Founded in 1981, Alisan Fine Arts has been the pioneering platform for showcasing Chinese contemporary art globally. For the 2025 edition of Art SG, the gallery has selected over 20 works by 13 artists of Chinese descent from different generations who interpret traditions in dynamic and groundbreaking ways while engaging in dialogue across generations, geographies, and artistic approaches. Nearly half of the selected artists have never exhibited in Singapore, representing a significant opportunity for fresh artistic voices in the region. Across ink and oil paintings, photography, and mixed media, these works draw on both Eastern and Western artistic vocabularies, pushing the boundaries of traditional processes and subject matters through bold experimentation.

The booth exhibition features Lui Shou-kwan, Walasse Ting and Gao Xingjian, established luminaries whom the gallery has promoted since its early years; Poon Chun-wah, Master Lui's student in ink paintings; Chinyee, Leng Hong and Xie Xiaoze, diaspora artists mastering the oil medium; Wei Ligang and Lee Chun-yi, pioneers of new methods of calligraphy and image-making; Chu Chu and Yang Yongliang, innovators in photography; and Wang Mengsha and Meng Yangyang, emerging female creative forces.

MODERN MASTERS
We feature two exemplary ink paintings by Lui Shou-Kwan, a pioneer of Hong Kong’s New Ink Movement, renowned for his abstract landscapes and Zen Paintings; the art fair marks the first public showing of Lui’s 1969 masterpiece, Semi-abstract Lotus, S69-10. Our showcase of Walasse Ting’s infinitely alluring flowers, fruits and women, best exemplified in A Lush Watermelon Garden (1990s), coincides with a major solo exhibition, Walasse Ting: Joy, Temptation and Magic, ongoing at our gallery in Central, Hong Kong.

Three poetic ink-wash paintings by the Nobel laureate in literature Gao Xingjian make their Singapore debut, while paintings by Poon Chun-Wah, a student of Lui Shou-Kwan, reinvigorate the grand tradition of landscape paintings with ethereal brushwork.

CHINESE DIASPORA
Three diaspora artists offer distinct perspectives in their masterful incorporation of Chinese heritage with Western oil painting. Chinyee, a first-generation Chinese American associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, created lyrical abstract paintings—such as Untitled (1993)—suffused with natural vitality and life’s buoyant spirit. Leng Hong, a celebrated Chinese French artist acclaimed for his exquisitely textured paintings, imbues his domestic scenes of dynastic maidens with rich colours and an air of mystery. Xie Xiaoze investigates memory and cultural history through photo-realist paintings of books and manuscripts.

INK INNOVATORS
We celebrate the spirit of ink by showcasing boundary-pushing artists across generations and media. Wei Ligang, a recipient of the 2005 Asian Cultural Council Fellowship for Visual Art, creates a universal language of abstraction based on millennia of Chinese calligraphic art and the fruits of diverse civilisations and knowledge systems; Lee Chun-yi’s unique lexicon of Chinese seals and ink rubbings builds semi-photographic images of mesmerising flowers. We also present works by Chu Chu, an erudite artist with a PhD in calligraphy and an MA in multimedia, who masterfully weaves calligraphy into her meticulously captured photography of tree branches; Yang Yongliang, a master of reconstructing and recomposing urban digital photography into traditional landscape “illusions,” commenting on China’s rapid urbanisation.

EMERGING FEMALE VOICES
The gallery has championed female creative voices since its founding. For this edition of Art SG, we present Wang Mengsha, known for her unique ‘Xieyi’ paintings of court maidens and beauties that exude a sense of humour and ease; and Meng Yangyang, who captures the gentle moments of lightheartedness and introspection in urban settings.

Together, our booth presentation demonstrates not only the diversity and depth of talent within Alisan Fine Arts’ program but also addresses the millennium-old question about tradition in today's fragmented reality. These artists offer compelling visions of Chinese contemporary art that both find roots in tradition and hold promise for today’s and future worlds.