By Jan Lipitz, Blakely Hall Volunteer Curator
In January and February artEast will have a new show of several talented Chinese artists to bring in the New Year and the Chinese New Year!
The Issaquah Highlands is a celebration of many cultures and artEast is proud to be able to represent artists from other cultures at Blakely Hall. We hope you will take the time and stop in to Blakely Hall to see this new and exciting exhibition. Inspiration comes from so many different things and it’s wonderful to see this inspiration though so many different artistic styles. Xiang Zhang and Eddie Tang will be two of the artists who will be exhibiting their work in this upcoming show.
A little bit about the artists:
Xiang Zhang started Chinese painting at an early age and received a second place and a third place award in two “Shuang Long Cup” national painting and calligraphy competitions in China. With a graduate degree in art and design Xiang moved to moved to U.S. at the end of 2009 and wanted to share Chinese art with the western world. Xiang feels that good art speaks to you and wants you to share in the emotion of her paintings which is a big motivation in her art. Xiang has a passion for Chinese art and takes pride in her culture. She has also attended The Sammamish Arts fair for two years now and feels honored to have received such great feedback about her work.
About Chinese painting
Chinese painting is one of the earliest forms of Chinese art. Artists use brushes dipped in black or colored ink to draw on rice paper or silk. Rice paper is a semi-transparent paper, some of these papers have more absorption than others which can be used in different styles. The three styles of Chinese painting are detail, spontaneous, half-detail, and half-spontaneous. The detail style requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the objects, and then adding washes of ink and color layer by layer to achieve perfection.
The floral paintings, which will be shown in the exhibition, use this technique. Xiang will also be showing other painting styles which will include animals and other florals.
Eddie Tang
Having worked and lived in many places around the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the US, I found it challenging to understand the different cultures and how they communicate. Nonetheless, the language of visual art has been liberating for me, as it acts as a universal denominator where I can find peace within and truly be myself. A self-taught painter, I have learned to transcribe my thoughts into tangible forms of art with a variety of tools such as credit cards, grass blades and more. Allow mypaintings to connect with you as you find meaning through the chaotic and spontaneous nature of my creative process. I hope you’ll enjoy my repertoire and find as much joy in the encounter as I had in creating it.
