Zhu Jinshi: Boat

During the recent inaugural edition of the Art13 London art fair, Chinese abstract artist Zhu Jinshi presented Boat, an installation for Pearl Lam Galleries composed of bamboo, cotton and 8,000 sheets of rice paper in a striking 12 metre-long structure.

Zhu Jinshi began creating abstract works in the late 1970s. In order to exhibit in an "official" capacity, he joined the Stars (Xingxing), a group of Chinese artists that included Ai Weiwei and Ma Desheng, and participated in their seminal Beijing exhibition in 1979. At Art13, Zhu Jinshi's work was represented alongside another major Chinese abstract artist, Su Xiaobai. The work of both artists attempts to illustrate that Chinese abstract has been a major, undiscovered force in contemporary art.

"Zhu Jinshi and Su Xiaobai are radically different artists, yet each exemplifies the essence of contemporary Chinese abstract painting," stated abstract art expert Paul Moorhouse, former curator at Tate Britain and now Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London, who visited the artists' studios last year said. "Working spontaneously, Zhu creates impossibly dense, sensuous fields of colour. Su develops his paintings patiently, slowly refining their exquisite, veneered surfaces. This profound feeling for evocative materials, and their shared emphasis on creating an abstract physical reality, is entirely distinctive — and completely compelling."

"Zhu Jinshi and Su Xiaobai are Chinese artists who deconstruct Western theory of art and visual language by rooting them to Chinese traditions and philosophy," said Pearl Lam. "This year, both artists have important solo shows at Pearl Lam Galleries and I am proud to bring this selection of works for their London debut. Zhu Jinshi's rice paper Boat, which is instilled with cultural resonance and embodies the artist's personal voyage, will be journeying from Shanghai to London for the first time."