The Tina Keng Gallery is pleased to present Letters from a Distance—Peng Wei Solo Exhibition, on view from October 19 to November 17 (opening reception: Saturday, October 19, 4:30-7:00 pm). Peng Wei’s works combine expressions of classic aesthetics in Chinese portraits and contemporary living condition. She maintains the essence of traditional Chinese water and ink paintings, as well as taking the tradition out of flat context, from paper into multi-dimensional spaces. More than 20 works will be shown in Letters from a Distance, including Peng’s paintings and installations of scrolls, album, and shoes.
Peng not only preserves traditional Chinese shan-shui in her works, but also introduces the cultural and historical background carried by scrolls and albums to viewers in the form of installation art. Her works concern the past of art, including the wisdom, memories, sorrows and sense of real found in ancient artworks. With her traditional methods, she departs from tradition, yet brings traditional texts and contemporary concepts together on paper. Although Peng alters the form of traditions, she does not attempt transform traditions, but to find the balance of the past and present of art.
The title Letters from a Distance correlates with Peng’s creating styles. She carefully draws each detail of her works, including patters of brocades with complex structures, and transcribes interesting texts that she reads onto her works, usually letters, diaries, or poems of Western literati. She finally ties her scrolls with different ribbons and puts them in customized wooden boxes. To a certain extent, in such a form, she is sending letters to someone she never has the chance to meet and also gives viewers an approach to explore her works through the texts she reads.
Peng Wei was bron in Chengdu, China, and currently lives in Beijing. She graduated from Nankai University with a master degree in philosophy. She has held several solo exhibitions in Taipei, Hong Kong, and China since 2003, including: Taking off the Shell (He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, 2011), Body & Robe—Peng Wei’s Solo Exhibition (Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, 2010), Paper Skin (Artside Gallery, Beijing, China, 2009), and Woven Clouds—Peng Wei’s Exhibition (Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong, China, 2007. She also participated in many international group exhibitions and art fairs, including: Beijing International Art Biennale (2003, 2005), The 10th Asian International Art Exhibition (Fukuoka Asia Art Museum, Yokohama, Japan, 2004), Contemporary Ink Paintings (Berlin National Museum, Dresden National Art Collection Museum, Germany, 2008), Europalia International Arts Festival-Attitudes-Female Art in China (The European Centre of Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium, 2009), Exhibition of Landscapes in Chinese Contemporary Art (Museum of Art Lucerne, Switzerland, 2011), Art Stage Singapore (2012), Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artists (Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine, US, 2013), and Art Beijing (2010, 2013).
