NEW YORK—Tian Xiaolei’s work blends historic themes of Chinese art with contemporary motifs. Then he introduces surreal images of wildlife. His “Song of Joy” exhibit at Meulensteen gallery also includes a computer-animated film that explores joy and pain and consumption and desire.
The gallery describes Tian’s “contemporary paintings” thus: “Employing modern techniques to re-present Chinese traditional landscape painting, Tian digitally creates nature-centered images of dramatic topographies that become dwarfed by fantastic animal figures.” The artist framed his “Reconstructed Landscape Series” with circular mats that help to sharpen the focus of the images for the viewer.
Born in 1982, Tian lives and works in Beijing. “Song of Joy,” his first solo exhibition in the United States, is on view from Jan. 8 to February 18, 2011.
All photos by Arts Observer
