’The title of the exhibition is meant to express the abstract idea of the relationship between the works and the space, the viewers, and between the two different cultures of tradition and modernity,’ says Chinese artist Liu Jianhua of ’Between’, his new exhibition at London’s Pace Gallery.
Shanghai-based Jianhua studied his craft for 14 years at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen, where he learnt how to craft new contemporary forms using ancient techniques, transforming paper, leaves, bones and ink drops into fragile, minimalist sculptures that creep across the walls and floors.
The works on display at Pace include Trace, first exhibited at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, where a splattering of glossy black porcelain drips based on principles of Chinese calligraphy appear to trickle down the white walls; and the Untitled plates – a series of wall-mounted celadon discs that are tied together with a continuing thin horizontal line.
Timed to coincide with the 18th annual instalment of Asian Art in London, the show is Jianhua’s first at the gallery, as well as in the UK.
