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Liang QuanTitle-less
Curator:Wu Hongliang
2021.08.18 - 2021.09.12
Guangdong Museum of Art

On August 18, 2021, Liang Quan Solo Exhibition: Title-less, opened at the Guangdong Museum of Art. The exhibition was directed by Wang Shaoqiang, Director of the Guangdong Museum of Art, and curated by Wu Hongliang, Director of the Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Liang Quan is one of the first Chinese artists to integrate traditional ink painting with abstract practices, and has remained a close witness to the development of contemporary Chinese art. From Hangzhou during the 1985 New Wave movement to the United States, then back to Hangzhou and later Beijing, Liang eventually chose to settle permanently in Shenzhen – a city at the forefront of China’s reform and opening-up, yet distant from the center of the country’s art ecology. The decades spanning this period mark the very timeframe in which the works featured in this exhibition were created. Liang Quan Solo Exhibition: Title-less brings together paintings from different stages of the artist’s practice, offering a concise reflection on more than thirty years of artistic production.

The works in this exhibition can be divided into two categories: those with titles and those without. The titled works align perfectly with the Chinese conception of the unity of text and painting; the untitled works, labelled ‘Untitled’, offer viewers greater scope for interpretation. This can be seen as a puzzle set by Liang Quan for the viewer, whilst also serving as a protective barrier he has erected for himself. As for the exhibition’s title, ‘Title-less’, it differs slightly from ‘Untitled’. ‘Less’ is not synonymous with ‘absence’; rather, it implies a refusal to seek completeness, suggesting a certain degree of proactivity.

Liang Quan has developed a personal artistic language that bridges yet distinguishes between Eastern and Western aesthetics. The seemingly delicate, tranquil parallel lines and subtle blocks of colour in his works evoke a ‘serene’ lake, yet upon closer inspection, their edges are often firm, even sharp, whilst their interiors are vibrant, even turbulent. This interplay of contradictions achieves a perfect balance on the canvas through the artist’s composition; the pursuit of yin-yang equilibrium and the Golden Mean of Confucianism is something deeply ingrained in the Chinese psyche.

It is precisely through his most representative ink-wash collages that Liang Quan unfolds a serene and profound sense of Zen. By employing mixed-media collages to bridge Western abstract art and traditional Chinese ink-wash painting, he has garnered considerable attention for his profound grasp of Eastern essence and unique style. It could be said that Liang Quan’s pursuit of rationality remains, in itself, deeply sensuous; only that which flows from the sensuous can truly embody the essence of Zen. Though the works convey their message slowly, they do not stagnate; though they may require patience or close scrutiny, they invariably hold delightful surprises. The process by which the light ink bleeds across the rice paper is one of natural and gentle diffusion. In truth, viewed under a high-powered magnifying glass, the surging of this state would be as mighty as the Qiantang River tide; all that apparent detachment is likely the result of another, intense form of rigour.

The exhibition is on view through September 12, 2021.