Feng Xiao-Min

Heir to a several thousand years old culture, Feng Xiao-Min stands at a double crossroads. The first is the intersection of dream and reality experienced with the landscape, which he interprets in paintings suffused with the breath of the cosmos. “Art comes from nature, it has no other womb”, he says. The world and the image he offers us lead us to an immersion of the senses. The other is the meeting of the paths that sustain the practice and thinking behind Chinese painting, which makes Western artists turn towards the East and its philosophy, questioning writing as a sign for reinventing their gestural practice.

While Paris became a flourishing centre for lyrical abstraction in the 1950’s, six-year-old Feng Xiao-Min started his apprenticeship in the art of calligraphy in the middle of the 1960’s, followed by the study of painting. This initiation led him to the Academy of Fine Art in Shanghai, his birthplace, and then on to the Fine Art School in China to perfect his training. In 1988 he decided to move to Paris. He was admitted to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he developed his skills, especially in oil painting techniques. He achieved a synthesis of the two cultures without assimilating them. Almost fifty years passed before he perfectly mastered calligraphy and painting. These were “two branches emerging from the same root, which demand discipline and technique” for the master Shi Tao, born in 1642, whose iconic work places him among the highest ranks of traditional calligrapher-painters. Known by several nicknames—the Honorable Blind One, the Bitter Gourd Monk—he has left us several works, including Reflections on Painting by the Bitter Gourd Monk.

According to this master, venerated by calligraphers from history and contemporaries such as Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun, “Everyone can paint, but no one masters the rule of the Single Brushstroke”. Automatic action is one of the skills acquired in an occupation that, while expressed freely, is anchored in tradition. Feng is a product of it. There is no doubt that he owes a great deal to his fundamental intuition of nature. But before representing landscapes, we must have, according to him in his mature paintings, a notion of the cosmos.

A natura that is no longer naturans, but a blend of space and silence. The Chinese painter never works with motifs. He is the one who looks, knowing the finitude of the universe according to the Tao. The painting becomes a site for simultaneous encounters orchestrated by the fervor of writing, the flow of colors, the light, and underpinned by the energy of matter. While the Western painter portrays a landscape, the Chinese painter lives it intimately, nourished by the sensations experienced in the face of nature. The quickness of his trained gestures finds the overt meanings and intuitively shares a common organic dimension with the world. Feng Xiao-Min’s paintings merge with a poetic space. It is a pictorial space in perfect osmosis with real space.

The titles change nothing in his thoughtful painting. Inspired by a season, a color, the rhythm connecting the elements, it is the quest for an imageless image. Or rather the expression of a state of mind during a period of contemplation where the imaginary mingles with creation. Feng Xiao-Min seeks to express something that no longer has anything to do with transposition, but only a time suspended between silence and breath, after being impregnated by what surrounds him. Plunging in the sources of tradition, his painting is born of his double understanding of Chinese painting and Western art.

Neither abstract nor figurative, it reinvents under the impetus of his internal vision. To suggest green valleys, hills at sunset, mountain summits disappearing into the fog, immense seas whose horizon merges with the sky, amounts to providing aspects of the world by using only sensorial indicators —those of color that create a magical space. His painting has resonant contrasts: blues, greens, oranges, reds, yellow ochres, browns, blacks, which have a refined visual generosity based on layers of nuance that are reminiscent of some of the innovations of the Song landscape painters. The colors are applied in flowing, incandescent, translucent coats, worked in steamy magmas and fluids criss-crossed by shadowy shreds, signs that are born of the rhythm specific to their movement. Writing has been transformed into a living trace that reconnects with the great rhythms of the universe.

Bursts of sunlight, twilight shadows, trees, waterfalls, reflections in the water, clouds and air are merely sketches and brief impressions. The light itself is movement. The gesture is an organic impulse. This is what no Western painter will achieve, the perfect harmony between speed and control. The gesture connects with the original beat and gives birth to rhythmic forms for a perfect balance between contradictory registers. The heavenly vault echoes the oceanic depths, and splendor and chaos are united in a pantheistic metaphor for immersion in nature.

This essay is a version of a review by Lydia Harambourg, Corresponding Member of the Institute, Académie des Beaux-Arts.

CV

2023

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART CENTRAL (Hong-Kong Art Fair), Hong-Kong

2022

• “Abstraction, A Visual Reality” Mastershow, Joint Exhibition in Dubai, Opera Gallery, Dubai / catalog of the exhibition

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART PARIS (art fair), France

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART BUSAN (art fair), South Korea

2021

• Joint Exhibition in Seoul, Opera Gallery, South Korea

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART PARIS (art fair), France

• “Compositions”, solo exhibition, Opera Gallery, Paris / catalog of the exhibition

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at La Biennale Paris (art fair), France

2020

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART CENTRAL (Hong-Kong Art Fair), Hong-Kong

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks on the platform of the Shanghai Art Fair ART021, Shanghai, China

• Joint Exhibition in Singapore, Opera Gallery, Singapore

2019

• “Feng Xiao-Min: Inspired Resonance”, solo exhibition, Opera Gallery, Hong-Kong / catalog of the exhibition

• “Yi Xiang Jiang Nan” Joint Exhibition in Suzhou, Suzhou Art Museum, China

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at ART CENTRAL (Hong-Kong Art Fair), Hong-Kong

• “Yi Xiang Jiang Nan” Joint Exhibition in Shanghai, Liu Hai Su Museum, China

• “Abstraction Athwart Worlds: Ties Between Modern Worlds” Joint Exhibition in Hong-Kong, Opera Gallery, Hong-Kong / catalog of the exhibition

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Taipei Art Fair ART TAIPEI, Taiwan

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair ART021, Shanghai, China

• “The Monaco Masters Show” Joint Exhibition in Monaco, Opera Gallery, Monaco / catalog of the exhibition

2018

• “Asia Abstract”, Joint Exhibition in Hong-Kong, Opera Gallery, Hong-Kong / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Taipei Art Fair (Art Taipei), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Exhibition “Blossoming: Gallery Collection”, Gin Huang Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2017

• 2017 Taipei International Ink Painting Exhibition, National Palace in Memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Taipei, Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• “The Master of Colors”, Solo exhibition at the Jing’an Sculpture Park Art Center, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Solo exhibition, Philippe Staib Gallery and Sophia.C Art Gallery, Xin Zhu, Taiwan

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Taipei Art Fair (Art Taipei), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Exhibition “Regent Fantasy”, Gin Huang Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2016

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Busan Art Fair (Art Busan), South Korea / catalog of the exhibition

• From France to Korea – World Contemporary artists from France, exhibition at the Seoul Olympic Museum (SOMA Art Museum), Seoul, South Korea / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Taipei Art Fair (Art Taipei), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Kaohsiung Art Fair (Art Kaohsiung), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

2015

• “The Masters of Shapes and Colors” Exhibition with Antoine Poncet, Yishu 8 and Philippe Staib Gallery, Beijing, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Taipei Art Fair (Art Taipei), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair (Art Shanghai), Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Philippe Staib Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at the Kaohsiung Art Fair (Art Kaohsiung), Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• 2014 – 2015 “Dans les yeux de Gérard Xuriguera”, Yohann Gallery, Paris

2014

• Exhibition “A fragment in the Course of time – Landscape of Chinese Ink Art in 1980s”, Shanghai Himalayas Museum / catalog of the exhibition

• Opera Gallery presented Feng’s artworks at Opera Gallery Dubai Difc, Opera Gallery Hongkong, Opera Gallery Paris and Opera Gallery Monaco

• Solo exhibition at Galerie Image of China, Singapore

• Philippe Staib Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the Shanghai Art Fair China / catalog of the exhibition

• 2013 – 2014 Exhibition « Rencontre » at the Goldenberg Gallery, Paris, France / catalog of the exhibition

2013

• Exhibition “Intersection”, Linz Gallery in Paris, France

• Exhibition “Dessins – traits et encre”, organized by the Linz Gallery in Paris, France

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the Asian Galleries Art Fair in Shanghai, China

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

2012

• International Contemporary Ink Painting Exhibition, National Palace in Memory of Dr.Sun Yat-sen, ZhongShan National Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at “Shanghai Contemporary”, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

2011

• Exhibition “Dialogue des Civilisations”, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France
  

• “Le Carré Rive Gauche” – Artco France Gallery, Paris, France

• “Artistes Marseillais/Artistes Chinois/Correspondances?” – Alcazar, Marseille, France / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at “Shanghai Contemporary”, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Galerie Image of China “Convergence in the Lion City”, Singapore / catalog of the exhibition

2010

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair « Art Beijing », Beijing, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Contemporary Watercolor Exhibition between Shanghai and Hong Kong / catalog of the exhibition (as part of the Hong Kong Biennial), Yun Feng Gallery in Hong Kong / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at “Shanghai Contemporary”, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Artco France in Paris presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Exhibition “Dialogue des Civilisations”, Zhe Jiang Museum in HangZhou, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Exhibition “Dialogue des Civilisations”, the Si Nan Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China

2009

• Contemporary Watercolor Exhibition, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• 2008-2009 International Contemporary Watercolor Biennial, National Palace in Memory of Dr.Sun Yat-sen in Taipei, Taiwan / catalog of the exhibition

2008

• Artco France in Paris presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair of Beijing, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Contemporary water color exhibition between Shanghai and Kiev (exhibition organized by the Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences of Ukraine and the Association of International Culture of Shanghai) / catalog of the exhibition

• Purple Roof Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

2007

• Solo exhibition at 82 Gallery in Paris, France

• Exhibition at Frédéric Moisan Gallery in Paris, France

• Ariane Bomsel Gallery in Paris presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

2006

• Châteauroux Museum, France / catalog of the exhibition

• Ariane Bomsel Gallery in Paris presented Feng’s artworks at the China International Gallery Exhibition in Beijing, China / catalog of the exhibition

• TQ Gallery in Shanghai presented Feng’s artworks at the International Art Fair in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

• Solo exhibition at Ifa Gallery in Shanghai, China

• Solo exhibition at Tian Qing Gallery in Shanghai, China / catalog of the exhibition

2005

• Solo exhibition at 82 Gallery in Paris, France

• Musée Cinquantenaire in Brussels, Belgium (Le Mur du Son) / catalog of the exhibition

• Grand Palais in Hong Kong (Cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Shanghai) / catalog of the exhibition

• Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai, China (Cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Shanghai) / catalog of the exhibition

2004

• 2003-2004 Carnavalet Museum in Paris, France (exhibition with the photographer Marc Riboud) / catalog of the exhibition

2003

• Solo exhibition at Galerie de l’Hôtel Claridge on the Champs-Élysées, Paris, France / catalog of the exhibition

• Solo exhibition at Actée Gallery, Charenton le Pont (Paris), France

• Invited by the Shanghai Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Shanghai Biennial. The artwork exhibited on this occasion is now part of the collection of the Anting Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai. Invited by the city of Weimar (Germany) for the same collection / catalog of the exhibition

2002

• Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture a l’Eau, Espace Auteuil, Paris (guest of honor), France / catalog of the exhibition

2001

• Solo exhibition at Actée Gallery, Charenton le Pont (Paris), France

1998

• 1998 Château de « L’Orangeraie » in Brussels, Belgium

1993

• Salon d’Art at Livry sur Seine, France

• Everarts Gallery, Paris, France

1992

• Victor-Duhamel Museum, Mantes-la-Jolie, France

• Salon d’Automne at the Grand Palais in Paris, France / catalog of the exhibition

1985

• Shanghai Cultural Center, China

1981

• Shanghai Cultural Center, China

1977

• Shanghai Museum of Fine Arts, China / catalog of the exhibition