Eli Klein Fine Art hosts The Best of Chinese Contemporary Artists

Written by Kimberly de Los Angeles Friday, 06 January 2012 22:47

New York - Eli Klein Fine Art is pleased to present our 2010 Winter Show. This group exhibition features the work of some of the Gallery’s most-established artists as well as our highly promising emerging artists. This eclectic group includes Cathy Daley, Chen Qiang, Hung Tung-lu, Jiang Huan, Liu Yan, Luo Qing, Meeson Pae Yang, Miao Xiaochun, Sophie De Francesca, Wei Dong, Zhang Lujiang, Zhao Kailin, and Zhang Dali. On exhibition through 1 March, 2010.

Eli Klein Fine Art has, over the last year, hosted several important solo exhibitions at the Gallery for artists Zhang Peng, Luo Qing, Xiao Se, and Ma Bing. For each of these artists, our show was their first solo exhibition in the United States and represented a major step in the advancement of their careers. In addition to these landmark shows, Eli Klein Fine Art has produced several significant group shows over this past year, including, Redefining Surrealism, Passing by China, and Chasing Flames. Each exhibit brought together some of China’s finest contemporary artists, showcasing some of their work for the first time in the United States.

Thus, this exhibition celebrates our past while looking toward the future. Eli Klein Fine Art remains steadfast in its promotion of contemporary Chinese art. Eli Klein Fine Art is at the forefront of America's contemporary Chinese art scene. With a particular focus on the visual arts of contemporary China, Eli Klein Fine Art is committed to exhibiting the work of prominent and emerging Chinese artists--promoting awareness of China’s ever-transitioning culture as it’s reflected through the country’s innovative art.

Eli Klein Fine Art is located in the heart of SOHO on West Broadway, situated amongst many of New York’s finest galleries and art establishments. Its street-level location boasts 4,000 square feet of exhibition space spread over two floors.

Eli Klein Fine Art's strong curatorial department collaborates with prominent museums, private collections and galleries across the world, allowing new Chinese art to become more accessible to a larger audience. Eli Klein Fine Art's artists are represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and many other internationally renowned museums.

Below is the artist statement of artist Zhao Kailin.

One of the most important and critically acclaimed Chinese masters of contemporary realism working today, painter Zhao Kailin was born in 1961 in Bengbu in southeast China.

Zhao Kailin felt, even as a young child, that he wanted to be an artist. "By the age of eight, I knew I wanted to be a painter," Zhao relates. "It was my second grade teacher in elementary school who taught me basic painting skills and encouraged and challenged me. Most important, she taught me how to soar with imaginary wings through the secret world of art." Under her tutelage, Zhao's painting abilities matured, so much so that his work began appearing in children's juried art exhibitions in Bengbu.

In 1988, Zhao Kailin was accepted for graduate studies at the prestigious oil painting department of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, China's most illustrious and rigorous fine arts institution. "From 1988 to 1990, I studied there and learned traditional western-style oil painting," states Zhao. "It was the most important period of art studies in my life."

During this period of intensive training, Zhao was exposed to the galvanizing portraits of Dutch Renaissance master Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) and was immediately taken with the work's luxuriant brushwork, jewel-like color and commanding manipulation of light and shadow inspired by Italian Renaissance painter Carravagio (1573-1610). It was during this same time that Zhao also became enamoured of the elegantly voluptuous society portraiture of American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Sargent's Madame X (1884), a full-figure portrait of a mysterious porcelain-skinned woman dressed in a long black dress that scandalized Paris's Salon of 1884, most certainly has left its silky mark on many of Zhao Kailin's portrait paintings.

More recently, Zhao's work has concentrated on depicting beautiful, introspective young women, most of whom are Asian and dressed in traditional Chinese attire. Several of the latest pieces feature females with musical instruments. These paintings capture the essential aura of young women suspended between the innocence of childhood and the smoldering sexuality of womanhood, evoking a sense of longing, dreams and desire.

"Every painting I do involves personal stories and memories," Zhao explains. "I am always striving to communicate not only the beauty and unspoken personal narratives of these women, but also the inherent beauty of Chinese culture and life."

Zhao Kailin's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S. and is a part of notable public and private art collections. Winner of a number of awards for his work, and has been an influential mentor to a number of other painters.

For further information, please contact the gallery at (212) 255-4388 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Eli Klein Fine art is located at 462 West Broadway in between Prince and Houston streets, New York, NY 10012. Please visit our website at: www.ekfineart.com .