[PRESS RELEASE]

LONDON — Wu Ke (b.1969), an established painter from China will present his unconventional creations of traditional Chinese landscape paintings to a British audience for the first time, at his forthcoming solo exhibition Another Shan Shui at Cookhouse Gallery Chelsea College of Arts this September (21st-26th).

Shan Shui (literally ‘mountain-water’) or the art of Chinese landscape is regarded as the highest form of Chinese ink painting, arising to prominence during the 5th century, in the Liu Song Dynasty. Shan Shui became so exalted, as it not only illustrates the striking natural beauty of China but also presents the mindscape of artists, conveying specific social, philosophical, or political convictions. Although the Chinese landscape has been transformed by millennia of human occupation, the ancient legacy of Shan Shui has been inherited and reinterpreted by Chinese artists down to the present day.

Wu Ke, born and raised in Shanghai, a bustling, thrusting thriving metropolis with more than 24 million inhabitants, paints images of rural nature, that are, visually and philosophically, as far away from the urban iconography of Shanghai that it is possible to imagine. Wu Ke’s landscapes, unlike most of the British landscape paintings shown in the recent exhibition Places of the mind – British watercolour landscapes 1850–1950 at the British Museum, exist more in his mind, rather than in the physical properties of a landscape. As the artist explains, “I paint Shan Shui because of its power to express one’s grandiose and profound mindset and to create the poetic artistic conception.”

In Wu Ke’s first London exhibition entitled ANOTHER SHAN SHUI, the artist will present 30 works created between 2015 and 2017, immortalizing these hard to access, Arcadian utopias, unveiling his understanding of the relationship between man and nature, and juxtaposing these ancient environments with the breakneck speed of urbanization in China over the past 30 years.

Moving his studio from downtown Shanghai to Zhujiajiao, on the outskirts of the city, a beautiful ancient water town of thousands of years of history, Wu Ke longs for a harmonious and consistent balance between Shan Shui or nature and modernity.

“The side effect of urbanization and industrialization in China does make our life more and more challenging every day. It is because of the reality of our living environment, I feel the will and responsibility to make it a better place. ‘Shan Shui’ painting serves as a carrier to express such desire of an ideal living environment”, says Wu Ke.

According to the curators of the exhibition — Lang Xiao, Director of ARTouch Consulting, and Chen Rui, curator of Chinese ink paintings from the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts – “Wu Ke gives Shan Shui painting a new look or another way of seeing, by combining elements from modern and contemporary art with the essence and spirit of traditional painting”. The creative blending of ink, water and the colors in Wu Ke’s work, will offer a British audience an opportunity to see “Another Shan Shui”.

On the opening evening, Dr. Katie Hill, Chinese art expert and Programme Director of Contemporary Asian Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art London, Mr. Andrew Kalman, expert in British landscape painting, Owner of Crane Kalman, will join Wu Ke in a conversation about landscape painting in China and in the West.

ANOTHER SHAN SHUI – WU KE SOLO EXHIBITION at Cookhouse Gallery, Chelsea College of Arts (16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU) will open daily 21 -26 September 2017.

About WU KE
Wu Ke was born in Shanghai, China in 1969. He currently lives and works as a professional artist in Zhujiajiao, an ancient water town on the outskirts of Shanghai. He started learning Chinese ink painting in 1986 and graduated from fine art department of East China Normal University.  Studying Chinese Shan Shui (or mountain-water) paintings under Master Shi Chan and Master Huang Azhong, Wu Ke explores the skills and the artistic conception of Shan Shui paintings, which are considered as the highest form of tradition Chinese paintings. By applying ink and brush, Wu Ke presents his individual understanding of nature, mindset and emotions through his imagined landscape. Paintings by Wu Ke have been acquired by leading museums and art institutions in China, such as the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts (AMNUA), Jiangsu Art Museum and Zhejiang Art Museum.
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Notes to Editors
For all PRESS enquiries please contact Lang Xiao:
lang.xiao@artouchconsulting.com | +44 (0)7591 877 185
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“吴可的画，从笔墨趣味和画面章法入手，重新返回起点，搁置了守旧与创新的争论。”——彭德 西安美术学院教授、美术评论家

“与中国历代山水画家一样，吴可美丽生动、质感丰富的笔墨与构图让他如此接近山水画的内核和哲思。” ——安德鲁·卡尔曼
英国克瑞恩·卡尔曼画廊的继承人、前任伦敦艺术经销商委员会 (SLAD)
执行理事、前任英国泰特美术馆“新艺术”赞助人委员艺术品收购部主席

伦敦 —— 来自中国上海的艺术家吴可即将于2017年9月在伦敦艺术大学切尔西学院(Chelsea College of Arts, UAL) 举办其在英国的首个个人作品展—— ANOTHER SHAN SHUI《别样山水》。

在刘宋时期就逐渐达到全盛的山水画一直被视作中国绘画艺术的最高成就。对于中国人来说，山水画既是高山流水，又是精神家园 。而对于英国普通观众而言，山水画是英国汉学家迈珂·苏立文 (Michael Sullivan)在《山川悠远——中国山水画艺术》里写下的字里行间，也是大英博物馆里珍藏的沈周、董源的真迹手卷。作为中国艺术中在笔墨、技法、构图等方面都形成了最完备体系的山水画，成为了中国历代文人墨客写意抒情的不二之选。生于1969年的中国艺术家吴可将携其于2015 – 2017年间创作的三十幅山水作品，在伦敦艺术大学Cookhouse画廊为英国观众呈现吴氏的“别样山水”。

吴可生长于永远在繁华喧嚣中蓬勃发展的上海——一个有着超过2400万居民的全球人口最稠密的大都市。然而，吴可所描绘创作的山水画无论在视觉意义上还是在哲学意义上，都与上海的城市肖像相距甚远。吴氏山水不同于近期在大英博物馆特展《心灵的属地：英国水彩风景画1850-1950年》里的英国山水画。在吴可看来：
“与西方绘画中的风景画不同，中国山水画所呈现在大家面前的则是画家面对真山真水的一种自我的理解和感悟，是情与景高端融合的一个再现，所以我画的‘山水’都是意念之中自己想要的山水。我认为或许山水更加能表达博大、深厚的情感心境，更能营造出一种‘诗性’的意境，这是我所追求的。”

尽管吴可没有选择彻底离开故土，但他逆黄浦江而上，把工作室安置在了远离上海都市喧嚣的千年古镇水乡朱家角，潜心勾勒山水世外桃源。吴可虽寄情山水，但他并非逃避城市化和工业文明带来的负面效应。吴可笔下横陈的手卷和狭长的条幅，让人联想到川流不息的黄埔江和外滩高耸的摩天大厦；而禅意清幽的山水间醒目的湖蓝和青碧，则闪烁宛若上海不夜城的霓虹。高山流水与现代化的隔空对话使吴可对人与自然的关系有了更为深刻的领悟，并试图通过画面找到平衡支点。

吴可认为，“中国许多地方面对城市化、工业化带来的副作用，人们生存环境面临较大考验。也许正因为现实生存环境的变化，促使我有一种想改善美化环境的意愿及冲动。山水画这一特殊载体可以很好地表达我的这种诉求——即 ‘可行’‘可望’‘可游’‘可居’的理想生活环境”

在本次展览的策展人英国艺触咨询总监肖朗和南京艺术学院美术馆策展人陈瑞看来，吴氏山水对当代生活的关注正是石涛所言的“笔墨当随时代”的一种写照。吴可在充分体会学习中国传统山水画技法与精神之后，有判断、有选择地吸收当代艺术与现代观念。这种传统与现代的融合不仅在一定程度上打破了传统中国山水画的欣赏与传播的壁垒，更将为西方观众带来关于中国山水画的别样体验和感悟。

展览开幕当晚，中国艺术专家、伦敦苏富比艺术学院亚洲当代艺术项目主任何凯特博士、英国风景画专家、伦敦克瑞恩·卡尔曼画廊主安德鲁·卡尔曼先生还将围绕中国和西方的风景绘画与艺术家吴可展开对话。

《别样山水》——伦敦艺术大学的切尔西艺术学院吴可个人作品展将在Cookhouse展厅于 2017年9月21 – 26日向公众开放。

关于吴可
吴可（原名吴军），一两山水居、问松草堂主人，1969年生于中国上海，现居住在千年古镇朱家角。 吴可于1986年开始学习中国画，并毕业于华东师范大学美术专业。他师从石禅及黄阿忠先生，以中国传统水墨为载体，不断探索“山水画”的绘法及意境，试图用吴式“山水”的别样意境呈现自己对自然景物新的感悟、内心的意愿和情感。其作品被包括南京艺术学院美术馆、江苏省美术馆以及浙江美术馆在内的中国多个重要美术馆及艺术机构永久收藏。

结束–
媒体垂询，敬请联系英国艺触咨询肖朗女士:
lang.xiao@artouchconsulting.com | +44 (0)7591 877 185