Artist: Liu Hong Wei

1965 - Born in Beijing, China
Graduated from the Fine Art department at Hebei Teaching University, China

Liu Hong Wei's haunting, geometric settings are reminiscent of M.C. Escher sketches of impossible stairways and Giorgio de Chirico paintings of metaphsical landscapes. The artist's gallery describes his paintings "solitary, desolate, almost menacing visions. In these bizarre lands of Liu's imagination the perspectives of mind and space are skewed."

Swimming Pool
2006
Oil on Canvas

Check Series - Fun!
2006
Oil on Canvas

98 Diary - Still Life
1998
Oil on Canvas

Sill Life
1999
Oil on Canvas

This work sold for $43,680 at Christie's Hong Kong on May 27, 2007 - a record high at auction for this artist.

Yue Minjun: Queens Museum of Art

Noah's Ark
2005
Oil on Canvas

Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile at the Queens Museum of Art is the first American museum exhibition of this leading contemporary Chinese artist.

Contemporary Terracotta Warriors
2001
Acrylic on Plexiglas Reinforced Plastic

Terracotta Warriors
2006
Bronze

These exaggerated, slightly larger than life size sculptures took me by surprise when I turned the corner. Yes, I jumped and squeaked. But the sculptures were very exciting to see, and stand next to, and mimic.

A young girl who who went to the museum with her family said of Yue Minjun's work, "He has weird teeth."

Untitled from the Beauty Series
1996
Oil on Canvas

Look at how strange his teeth are in this earlier work. The bottom row is small and undefined.

Untitled
2004
Oil on Canvas

Perhaps a reference to Eddie Adams' Vietcong Execution?

Untitled No. 13
2006
Watercolor

The watercolors were wonderful. It was good to see the pencil sketching underneath the paint.

Also on view: Generation 1.5, a phrase "to identify those who moved from their native country between the ages of 12 and 18." This exhibit featuring eight artists belonging to this in-between generation, "already subject to the physical and intellectual transformations of their formative years, now upon emigrating, also experiences a change in context, language and culture."

Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile on view until January 6, 2008
Generation 1.5 on view until December 2, 2007

Artist: Du Xinjian

Biography
1962 - Born in Jinan, Shandong, China
1986 - Graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

Often considered a Surrealist, Du Xinjian's paintings are inspired by his dreams, his imagination and Eastern philosophy. "In reality," Du Xinjian states, "physics prevents our dreams from coming to fruition" However in Du Xinjian's dreamscapes people can fly and "donkeys can understand poetry."

Shameless: A Wrong Boat
1999
Oil on Canvas

Fish Rider
2002
Oil on Canvas

Airplane
2003
Oil on canvas

Artist: Ujino Muneteru

Biography
1964 - Born in Tokyo, Japan
1988 - Graduated Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, Japan
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan

The Rotators
Nissan Cedric, Household Appliances and Mixed Media
2006

Tangled in Pop Art, Noise and some Dada, his conversions, performances and arrangements of junk and vintage are an insight into the role of materialism and what is of value in our lives.

The Rotators
Mixed Media
2007

In an interview, Ujino Muneteru explains that his work is "DIY. With an emphasis on physical means- just using your hands and body to make your own things- sculptures or instruments- using technology in your own way and not letting it dictate function. You know, its like a computer, the keyboard is made for your fingers, and we shouldn't limit our thinking to that way. I try to find the opposite way and do it. With the rotators, I feel I am reversing that relationship, that I am in control of technology, not vice versa."

See a video of Ujino Muneteru and the Rotators

Artist: Zhang Dali

1963 - Born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
1987 - Graduated from National Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Beijing, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China

Dialogue
1999

In an interview, Zhang Dali aka Ak47 aka 18k, known for his spray-painted heads around Beijing, describes his experience with graffiti.

Many years ago the police would try to find me and not allow me to do the graffiti. I painted it for 2 years and nobody knew, but one day the police suddenly came to my house and asked "Is that painted by you?" and I said "no," I denied it. They said, "Who do you think we are? We know everything," and then I said yes. They wanted to know what the graffiti was for, was it anti-government, was it an organization or group that did it. That was in 1997; that was the worst time.

Demolition: Forbidden City
1998

According to CNN, Zhang Dali "returns to the heads and chisels out portions of them. These voids offer a new perspective on the changes sweeping through Beijing as its leaders bulldoze traditional neighborhoods to make room for modern apartments and shopping malls."

Rain No 1. - AK 47 Series
2007
Acrylic on vinyl

Chinese Offspring
2004
Mixed Media

"His other work has included portraits of migrant workers built from his "AK-47" tag and resin casts of their whole bodies, suspended upside down in groups."

Artist: Zeng Fanzhi

Biography
1964 - Born in Wuhan, China
1991 - Grduated from the Oil Painting Department at Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, China
Lives and works in Beijing

An article in the International Herald Tribune details Zeng Fanzhi's artistic progression.

Hospital Series
1994
Oil on Canvas

"I lived next to the hospital and because my house didn't have any toilets I had to use those of the hospital everyday. What I saw there left a strong imprint on me," said the artist, who used these memories for his Hospital series, which portrays doctors and scared patients in operating theaters and emergency rooms.

His second series, the Meat series, was also inspired by everyday experiences. Passing by a nearby butcher, he often saw workers laying on top of the frozen meat to cool down and sleep during hot summers. The artist remembers intense, mixed emotions: "Some feelings were of hunger, because I was hungry in those days, others were of horror, as the blood of the meat would stain the people laying on them. I think this is why I use a lot of red in my work, it fascinates me," he said.

Mask Series 95 No. 8
1995
Oil on Canvas

In 1993, Zeng moved to Beijing. "In the mid-'90s, China was transforming very fast. Chinese officials started wearing suits and ties," he said. "Everybody wanted to look good, but it also looked a bit fake. I felt they wanted to change themselves on the surface, and these are the feelings that I represented in the earlier Mask series. Later on, the series used more vibrant colors; I think it makes people look even more fake, as if they are posing on a stage."

In 1999, Zeng started to paint people without the mask and by 2004 he had introduced helical strokes into his portraits, as evidenced in the exhibition in the Great Men portraits: five panels representing Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao.

Little Boy
2006
Oil on Canvas

Most recently, Zeng has turned his interest toward landscape, which he is exploring in the Untitled (Night) series. Painting thick woods with or without people, Zeng is now using a technique of frenzied and animated lines.

"Sometimes I paint with two hands. Sometimes I use two brushes, sometimes four," explained the artist. "With this new technique, I create and yet I destroy. One of the brushes is creating, while the other three have nothing to do with me. I like such creation which happens by chance. Sometime I will loose control over the image, but after you loose control you look at what you have and you try to get it back again."

Aya Kato + Beautiful/Decay Fall 2007

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