /from Paper, Star Gallery, Beijing, China 2013 The Concept of Form and Fantasy, O2 Art, Beijing, China 2013 Mind and Hand in Accord – The 6th Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art, Pifo Gallery, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China 2013 Art Basel Hong Kong 2013 Art Beijing 2013 May Exhibition, Halcyon Gallery, Shanghai, China 2012 Integrate the new extension ­ Returned Overseas Artists Painting Exhibition, World Art Museum, Beijing, China 2012 China­Germany: Abstract Painting Today, the Gasper Ludwig Oplander Foundation, Dortmund, Germany 2012 In Time: Chinese Oil Painting Biennale 2012, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 2011 The Reality of Art, Esse Space, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China 2011 Chinese Abstract Painting Now, Galerie Frank Schlag & Cie, Essen, Germany 2011 Duo Exhibition Ma Shuqing and Liang Quan, Galerie Faeth, Aschaffenburg, Germany 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden 2010 The Reason of Water Color Painting, CAFA Museum, Beijing, China 2010 Abstract Paintings, Yuandian Art Museum, Beijing, China 2010 Art Beijing 2010 Abstract Paintings, Hubei Art Museum, Wuhan, China 2010 Ma Shuqing and Zhang Zhaoda Duo Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China 2009 The Observation of Reality, Joy Art Gallery, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China 2009 Duo Exhibition Ma Shuqing and Wang Xiaohui, Centre d'Art Elisabeth de Brabant, Shanghai, China 2009 Opening Exhibition, Eastlink Gallery, Beijing, China 2009 Awkward, Shuimu Art Space, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China 2007 Art Beijing 2005 Beijing Biennale 2005, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 2003 Memza, Alexander Ochs Galleries, 798 Art Zone, Beijing, China Awards 1987 Work of Excellence, the 1st National Oil Painting Exhibition of China 1985 Work of Excellence, the 6th National Art Exhibition of China Huang Du Huang Du is an independent curator and art critic who lives and works in Beijing. Huang Du was born in 1965, Shanxi Province, P. R. China. In 1988 he received his bachelor’s degree in art history from Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. From 1991 to 1992, he studied art history in Bologna University, Italy. In 2004, he obtained his Ph.D from Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. Huang Du has published numerous critical articles and essays on contemporary art, mostly on international magazines and catalogues. As a speaker and jury member, he is invited to participate in many important international art symposiums and art awards. His major curatorial projects include: Open Your Mouth, Close Your Eyes: Beijing‐ Berlin Art Exhibition (Beijing, 1995) The 2nd Seoul International Media Art Biennale 2002 (Seoul) China Pavilion of the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale 2004. China Contemporary: New Urban Realities (Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, The Netherlands, 2006) The 6th Shanghai Biennale 2006 Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves (ZKM, 2008, Germany) The 3rd Nanjing Triennial 2008 (Nanjing, China) Negotiations: The Second Today’s Documents 2010 (BeiJing) Jannis Kounellis: Translating China in 2011 (Today Art Museum, Beijing) Image Anxiety, PhotoEspana 2012 (Madrid, Spain) and the China Platform, Art Stage Singapore 2014 (Singapore). Chen Sai Hua Kuan Chen Sai Hua Kuan was born in 1976 in Singapore. He graduated from the LASALLE College of the Arts in 1997. Received a Master in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, in 2007. Visually simple and often laborious in execution, Sai's practice often incorporates cross‐disciplinary elements of sculpture, drawing, installation, sound and performance with wit and energy. He received numerous awards including Artist­in­ residency Award (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, 2013); The People's Choice Award (Mostyn Open 18, Wales, United Kingdom, 2013); The Visiting Artist Program of Earth Observatory Singapore (Singapore, 2012); Best of WRO (14th Media Art Biennale WRO 2011 ‐ Alternative Now, Wroclaw, Poland, 2011); Artist­in­residency Award (Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, 2011); Best film of FAFF2010 (Fundada Artists' Film Festival, Wakefield, United Kingdom, 2010); Winner of International Competition, Tower Kronprinz: Second Advent (National Centre for Contemporary Art, Kaliningrad, Russia, 2009). He has exhibited extensively, at venues that include If the World Changed (Singapore Biennale, 2013), Sound of the Earth (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, 2013), The Realm in the Mirror, the Vision out of Image (Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, China), Arte Laguna Prize (Arsenale of Venice, Italy, 2013), Drawing Now Paris / Le Salon Du Dessin Contemporain (Carousel Du Louvre, Paris, 2013), Panorama: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia (Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2012), International Film Festival Rotterdam ‐ Attraction of the Opposites (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2011), Luleå Art Biennial (Sweden, 2011), Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (Russia, 2010), EV+A (Ireland, 2010), Busan International Short Film Festival (Busan, South Korea, 2010), Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition 2010 (United Kingdom, 2010)