Message from the Director
To promote cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Australia and strengthen the bond between overseas Chinese in Australia and their home country, China Cultural Centre in Sydney and Sydney Branch of China Construction Bank join hands to organize Profound · Lasting – Painting Exhibition from Ren Jianguo, Ren Guozhong and Ren Lihong from 4th May to 8th June 2023 in China Cultural Centre in Sydney, presenting 63 representative paintings created by Ren Jianguo and his two siblings in recent years.
The Ren’s siblings come from an artistic family and now reside in Sydney. Ren Jianguo graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1982 and studied under such famous painters as Li Keran, Jiang Zhaohe, Li Kuchan and Ye Qianyu. In the early 1980s, he gained attention in the art field and became a member of China Artists Association, Beijing Artists Association and Beijing Art Institute of Traditional Chinese Fine Arts Painting. A number of his works were collected by the National Art Museum of China. In recent years, he has boldly integrated abstract expression with freehand spirit and formed a unique style of modern ink painting which is both familiar and distinctive. Ren Guozhong graduated from the Department of Fine Arts with major in Animation of Beijing Film Academy. He has studied painting since childhood and was taught by famous painter Zhou Sicong. Over the years he has kept creating and exploring to integrate abstract and landscape art to express his feeling and sentiments about the Australian land, which enable his works with strong visual impact. Ren Lihong has been practicing painting from a young age. A graduate from the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University (formerly the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts) has been working in creating design filed for many years. In her works, she intends to adopt an innovative approach and emphasize personal experience to elaborate her understanding of Eastern and Western cultures.
In recent years, China Cultural Centre in Sydney has become an important platform to promote exchange and cooperation between the Chinese and Australian artists through extensive collaboration with the Australian and Chinese artists living in Australia by organizing a series of successful China-Australia cultural dialogue exhibitions. The exhibition with its diverse forms and styles will not only demonstrate the artist’s persistence and innovation towards the Chinese traditional culture as well as their expansion and refinement of artistic expression in the Australian multicultural context, but also showcase the creative landscape of the overseas Chinese artists in Australia, surely further enhancing the understanding of the Chinese culture and art among the Australian art community and the public and promoting the cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Australia.
Wish the exhibition a great success!
Xiao Xiayong
Director
China Cultural Centre in Sydney
About the Exhibition
On the occasion of “Profound · Lasting – Painting Exhibition from Ren Jianguo, Ren Guozhong and Ren Lihong” to be held at China Cultural Centre in Sydney, it is my great pleasure to write a preface to the the exhibition, introducing three outstanding artists from the Rens’ family to the art community and friends from all walks of life in Oceania.
The exhibition can be subdivided into two sections of presentation. The first section, “Yun Hai Ting Feng (listening to the wind and observing the clouds) , with the Chinese painting as a medium and the “tradition” as the starting point integrating “modernity” aesthetics, presents the ink paintings by Ren Jianguo. The combination of natural landscape from “sea of clouds” and humanistic imagery from “listening to the wind” has vividly represented the core philosophy of his artistic journey of almost 50 years, showcasing his various series from figure painting, innovative figure and landscape to new freehand landscape, demonstrating his broad-minded brushstrokes and the spiritual realm of contemporary scholars and highlighting the aesthetics of ink painting of tradition and modernity from the Chinese art world. The second section, “Tian Di Tong Ming (the Resonance of Heaven and Earth)”, with oil painting as a medium, from the modern towards the contemporary, presents the works from Ren Guozhong and Ren Lihong. Ren Guozhong’s abstract painting with strong regional features incorporates visual elements from western Australian and China. The elements from the two cultures are transformed into abstract language through the artist’s perception. Ren Lihong’s works are dominated by new concrete experiences and supplemented with symbolic contemporary art elements, transforming daily aesthetic life experience, especially the leisure life in Australia into the joyful symbols. At the same time, her works pay attention to the Liu Cixin-stlye technological aesthetic.
From traditional to modern and from modern to contemporary, “Listening to the Wind and Observing the Sea of Clouds” and “The Resonance of Heaven and Earth” form an echoing combination, constituting a visual context, profound and lasting. Profound represents that the three siblings follow the basic rule of artistic creation and persist in painting in their own artistic exploration, though in different forms but with the same humanistic mission. Lasting represents that the Ren’s siblings as migrants from China to Australia, with humanism of art as goal, have established an internal link between China and Australia as well as overseas Chinese and the world in a deeper connection between the Chinese culture and the world art.
Wish the exhibition a great success!
Michael Wang
Curator
Artists
Ren Jianguo, born in Beijing in February 1957, graduated from Beijing Art School in 1977 and was admitted to the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Arts in 1978 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982. He is a member of China Artists Association, Beijing Artists Association, and Beijing Art Institute of Traditional Chinese Fine Arts Painting. He used to work as an art editor of Guangming Daily. In 1985, an article in the fifth issue of Fine Arts magazine was dedicated to introduce his works and creative ideas. At present, he is mainly engaged in creating Chinese paintings in a “New Freehand Style”. His artistic journey of over 40 years has been highly acclaimed in special commentaries in the seventh issue of Rong Bao Zhai journal in 2022 and the first issue of Fine Art magazine in 2023.
Ren Guozhong, born in Beijing in May 1961, studied painting at the Beijing East District Children’s Palace from a young age and was taught by famous painter Sicong Zhou. In 1980, he won the Third Prize in the 2nd National Youth Art Exhibition. In 1986, he graduated from Department of Fine Arts with major in Animation of Beijing Film Academy. In the same year, he joined the Children’s Department of CCTV to create titles for the Jigsaw Puzzle and Between Heaven and Earth programs. From 1987 to 1988, he produced a series of five short animated films, Drawing Around. In 1988, he went to Sydney of Australia to study and continued his painting work. For many years, he has been exploring a new way to express his feelings and emotions about the Australian landscape since he moved here.
Ren Lihong, born in Beijing in February 1970, studied painting as a child. She entered Beijing Arts and Crafts School in 1986, and graduated from the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University (formerly the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts) in 1995. After graduation, she taught at the School of Art and Design of Beijing Institute of Technology for fifteen years. While teaching at university, she actively participated in social design practice and ran an advertisement design company in partnership in Beijing. She designed marketing solutions for Red Bull, Gree and Bank of China, and also did visual communication design and promotion work for several fashion brands. Since 2018, she has settled in Sydney and has been involved in painting studio with friends in North Sydney.
