CANDID GARDEN

Traditionally Chinese artists have focused on the subject of gardens and nature to communicate their personal relationship with the world and landscape. This exhibition at Alisan Fine Arts showcases Chinese ink painter Zahang Jianjun’s Rubbing Rain and First Drop works that draw upon his fascination with water. Placed alongside American multi-media artist Barbara Edelstein’s photographs and sculptures exploring the structure and forms of leaves, the gallery environment morphs into an Ineffable Garden of contemplative curiosity.

Zhang is an abstract artist preoccupied by the themes of existence, time, space and transformation, and their effects on individuals and culture. His interest in the natural world and his fascination with water have inspired his First Drop of Water, Rubbing

Rain and Flowing Water series, which represent an extension of his philosophical exploration of water and the visual force of ink. Further, with his Ink Rock series that investigates gongshi (naturally formed rocks traditionally admired by scholars), Zhang takes his search deeper into time as a medium in depiction the integration of nature and culture.

The interface of nature and life is the foundation for Edelstein’s artworks. Her internalised interpretations of leaves, with their intricate forms, membranes and patterns, are poetically interpreted in both two and three-dimensional artworks, including photography, ink painting and sculpture. Edelstein often employs industrial materials such as silicone and modern technology combined with traditional techniques like ink on paper. Her fascination with the structural forms of leaves has led to her series of leaf sculptures, photographs and drawings, through which the artist conveys a message of universal oneness.

Ineffable Garden — Zhang Jian-Jun and Barbara Edelstein at Alisan Fine Arts Central Gallery. Until May 09