Chambers Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening on June 8th of Intersection: Contemporary Oil Painting and Photography curated by Wu Hung, the Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor in Chinese Art History at the University of Chicago . Timed to coincide with the survey of contemporary Chinese photography, opening at Asia Society and International Center of Photography (ICP) on June 10 th , this exhibition explores the relationship between the traditional medium of oil painting and the multifarious activities of contemporary photographers.

When rebellious young Chinese artists first began to move away from Socialist Realism in the 1980s they first turned to Western Pop Art for inspiration but, as Wu Hung has shown in numerous publications and exhibitions, more adventurous spirits soon began to explore the potentialities of photography, and video and performance art to express the tumultuous changes in Chinese society.

This exhibition includes work by two painters – Chen Danqing and Shi Chong – and three photographers Hong Lei, Han Lei and Liu Zheng – all of whom find inspiration outside the parameters of their chosen medium. Growing up in a society very much unlike the more settled societies of the west, the artists in this exhibition seek to make sense not only of events in the recent past of their country but also of its more distant history.

Using photographic sources Chen Danqing creates searing paintings evoking recent tragic events such as Tiananmen Square while Shi Chong's supra-realistic paintings are the result of a lengthy process which integrates many different forms of visual art. The large, carefully staged photographs of Liu Zheng comment artfully on Chinese legend while Hong Lei reinterprets Song Dynasty painting in a relentlessly modern idiom.

In recent years the sharp distinctions that used to exist between painting and photography have broken down. In a recent series of exhibitions held at the Museum of Modern Art , New York before it moved temporarily to Queens , departmental distinctions were demolished. In his astute choice of participating artists and in his introduction to the catalogue published to accompany the show, Wu Hung has shown that among many of the most stimulating artists the destruction of such boundaries is now a fait accompli in China.

More images from this exhibition

Catalogue Available