Private Preview:
Saturday, Jan 11, 2025, 2 – 5pm (By Invitation Only)
Kindly RSVP by calling +65 6339 0678 or email enquiry@ipreciation.com
Exhibition Opens to Public:
Jan 13 – Feb 1, 2025
10am – 7pm (Mon – Fri)
11am – 6pm (Sat)
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
Venue:
50 Cuscaden Road, HPL House #01-01, Singapore 249724
Tel: + 65 6339 0678 Fax: + 65 6438 2080
iPRECIATION is delighted to announce our upcoming exhibition with Mr. Li Xianting, a key figure in the development of Chinese avant-garde art and a highly respected independent art critic and curator, often referred to as the “Godfather of Chinese Contemporary Avant-Garde Art.” Mr. Li coined movements such as “Cynical Realism” and “Political Pop.” His curatorial work includes landmark exhibitions like China New Art Post ’89 and China Contemporary Art Exhibition, bringing Chinese contemporary art to the international stage.
About the Exhibition:
Mr. Li Xianting (b.1949, Jilin, China) graduated from Chinese Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Art in 1978, he became the editor of Fine Art Magazine until 1983.
From 1985 to 1989 he was the editor of the authoritative China Fine Art Newspaper, and was active as an independent critic and curator based in Beijing henceforth. He devoted his career to writing, researching, and editing of contemporary Chinese art. He enjoys writing in bold characters, which have become a distinctive aspect of his personal style and expression.
This solo exhibition “Li • Tales in Calligraphy” marks Li Xianting’s return after years of seclusion, offering a rare opportunity to witness his inner voice. During the pause the world experienced amid the pandemic, Mr. Li found a moment of reflection. With the world seemingly on hold, he continued his passion for brush writing. His works serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of art in the face of adversity. It offers a space for reflection on the broader cultural and societal values that shape us, while also honouring the legacy of a true pioneer in Chinese contemporary art. His brush writing reflects his inner thoughts, characterized by bold, rugged edges and expansive characters and style, diverges from traditional calligraphic practices, marking his unique artistic identity.
The works he presents, at first glance, seems to dwell in darker corners of the human experience: words like “Pain”, “Demon”, “Sickness”, and phrases such as “Falling Blossoms Fading Moon” or “Between Joy and Melancholy”. These words suggest a deep reflection on suffering, loss, and the struggle between opposing emotions. But to stop there, focusing only on the literal meanings of the characters, would be to miss the heart of the work. As Mr. Li has said, whether a piece of art is “good” or “bad” depends not on the work itself, but on the perspective of the viewer. How one perceives the art reveals more about the viewer than about the artwork itself. Rather than defining the work by the words themselves, we are asked to explore the space around the characters — to experience what is present in the silence, the gaps, the negative spaces. It is through this interplay between the written form and the space it occupies that the true nature of the piece unfolds. This subtlety reminds us that life, in its fullest sense, is not only made up of the high points of joy but also of the low moments that shape our growth and resilience.
There is irony in the act of writing these heavy words. Words like “Speech-less” or “Take a Step Back” inherently suggest an absence, a lack of expression. And yet, he has created these works, carefully choosing to write them. Reading these works, one might expect him to withdraw and cease all creative acts. Instead, his continued expression—his very act of writing these words—is a form of resistance, a refusal to be silenced. It is, in itself, an act of defiance against the gravity of these emotions.
For Mr. Li, it has been a period of reflection and regeneration. His works remind us that we all have our moments of challenges, but it is through these very experiences that we carve out our capacity for joy, strength, and meaningful moments. The act of writing these words is not an endorsement of their permanence, but a way of acknowledging their place in the ongoing path of life. This exhibition marks his return—not as a mere return to the spotlight but as a return to his own sense of being, a time of silence that now makes way for the resurgence of his work.
About the Artist:
Li Xianting (b.1949, Jilin, China) is a key figure in the development of Chinese avant-garde art and a highly respected independent art critic and curator, often referred to as the “Godfather of Chinese Contemporary Avant-Garde Art”. As the magazine editor at Meishu magazine during Chinese economic reform, he introduced influential art movements such as “Scar Art,” “Rural Art,” and the modernistic “Twelve Artists Group Exhibition”, China’s first modernist show since mid-century. He was the only critic to positively review the “Stars Art Exhibition” in a state-owned art magazine. He was the editor of three influential art magazines in China: Meishu (1978-1983), Art Newspaper of China (1985-1989), and The Renaissance (Xin Chao) (2001), and also contributed in the editing of other journals such as Art Trends (Meishu Sichao). His contributions to the “85 New Wave” and his ongoing research and writing on Chinese art since the 1970s have solidified his status as a leading art critic. His articles, such as “Critique of the May Fourth Art Revolution” “What Matters is Not Art” “‘Postmodern’, ‘Nationalisation’ and ‘Straw’” “The Sense of ‘Boredom’ in Contemporary Chinese Art: Analyzing the Cynical Realism Trend”, are now essential references for researching contemporary Chinese art. In 1991, he published “The Sense of ‘Boredom’ in Contemporary Chinese Art: Analyzing the Cynical Realism Trend” on the Hong Kong academic journal, Twenty-First Century, giving Fang Lijun and his contemporaries’ new works a novel designation that had no precedent in modern art history. His article “Political Pop and Consumer Imagery” organises the artworks from Wang Guangyi and Zhang Pei li. On Chinese Calligraphy Studies, he published “Questioning ‘Modern Calligraphy’”, as a systematic exposition on the modernisation of calligraphy as a traditional art. In his spare time, he also finds joy in practising calligraphy. Graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the late 1970s, he has been using a brush as his writing tool since childhood, a skill he has honed for decades. He possesses the distinct characteristics of a traditional intellectual. Since 2006 he has founded and directed the Li Xianting Film Fund, a project dedicated to the screening, education, and archiving of independent Chinese documentaries. Despite his academic journey, he finds solace in brush writing. He has a passion in writing large and bold characters, distinct from the works of traditional calligraphers. In recent years, he has chosen a more secluded lifestyle, yet remains committed to his artistic endeavours.
Artwork:
