At Art HK 12 this May, Alisan Fine Arts will be showcasing six important Chinese artists, including well known artists Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun, Chao Chung-hsiang, Walasse Ting, T'ang Haywen and Taiwan sculptor Ju Ming. These artists, except for Ju Ming, are part of the first generation of Chinese artists to leave the mainland in the 1940s and 50s and settle overseas to further their artistic talent and for various reasons chose not to return to China. Their works while rooted in Chinese tradition have been influenced by the West and show a distinct style of their own. For both Zao and Chu we will show works on canvas as well as prints. For Chao, T'ang and Ting we will show works on paper and as for Ju Ming we will include both bronzes and wood sculptures from his well known Tai Chi series.
In addition, we will display early works by Yu You Han and Li Shan, two key Shanghainese Political Pop artists. These early abstract oils are rarely seen in the market.

Zao Wou-ki (born 1921 Beijing China) and Chu Teh-chun (born 1920 Jiangsu China), both Chinese-French artists currently living in Paris, were students of Lin Fengmian, (1900-1991) the pioneer of modern Chinese painting. Zao and Chu are deeply rooted in Chinese ink art since their school days at the National College of Art in Hangzhou in 1935. They left for Paris in 1948 and 1955 respectively and then became the exponents of Lyrical Abstraction in oil painting after being inspired by Western art. Their glowing and colourful oil on canvas are world renown and are collected by major museums around the world. Alisan Fine Arts is the first gallery in Hong Kong to exhibit Zao’s works on canvas and paper in 1993, then in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2009. For Chu Teh-chun, the gallery held a solo exhibition in 1999 and another one at the Museum of Hong Kong University in 2004.
Chinese-French artist, T’ang Haywen (1927 Fujian China - 1991 Paris) also left China for Paris in 1948 and enrolled at the l’Ecole des Beaux Arts where Chinese classmates included Zao Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun. Trained in calligraphy during his childhood, his abstract ink and watercolour paintings of nature are soft and spiritual yet full of energy and vitality. T'ang has had various exhibitions in Europe, Canada and USA. Since his death in 1991, his name has been gaining recognition in Asia. In 1998, Alisan Fine Arts organized T’ang’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong and in 2005, a group exhibition of his works for French May Festival at the Museum of University of Hong Kong. His works are collected by numerous museums in France including Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Musee Cernuschi, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Musée de Pontoise, Museum of Contemporary Art, Nice, and Menil Foundation, Houston, USA.
Chao Chung-hsiang (1910 Henan China-1991 Taiwan) and Walasse Ting (1929 Wuxi China-2010 New York), both spent much of their artistic career in New York. Their works display the aesthetic beauty of Chinese ink brush stroke on rice paper yet at the same time reflect a Western influence with the bold use of acrylic colours. Chao's subjects include flowers, fish, birds, Yin-Yang, the cosmos and abstraction, while Ting favours women and flowers. Like Zao and Chu, Chao was also a student of Lin Fengmian’s while studying at the National College of Art in Hangzhou. Walasse Ting on the other hand studied briefly at the Shanghai Art Academy in 1948. In 1958, they both left for New York. Alisan Fine Arts has organized four major solo exhibitions for Chao Chung-hsiang since 1992, including two travelling shows: at the Westlake Art Museum, Hangzhou, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Singapore 21 Gallery in 1999; and at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum; Museum of History, Taipei; Enrico Navarra Gallery, Paris and Hong Kong Arts Centre in 2004. Our first show in Hong King for Walasse Ting was in 1986, and since then we have held numerous solo exhibitions for him, including the latest one in 2010 at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. His works were also shown at ART HK 10.
Ju Ming (born 1938 Miaoli Taiwan, currently lives in Taiwan) is an established Chinese sculptor whose strong and fluid “Taichi Series” has gained international acclaim. He started working as a master craftsman in 1958, then in 1968 studied under famous Taiwan sculptor, Yang Yu-yu (1926-1997). In 1974, he began sculpting a series of works based on Tai Chi, a subject he feels merges the human spirit with nature. In 1999, he built the Ju Ming Museum in Taiwan to showcase his works.

Yu You Han (born 1943, Shanghai China) was a major figure in the Shanghai Minimalist movement in the mid 1980s and has been a strong influence on the Chinese avant-garde art scene ever since. He graduated from the Central Institute of Technology in Beijing in 1970 and has been teaching at the Shanghai Institute of Industrial Arts since 1973. Although better known for his political pop Mao series, he began painting abstract art in the 1980s after visiting a Zao Wou-ki exhibition in Hangzhou and an abstract art exhibition organized by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in China in 1985. Inspired by what he saw, he began to paint the “Circle” series for the next six years, where he merged Chinese philosophy with Western abstract art. On exhibit will be “Red & Yellow” (dated 1990) a work that belongs to Yu’s “Coloured Circle” series. Yu has had numerous exhibitions around the world including France, Italy, UK, Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden, Spain, Brazil, Australia and China.
Li Shan (born 1942 Heilongjiang, currently living in Shanghai) is internationally known for his 1980s “Rouge Empire” and 1990s “Political Pop” but few have seen his early works. For our show we will be showcasing rarely displayed early paintings from a series known as “Origins” (from 1976). This series pays homage to the Northern Chinese landscapes and to the simple life of its people and countryside. Echoing the Primitivism and Expressionism of a Douanier Rousseau or a Pablo Picasso, they reflect the artist’s fascination for ancient cultures, such as the Hemudu rock paintings, and for the primitive life of Heilongjiang’s nomadic tribes. From 1963 to 1968, Li Shan studied at the Heilongjiang University and at the Shanghai Academy of Drama in China. From 1985 to 1994 he was a lecturer at the Art Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Drama. In 1987, Alisan Fine Arts held a monumental group show for 14 Shanghainese Artists at the Hong Kong Arts Centre and Li Shan was one of the selected artists. We then held a solo show for Li at Hong Kong Arts Centre in 1994, and then at the gallery in 2000. Since 1984 he has had around 50 exhibitions in different countries such as USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and China. His artworks are collected by Shenzhen Art Museum and Heilongjiang Art Gallery, China and private collectors in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, UK and USA.