Zhu Jinshi, born in 1954, is a pioneer of Chinese abstract art and installation art. He began to create abstract paintings in the early 1980s and moved to Berlin in 1986. Since then, he has been experimenting with performance, installation, and conceptual art. In 1994, Zhu returned to
China, dividing his time between Berlin and Beijing until 2010. At present, he lives and works in Beijing.
Looking back at Zhu Jinshi’s art practice over the past forty years, abstract painting and conceptual installation are two practices that parallel each other while sometimes being confrontational. Zhu started his career with abstract painting, but while his installation practice stands alone from his
painting practice, it has also inspired new forms of painting. Only when the two are viewed together can the striking aesthetic value of Zhu’s works be touched.
Zhu Jinshi’s paintings were first influenced by modernism. Three of his works were exhibited in China’s first avant-garde exhibition, the Stars Group Exhibition, in 1979. As one of the first Chinese artists to create abstract art, Zhu initially experimented with random brushstrokes and
limited colour to create abstract paintings. He gradually developed his unique “thick painting” style that he still uses today, which is usually applied with heavy colour and thick paint.

Pearl Lam is a driving force within Asia’s contemporary art scene. Founded in 2005, the gallery plays a vital role in stimulating international dialogue and cross-cultural exchange between the East and West.

Following a rigorous programme, Pearl Lam presents museum-quality exhibitions that re-evaluate and challenge perceptions of cultural practice in Asia. With a thoughtfully balanced roster of Chinese and international artists, the gallery is strategic in its curation, positioning itself as an educator.

The gallery maintains spaces in Hong Kong and Shanghai. With a team of international staff, Pearl Lam’s reach is global, having presentations at major international art fairs including Art Cologne, Art Basel Hong Kong, Frieze Masters, and West Bund Art and Design.

Pearl Lam

Birds Flying Back to the Mountains

Ink Lotus in Autumn Rain

Asian Wind No. 1, 2, 3

The Era of Drifting Away

As an important Asian contemporary art prac==oner who rose to prominence in the second half of the 20th century, Zhu Jinshi has experimented with a wide range of mediums and methods. Amidst the historic Eastern and Western cultural currents of the Cold War, he =relessly promoted and became part of the Asian experience. In 1979, Zhu par=cipated in the “Stars”, China’s first contemporary art movement, and in the 1980s, he explored abstract pain=ng and “apartment exhibi=ons”. In 1986, he moved to Germany and witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the 1990s, he started his installa=on prac=ce, and aDer the year 2000, he engaged with Chinese abstract neo- expressionist pain=ng and large-scale installa=on.
Abstract pain=ng has always been a focal point in Zhu’s prac=ce, but he has engaged with the aesthe=c fissures and tectonic shiDs between the many different ar=s=c mediums and movements that emerged in the postwar period. While reconciling and resis=ng abstrac=on, orientalism, installa=on art, conceptual art, and land art, he holis=cally considered ways in which pain=ng could be contemporary. Zhu Jinshi is not a conceptual ar=st; he is an inventor of formal aesthe=cs. The seams, the thickness, the viewing perspec=ve, the fluidity, the compression, the materiality and spa=ality of the paint, and other visual forms have shaped his dis=nc=ve pain=ng style. Zhu constantly seeks out new visual fron=ers and creates accidental aesthe=cs.
Zhu Jinshi is a pioneer of Chinese abstract art and installa=on art. At present, he lives and works in Beijing. Zhu’s major solo exhibi=ons include ”Accidental Aesthe=cs”, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2022; “Li Bai’s Snow”, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, 2020; “Wood · Character”, 2020, Fusion Art Center, Beijing, China; “The Ship of Time / Rejec=ng River Currents”, 2018, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; “Zhu Jinshi”, 2016, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China; “Performance in Paint: Zhu Jinshi”, Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2015.

Accidental Aesthe6cs No.3

Tang Contemporary Art was established in 1997 in Bangkok, later establishing galleries in Beijing and most recently Hong Kong. Tang Contemporary Art is fully committed to producing critical projects and exhibitions to promote Contemporary Chinese art regionally and worldwide, and encourage a dynamic exchange between Chinese artists and those abroad.   Acting as one of the most progressive and critically driven exhibition spaces in China, the gallery strives to initiate dialogue between artists, curators, collectors and institutions working both locally and internationally. A roster of groundbreaking exhibitions has earned Tang Contemporary Art internationally renowned recognition, establishing its status as a pioneer of the contemporary art scene in Asia. Tang Contemporary Art represents leading figures in Chinese art including Ai Weiwei, Huang Yong Ping, Shen Yuan, Wang Du, Liu Xiaodong, Yang Jiechang, Xia Xiaowan, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Yan Lei, Wang Yin, Guo Wei, Ling Jian, Chen Wenbo, Zheng Guogu, Michael Lin, Lin Yilin, Zhuang Hui, He An, Zhao Zhao, Wang Yuyang, Weng Fen, Yang Yong, Xu Hualing, Xu Qu, Xu Xiaoguo, Ji Zhou and Cai Lei, additionally collaborating with international artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Navin Rawanchaikul, Sakarin Krue-on and Preeyachanok Ketsuwan.

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