Spring in Jinling

Spring in Jinling: Works of Fifteen Contemporary Nanjing Painters

Corresponding to the exhibition held in New York between March 16 and 31, 2004, and in Hong Kong between April 27 and 30, 2004. 84 paintings fully illustrated in color. Preface by Howard Rogers. Forward by Kaiyuen Ng.

Includes the essay:

Lang Shaojun:
“Exhibition by Fifteen Nanjing Artists: Preface to the Exhibition ‘Spring in
Jinling.'”

This was the sixteenth exhibition of contemporary Chinese ink painting mounted at Kaikodo and the second done in collaboration with K.Y. Ng of Hong Kong. K.Y. and his assistant Alex Chiu spent considerable time in Nanjing making the selection of paintings in consultation with the artists themselves and are also to be credited with providing the information contained in this issue of Kaikodo Journal.

In contrast to “The Flowering Field” of 1997, which included works by 58 artists living in various cities throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, the present exhibition is geographically focused, with the fifteen artists all active in the city of Nanjing. This grouping was based on the assumption that geography and the artistic traditions associated with particular locales are of some significance to the creators of the paintings presented in the current show even if the exact nature of the relationship is difficult to define. Nanjing boasts a lengthy history as a center of artistic activity beginning at least as early as the Six Dynasties period (220-589) and is considered one of the major centers of Chinese ink painting in south China. The majority of the painters selected for this show are thought of as “new literati painters,” heirs to the great tradition of literati painting in which the use of ink and personalized brushwork to convey the spirit of subject and artist is preeminent in the creative process. This exhibition was intended to stand as visual testimony to the robust health and continuing vitality of an artistic tradition now more than two millennia in age.