The participating artists in this exhibition are of all ethnic Chinese origin, residing in
mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Europe and America. The differences amongst
the artists’ daily experiences and education background have contributed to the
multifaceted creative outlook in this show. But within this “difference” there is also an
element of restraint within Chinese genes; the artists are also methodical and self-aware
with regards to what they hope to advance with their distinctive artistic lens. The show
aims to portray the myriad of possibilities Chinese artists can explore in their painting
styles, and to demonstrate how Chinese contemporary art has become a force to be
reckoned with in the art world.
The participating artists work outside of the typical narratives of marginalised identities in
an international setting. They are extremely dedicated to the depiction of ideas and
emotion in their works. They rebel against the status quo, pushing against the limits of
imagination, aesthetic, and skill in a world where art has become increasingly massproduced
and replicated. In Chinese communities, a dominant gene has been the ability
for integration and congregation, and we have an immense ability to portray all that we feel
and capture. This portrayal is not a one-off repetition of ideas, but the extraction and
consolidation of previous visual experiences, feeding off of and giving birth to new and
more diverse forms of artistic dimensions. Rather than to say that they had chosen art as
their medium of expression, it may be more accurate to say that art has chosen a host in
them—perhaps precisely because of this mixing of genes.
