Lingnan School of Art

Chao Shao-An
Gladioli

If you are a frequent visitor to Asian Art Museums in San Francisco or Hong Kong, you are probably quite familiar with works from Chao Shao-An (趙少昂), Henry Wo Yue-Kee (胡宇基) and their peers. Master Chao lived in Hong Kong for a long period of time and has traveled to USA to give lectures at universities. Thus he had a big influence on many Chinese painters in Hong Kong and USA from the younger generations, including Master Wo, who is active and known for his lotus-themed paintings, among his other favorite subjects. And it is easy to understand what makes their style of painting appealing to the Western audiences, for example, the use of bright colors. One could see the same influence from European impressionist paintings. Another characteristics of this style, called the Lingnan school, is the use of many varying brush strokes.

Wo Yue Kee
  Lotus pond at night

The word Lingnan literally means south of the Nan mountains, which separates Central and South China. And indeed, originally most painters of this style were from that area but of course that is no longer the case. It is interesting that the originators of this style (高劍父、高奇峰、陳樹人 also known as "Two Gao, One Chen") was not keen on using this name. They actually preferred a more descriptive term that made it clear they were trying to revolutionize the tradition that had become stagnant since the Ching dynasty by combining old and new ways of painting from Japan and the West. In addition to the aforementioned Chao Shao-An, other Lingnan masters of his generation includes Guan Shanyue (關山月) , Li Xiong-Cai (黎雄才) and Yang Shanshen (楊善深)

Paintings (1, 2) in the style of Lingnan School are available for purchase at the RootDragon marketplace.

Chinese Calligraphy: Movement and Balance

For some calligraphers, balanced writing is not necessarily good. Balance without movement could mean boring. Bryan So explained what he considered as an important principle in this video:

His works are available for purchase at the RootDragon marketplace

Silicon Valley Contemporary 2014

Park Hyun-Ok
Flowers in the vase 14-2

Motivated by the Afforadable Art Fair recently held in Hong Kong, I looked and found the inaugural Silicon Valley Contemporary Fair right here in San Jose last weekend. Galleries participated from all over the world (10 countries according to the organizer. For example, this painting was from a Korean artist)

Moita Macedo
Untitled 

In addition, the organizer has invited experts from the art world to discuss topics like “How to Effectively Build a Corporate Collection” The panelists include experienced gallerists, art consultants, an architect who worked with government/city projects where art was incorporated for public display, and finally, someone from the tech industry who understands how companies here value art. There was supposed to be another talk about art investment earlier in the day but it was cancelled due to illness of its panelist. That topic was briefly discussed here since it was also related to corporate art collections. The panelists gave a few advices: collectors usually started small. It could be as simple as finding things one like online and learn about them. It is also good to have a focus, for example, focusing on collecting oil painting, or sculpture, one at a time perhaps. As far as places to look for good bargain, try nonprofit gallery, like the Institute of Contemporary Art right here in San Jose. One audience member asked about how art works are priced. The panelists said the artist’s experience and presence in the art world are important factors. (The painting on the left was from Portuguese painter Moita Macedo whose work has appeared at major museums. The price tag is $10,000)

Back to the original topic, compared to the banking industry (with “old money”) who has a long tradition of collecting art, tech companies (with “new money”) had a late start for sure. However, using art as stimulation of creativity and providing pleasing working environments are no secret to the tech industry. One example mentioned by Kira Lyons from Gallery Wendi Norris was Facebook, which invited artist Val Britton to a residency at their analog lab, where she installed a 3D collage-like large scale work. Bill Gould (the architect) hosts art shows at his own firm. His firm pays each artist $50 per month as an appreciation for their participation. Another way he contribute was to try purchasing 1 piece per show. That’s how they built their corporate collection. However, as the Silicon Valley tech giants continue to add their presence in SF and thus driving up the rent, many current residents and businesses were priced out and forced to either close or move. Galleries in SF are not immuned from this either. Also, they are facing increasing competition from online galleries, like the online branch of Saatchi gallery, whose director was on the panel. Saatchi Art splits with their artists 30/70, unlike the traditional 50/50 in a lot of brick-and-mortar galleries. Nevertheless, the consensus was that both type could co-exist and compliment each other. After all, seeing a piece in person is a much different experience than via the computer screen.

Speaking of technology, I want to mention one participant of the show, Mobile photography awards, who displayed award winning works. All of them are taken and edited using smartphones (no further touch up on computer was allowed) On one hand, it showed artists with great eye and creativity were not limited by the equipment. On the other hand, it also proved how good the camera and processing power are on smartphones these days.

Compared to the aforementioned Affordable Art Fair, I think both shows have different goals but they do have a few things in common:
1) both were successful in breaking down the barrier between galleries and the public by bringing works into a less intimidating setting like a convention hall.
2) both features some relatively affordable pieces. I saw pieces from SVC ranging from $800 to over $30000 (pieces from well-known artists like Alexander Calder were without price tags) while AAF has an upper limit of $13000.

I am looking forward to Silicon Valley Contemporary 2015!