Zhuang Hong Yi 2017 Catalogue

Zhuang Hong Yi, Season Landscape #1, Rice Paper & acrylic on canvas, 200 x 250cm

SEASONS ZHUANG HONG YI 6 - 23 SEPTEMBER 2017

SEASONS ZHUANG HONG YI

Opening Night: Wednesday 6 September, 6 - 8pm 6 - 23 September 2017, Tue-Sat 10am-5pm 76 Paddington St Paddington NSW 2021 RSVP 02 9660 7799

Zhuang Hong Yi is one of the international market's true rising stars. Formally trained in China, for the past few decades he has called the Netherlands home. From his Rotterdam base over Following his inaugural sellout show In Bloom in 2016, Piermarq is proud to present Seasons by Zhuang Hong Yi, one of the international market’s true rising stars. Formally trained in China, for the past few decades he has called the Netherlands home. From his Rotterdam base over 25 years Hong Yi has garnered gallery representation across 15 countries and 26 cities globally, selling out shows and leaving audiences hanging on what will come next.

Thus far in 2017 alone, Zhuang Hong Yi has had institutional solo shows in Singapore and in London – the latter at his Soho gallery “the Unit,” perhaps the most talked about gallery to emerge on the international scene in the last decade. Given the demand in his work from New York to LA, from Shanghai to Singapore, the French Riviera to Paris and London, his prices have witnessed a 20% rise in the past 12 months; a trend set to continue given such a massive audience that won’t be satiated.

Zhuang Hong Yi moved to the Netherlands in the 1990s and running through his work is a thread that links both cultures: a love of flowers. The Netherlands’ relationship with flowers is well documented by the renowned tulip mania of the Dutch Golden Age during the 17th century. Conversely in China, flowers are uniquely symbolic, representing growth, fulfillment and prosperous beginnings, as well as manifesting good chi; each type of flower has its own relevance. Recurrent in Hong Yi’s work are the lucky Chrysanthemum and the Lotus flowers, signifiers of metaphysical purity and strength.

Zhuang Hong Yi’s repetitive use of floral patterns also reflects his concern with environmental issues. Namely, the increasing urbanisation of his home country, the ferocious plundering of natural resources and the depopulation of the rural environment.

Seasons will feature a selection of Zhuang Hong Yi’s two dominant yet distinct mediums. One series of works is his Flowerbed series, produced with painstakingly folded origami rice-paper flowers covered in colour-shifting layers of acrylic paint. The other is his hotly anticipated Landscape Flowerfield Paintings created using acrylic in heavily sculpted and gestural impasto with unfolded rice-paper flowers. With their mesmerizing colour shifts and bold impasto texture these works are a conversation piece quite unlike any other.

This September, don’t miss your chance to see the work of this highly collectible modern-day master in the flesh! Seasons opens Wednesday 6 September 2017, 6 – 8pm, and runs until Saturday 23 September 2017 at Piermarq.

ZHUANG HONG YI Zhuang Hong Yi (b. 1962) is a contemporary Chinese artist who has impressed global audiences with his unique style. His work has been exhibited in China, the U.S. and throughout Europe, including Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and Spain. The artist has been the subject of multiple museum exhibitions and his work is held in numerous esteemed public and private collections worldwide. His works represent beauty, sophistication and a high level of perfection with a clear presence of Chinese influence represented in his use of colours, themes, shapes and materials.

Currently based in the Netherlands, Zhuang Hong Yi was born in 1962 in Sichuan, China. After having finished his artistic education at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute - the oldest and one of the most prestigious art academies in China - he and his wife (Chinese artist Lu Luo, b. 1971) moved to Groningen, the Netherlands, where they both became apprentices at the established Minerva Academy. After finishing his studies in 1997, Zhuang quickly received artistic recognition. Many exhibitions followed, including the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam (1999) and a solo show at the Groninger Museum (2001), a preeminent internationally renowned Dutch museum for contemporary art. After this show, Zhuang received invitations to present his spectacular works in museums and galleries all over the world.

The flower motif dominates the artwork of Zhuang Hong Yi. Year after year he works patiently and religiously on this subject alone. The flower is a significant image in Chinese culture, which carries countless meanings and emotions.

Zhuang’s ‘flower beds’ are crafted from delicate pieces of painted rice paper, bent and folded into hundreds of tiny buds. Utilising a traditional Chinese material, the works also represent traditional Chinese aesthetics: they are meditations on colour, nature and form.

The rice paper flower found it’s introduction towards the end of the 90’s, together with a collage-like technique. The ‘flowerfields’, which Zhuang is still famous for, are to be found in his work from around 2005-2006.

Artist Zhuang Hong Yi

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #II037 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 150 x 120cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #III037 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 70 x 90cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #III044 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 90 x 70cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #IV036 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 80 x 100cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #IV049 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 100 x 100cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #IV050 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 120 x 150cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #V002 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 120 x 280cm View From Front

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #V002 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 120 x 280cm View From Left & Right

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #V007 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 70 x 90cm


Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #V008 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 100 x 80cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Flowerbed Colour Change #V009 (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 120 x 90cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Seasons Landscape I (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 200 x 250cm


Zhuang Hong Yi Seasons Landscape II (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 150 x 200cm

Zhuang Hong Yi Seasons Landscape III (2017) Rice paper & acrylic on canvas 90 x 70cm


ARTIST CV

ZHUANG HONG YI

EXHIBITIONS 2017 Seasons, Piermarq, Sydney (solo) 2017 RAW II, The Unit Gallery, London, UK 2017 Flower Fields & Landscapes, Red Sea Gallery, Singapore 2016 In Bloom, Piermarq, Sydney (solo) 2016 TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands 2016 The Armoury, New York, USA 2016 Art Miami, USA 2015 RAW, The Unit Gallery, London, UK 2015 TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands 2015 Corporate exhibition Rabobank Private Banking, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2014 Art Miami, USA 2014 Solo exhibition, Interbrokers Miami, USA (solo) 2013 Will Makes The World Beijing Found Museum, China 2013 World of Flowers Leslie Smith Gallery, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Miami 2013 Museum Oude Wolden in Bellingwolde, The Netherlands 2013 Venice Biennale, Italy 2012 World of Flowers Leslie Smith Gallery, Amsterdam 2011 Exhibition of Contemporary Asian Art, Mandarin Oriental, Miami, Florida 2010 Stadsmuseum Zoetermeer, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands 2010 Solo Exhibition Keszler Gallery, New York (solo) 2009 Keszler Gallery, Southampton, New York 2009 Art HongKong, HongKong, China 2009 Gallery Ralph Schriever C, Düsseldorf, Germany (solo) 2008 Empty City Shanghai YuanGong Museum, China 2008 Art is nothing? Beijing 798, China 2007 You Gallery, Beijing, China (solo) 2007 Osage Gallery, HongKong, China (solo) 2007 Groninger Museum, Groningen-NL (solo) 2006 Ticket to Beijing-Amsterdam 2004 Gallery Le Besset, St. Jeure d’Andaure, France (solo) 2003 Art Contemporary Century, Dordrecht, Netherlands (solo) 2003 Gallery Art & Henle, Berlin, Germany 2003 Group Show in Poland, organized by Gallery EM 2002 De Boterhal, Hoorn, Netherlands (solo) 2002 Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands (solo) 2001 Stedelijk Museum, Zwolle, Netherlands 2001 ChenDu Biennale, ChengDu, China 2001 Groninger Museum,Groningen,The Netherlands Project 'Het Traject'

1999 Foundation de Boer Waalkens, Finsterwolde, Netherlands (solo) 1999 Westfries Museum, Hoorn, Netherlands 1999 Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands 1997 Gallery Waalkens, Finsterwolde, Netherlands (solo) 1997 Gallery Patrick Gaultier, Quimper, France (solo) 1993 Gallery Waalkens, Finsterwolde, Netherlands (solo)

Contact us +61 2 9660 7799 info@piermarq.com.au 76 Paddington St Paddington 2021 NSW