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Zhang Jian-Jun 張建君 (b. 1955)

Hailing from Shanghai, China, Zhang Jian-Jun (b.1955) is one of the most disciplined and gifted contemporary Asian artists of our time. Zhang graduated from Shanghai Drama Institute’s Fine Arts Department in 1978 and is today an Adjunct Professor at the Fine Arts Department of New York University.

Zhang’s art perforates the surface of East-West fusion and the idea of time, expressing his strikingly unique and profoundly perceptive musings. Exploring the essence of these topics, his art may not be instantaneously interpretable by many; however, this is also the very quality that elevates the intellectual element of his works, inviting viewer participation. Zhang demonstrates his gift in the artistic manipulation of time by re-creating the ancient scholar rock with modern materials such as silicone rubber. These ornate rocks, called Taihu Rocks, originated from Suzhou and are traditionally appreciated and prized by Chinese Literati. They are also symbolic of traditional Chinese culture and focus on the changes in aesthetics, culture and social patterns across time. Creatively, he has resurrected a fragment of history and propelled episodic moments from that distant time to this present age. These consequential works are evidently contemporary and undoubtedly unique.

Zhang has held more than 15 solo exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions in China, the United States and other parts of Asia and Europe. His works are collected permanently in the K11 Art Foundation (Hong Kong), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), Brooklyn Museum (New York), Yuz Museum (Shanghai), San Francisco Asian Art Museum (California), Shanghai Art Museum, Jerry Yang Collection (California), Uli Sigg Collection, JP Morgan (Hong Kong), Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou), Frederick R. Weisman Foundation of Art (California),

He was also involved in the Golden Globe Awards Party 2007 where he was commissioned to install his scholar rock sculpture, Mirage Garden #5.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021 | Residency Programme co-presented by Royal Academy and K11 Art Foundation, presented at chiK11 art museum Shanghai, chiK11 art space Shenyang and K11 HACC Hong Kong.
2017 | Between Then and Now, OCAT Xi’An, China
2016 | Water • Quintessence, Pearl Lam Gallery, Shanghai, China
2015 | China Chapter, Galerie Albrecht, Berlin, Germany
2015 | Jade Mountain & Ink River, Christian Duvernois Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2015 | 1980s: Zhang Jian-Jun’s Early Artwork (1978-1988), Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
2015 | Nature and Beyond,” Leo Gallery, Art Basel Hong Kong
2015 | Water • Ink • China, Pace Prints, New York, New York, USA
2014 | Nature, Art Projects International, New York, New York, USA
2012 | Forms • Water • Vestiges, Pavilion of Repose Garden, Kunshan, China
2011 | Water, 99 Art Center at M50, Shanghai, China
2007 | Zhang Jian-Jun: Vestiges of a Process, iPreciation, Singapore
2007 | Alternative Landscape, 140 sqm Gallery, Shanghai, China
2007 | Mirage Garden Part 6, South Beauty Garden, Shanghai, China (in collaboration with Barbara Edelstein)
2007 | Vestiges of a Process: New York, Shanghai, New Village, iPreciation, Singapore
2005 | Vestiges of a Process, Asian American Art Centre, New York, USA
2005 | Garden of Wishing Trees, Maiden Lane Exhibition Space, New York, USA
(in collaboration with Barbara Edelstein)
2004 | Vestiges of a Process: Chelsea Chapter, DTW Gallery, New York, USA
2003 | Mountain & River, Art Projects International Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2002 | Chinese Ink Garden of Re-Creation, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
2002 | Vestiges of a Process: Guangzhou Chapter, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2002 | China Chapter, Museum of the Shenzhen Art Institute, Shenzhen, China
2001 | Art Projects International, New York, New York, USA
1997 | Footprint, Gallerie Deux, Tokyo, Japan
1995 | Art Projects International Gallery, New York,
1994 | The Paradox of the Fish, Gallery Contempo, New York, New York, USA
1989 | Nerlino Gallery, New York, New York, USA
1988 | Existence, Kay Garvey Gallery, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA
1988 | Solo Exhibition, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA
1987 | Solo Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, China

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 | Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum, Istanbul
2019 | Beyond Scholar Gardens, 2018, Duolan Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2018 | Between Human and Water, Zhu Jia Jiao Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2018 | Dialog, Zhu Qi Zhan Museum, Shanghai, China
2018 | From New Shanghai School to Contemporary, Baoshan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2017 | Avant-Garde · Shanghai: 1979-2010 Documenta of Shanghai Contemporary Art, Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2016 | Under Heaven: Contemporary Art from China in the Ahmanson Collection, Ahmanson Gallery, Irvine, California, USA
2016 | White Grey Black, Gallerie Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016 | Water & Ink: Tradition in the Contemporary Art, China Cultural Center in Brussels, Belgium
2016 | Splotch, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2015 | View from Shanghai, Cloud Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2015 | 30 Years of Contemporary Shanghai Art, Sheshan Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai, China
2015 | Navigating Abstraction, Christian Duvernois Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2015 | Canvas Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2014 | Nature and Beyond, Leo Gallery, Shanghai, China
2014 | Pursuing Dream: Shanghai Sculpture Invitational Show, Shanghai Sculpture Space, China
2014 | Contemporary Ink, Da Xiang Art Center, Taizhong, Taiwan
2014 | Experimental Art, The 12th China National Art Exhibition, Today Museum, Beijing, China
2014 | Sempre Natura, Christian Duvernois Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2013 | Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
2013 |Tutte le strade portano a Roma. 17 artisti contemporanei da SHANGHAI a Palazzo Brancaccio, Museo Nazionale D’Arte Orientale, Rome, Italy
2013 |Opening, Christian Duvernois Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2012 | Culture Shanghai: A Return Oriented Towards the Future, Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China
2012 | Ink Now, Special Project of The SH Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
2012 | Water, Anacostia Art Museum, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA
2012 | Undoing ShuiMo – Contemporary ShuiMo Exhibition, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2011 | Celestial Abstraction, Contemporary Art Museum, Rome, Italy
2011 |20 Years Retrospective Exhibition of 1991 San Diego Chinese Artistic Creation Seminar, Xian Art Museum, Xian, China
2011 |Selected Asian Cultural Council Fellows: Then and Now, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
2011 |ShanShui, Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, Switzerland
2010 | The Seventh Shenzhen International Chinese Ink Biennale, Shenzhen, China
2010 | Big Draft – Shanghai, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
2009 | Ink Society,” Sunshine International Museum, Song Zhuang, Beijing, China
2009 | “In-Situ: A Dialog with Space and Time,” River South Art Center, Shanghai, China
2009 | Chinese Gardens for Living: Illusions to Reality, Europalia.China International Arts Festival, The Square, Brussels, Belgium
2008 | Mountain & Water, Dresden Art Museum, Dresden, Germany
2008 | Towards Abstraction: 1976-1985 Shanghai Contemporary Art, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2007 | Rejected Collection, Ke Center for Contemporary Arts, Shanghai, China
2007 | Asia/Europa Mediation, Poznan National Museum of Art, Poznan, Poland
2006 | Crossing the Atlantic, Goldsmith’s College, London, England
2006 | Entry Gate: Chinese Aesthetics of Heterogeneity, 1st Envisage, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2005 | Flowing River: 30 Years of Chinese Oil Painting, National Art Museum, Beijing, China
2005 | 100 Years of Chinese Sculpture, Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China
2004 | The Fourth Shenzhen International Chinese Ink Biennale,” Shenzhen, China
2004 | Shanghai Abstract Survey – 50 Years, Ming Yuan Art Center, Shanghai, China
2003 | 10-Year Anniversary, 2003, Art Projects International Gallery, New York, USA
2002 | Urban Creation, The Fourth Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2001 | 1st Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu, China
2000 | DMZ_2000, Korean Gallery, New York, USA
1999 | Wrap the World, The Kitchen, New York, New York, USA
1998 | Observatoire 4 Galerie, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

For full CV and biography details, please contact the gallery at [email protected]

Artwork Images

Hung Liu 劉虹 (b. 1948 – d. 2021)

Born in Changchun, China and later becoming an American citizen, Hung Liu held a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Art Education from the Beijing Teacher’s College, a Graduate Degree in Mural Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Arts from the University of California San Diego. She was a Professor of Arts at MillsCollege in Oakland.

Over the years, Liu had staged more than 50 solo exhibitions and over 100 group exhibitions in the U.S, China and numerous other parts of Asia and Europe. She had also been the recipient of several prestigious awards like the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award, and the San Francisco Women’s Center Humanities Award, to name a few. Her artworks were on permanent display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and various corporate institutions in the U.S.

Hung Liu’s art conveyed her intimate interpretations of various cultural and societal issues, drawing inspiration from turn-of-the-century photographs which she collected from China. These rare and unique remnants of an episodic time and the stories encased within them are artistically projected into meaningful oil and canvas paintings, thus encapsulating Liu’s personal impressions and reflections.

Liu’s protagonists usually centred around nameless female figures, individuals who were sold off into prostitution; with lotuses symbolising offerings surrounding their lithe, porcelain bodies. Through her paintings, she desired to bestow them ‘new lives’, being a believer in the notion that art needs ‘soul’ and ‘meaning’ to acquire timelessness. These paintings by Liu were analogous to shrines that have been dedicated to these lost women. Liu passed away in 2021.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2015 | Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu Retrospective, Palm Springs Art Museum, CA, USA
2015 | Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu Retrospective, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas, MO, USA
2014 | Hung Liu: Prints and Tapestries, La Salle University Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2014 | The Rat Years, 2Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, USA
2013 | Questions from the Sky: New Work from Hung Liu, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
2013 | Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu Retrospective, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, USA
2013 | Hung Liu: Offerings, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA, USA
2007 | Hung Liu: Old Road: West Wind, iPreciation, Singapore

Selected Group Exhibitions

2014 | I’ll Show you Mine: Contemporary Artists Explore Family Portraits, Palo Alto, CA, USA
2014 | Beautiful Disintegrating Obstinate Horror Drawing and Other Recent Acquisitions and Selections from the Museums’ Permanent Collection, UNM Art Museum’s Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
2014 | The Intuitionists, The Drawing Center, NY, USA
2014 | Radical Repetition: Albers to Warhol, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA, USA
2014 | The Female Gaze: Selfhood and Community from the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women, Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver School of Art and Art History, CO, USA
2014 | The Other Side: Chinese and Mexican Immigration to America, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA, USA

Selected Public Collections

2016 | Highland Hospital, Oakland, CA, USA
2008 | San Francisco International Airport, CA, USA
2006 | Oakland International Airport Terminal 2, CA, USA
2004 | Asian Art Museum Civic Centre, San Francisco, CA, USA
2002 | Cerritos Library, CA, USA
1995 | Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
1995 | San Jose Museum of Art and the City of San Jose Collection, CA, USA
1992 | Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
1986 | Media Center and Communications Building, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
1981 | Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China

For full list of exhibitions and public collections, please contact the gallery at [email protected]

Images of artworks

Ah Leon 陳景亮 (b. 1953)

About Ah leon

Ah Leon is widely recognised as one of Taiwan’s most accomplished ceramic artists. In particular, he is known for transforming clay into highly realistic forms that challenge perception. As a result, his works blur the boundary between material and illusion.

At the same time, his practice bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary conceptual art. Therefore, his work continues to engage audiences across cultures and contexts.

Early Life and Training

Born in 1953 in Taiwan, Ah Leon began his formal education at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts, where he graduated in 1976. He later apprenticed with master potters across Taiwan between 1978 and 1982. Through this hands-on experience, he developed a deep understanding of ceramic techniques and material processes.

In addition, he participated in an artist-in-residence programme in the United States in 1982. This exposure broadened his artistic perspective and introduced new approaches to sculpture and installation. Consequently, his work began to move beyond tradition while still retaining its technical foundation.

Artistic Practice and Concept

Ah Leon’s work is often described as trompe l’oeil, a technique that creates an illusion of reality. However, rather than using paint, he achieves this effect through clay. For instance, he replicates materials such as wood and tofu with remarkable precision. As a result, viewers often question what they are seeing.

Moreover, this contrast between appearance and material creates a unique sensory experience. While the surface suggests softness or organic texture, the object remains ceramic. Therefore, his works operate between realism and fabrication.

In many cases, this visual deception introduces an element of humour and surprise. At the same time, it encourages viewers to reconsider their assumptions about materiality and perception.

Illusion and Material Transformation

A defining feature of Ah Leon’s practice is his ability to manipulate clay into convincing imitations. For example, his ceramic “wood” structures replicate grain, texture, and age with extraordinary detail. Similarly, his tofu-like forms convey softness despite their solid composition.

Because of this transformation, his works challenge the viewer’s sense of touch and sight. In other words, what appears familiar becomes unfamiliar upon closer inspection. Consequently, the experience becomes both visual and conceptual.

Furthermore, this approach connects to broader ideas of memory and perception. As a result, his works often evoke recognition while simultaneously disrupting it.

Exhibitions and International Presence

Since the mid-1980s, Ah Leon has exhibited extensively across Asia, Europe, and the United States. His works have been shown in major institutions, including the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona. In addition, exhibitions at the American Museum of Ceramic Art and other international venues have reinforced his global presence.

Notably, his large-scale installations, such as bridge-like ceramic structures, have demonstrated both technical mastery and conceptual ambition. As a result, his exhibitions often create immersive environments rather than isolated objects.

MES Exhibited in Phoemic Art Museum, Arizona 2009

MES Exhibited in AMOCA, Los Angeles, July 2010

Collections and Recognition

Ah Leon’s works are held in prominent museum collections worldwide. These include the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition, his works are part of major collections in Taiwan and other regions.

Because of this institutional recognition, his work has gained both critical and historical significance. Moreover, his continued presence in exhibitions highlights his relevance within contemporary ceramic practice.

Legacy and Impact

Beyond technical skill, Ah Leon’s contribution lies in redefining the possibilities of ceramics. Instead of treating clay as a purely functional or decorative medium, he transforms it into a conceptual tool. Consequently, his work expands how ceramics are understood within contemporary art.

At the same time, his practice reflects a dialogue between tradition and innovation. While rooted in classical training, it consistently evolves through experimentation. Therefore, his work continues to influence both artists and audiences internationally.

Education

1978 – 1982 | Apprenticed with Master Potters, Taiwan
1976 | Graduated from Taiwan National Academy of Arts, Taiwan

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2010 | ‘UN · Earth’ – A Cross-Cultural Ceramics Showcase, iPreciation, Hong Kong
2010 | American Museum Of Ceramic Art , LA, CA, USA
2009 | Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, USA
2004 | Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2000 | Selections from the Allan Chasanoff Ceramic Collection, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, USA
2002 | Four Excellent Ceramists in Taiwan, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan

Selected Public Collections