“Emptiness can be expressed by ‘fullness’ if the right method is used.”
Born Shanghai, 1948
As a young man, Liang Quan saw in abstract painting the same kind of purity and depth that he found in Chan (Zen) Buddhism. When he was able to study traditional Chinese landscapes—much maligned by the Maoists, who destroyed them in vast numbers—he realised that the old painters’ ethos of truth in emptiness also had much in common with Zen. After much experimentation and meditation, he found a way to align these two artistic paths with his chosen spiritual one. His collages, made from torn strips of rice paper soaked in tea or washes of ink, are in his words “diagrams of traditional Chinese landscapes” whose almost colourless pattern represents the essence of those works, a river flowing between mountain peaks. If viewers take a while to be smitten by their deliberately neutral, unshowy beauty, Liang Quan is happy. He wants it to seem, in fact, as if “the artist has not done anything.” “When things disappear into nonexistence,” he explains, “this is the condition of Zen.”
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Sailing~Afar —Liang Quan’s New Works, PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2006
Liang Quan’s Solo Exhibition, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2005
Liang Quan’s Solo Exhibition, M.Sutherland Fine Arts, New York, U.S.A
2004
Liang Quan’s Solo Exhibition, Mies van Der Rohe Haus, Berlin, Germany
2001
Liang Quan’s Solo Exhibition, Kunst House, Nürnberg, Germany
1994
Liang Quan’s Solo Exhibition, Alisan Fine Arts Limited, Hong Kong
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting Joint Exhibition, VA Gallery, Hong Kong
Duchamp’Inframince in painting, First Zhuangzi International Conference Parallel Exhibition, Yuan art museum, Beijing China
Chase the wind and clutch at shadows, The 15th anniversary of the China International Fashion Week, PIFO Gallery, Beijing
Trans-Media,Work by Zhang Yu and Liang quan, Enjoy Museum of Art, Beijing, China
all our relations, 18th Beennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Phase of Heart-Abtract Art Group Exhibition I, Va Gallery, Hong Kong
Stay Away, Va Gallery, HK
At Rest—The Fifth Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art, Pifo Gallery, Beijing, China
Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2011
Korea • China• Japan Young Artists Exhibition, Gallery 604 J, Busan, Korea
Heavenly Abstraction, 21st Century Chinese Art Rome Contemporary Art Museum, Italy
Power of the Middle, VA Gallery, Hong Kong
Super-Organism, CAFAM Biennale, CAFA, Beijing, China
Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition University of Minnesota, USA
Echo: Minds-in-Hands, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China
Visible Soul, The Fourth Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China
Tao of Nature, Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition, Shanhai Contemporary Art Museum, Shangha, China
Liang Quan and Ma Shuqing Exhibition, FAETH Gallery, Germany
Metaphysical Entity,Da Xiang Art Space Taichung, Taiwan, China
2010
Negotiation—the Second Today’s Documents, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Reshaping History—Chinart from 2000 to 2009, China National Convention Center, Beijing, China
Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
The Power of Simplicity, WELLSIDE GALLERY, Shanghai, China
One Day in June, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Columbia
Back to the Essence from Ink Painting to Ink, Da Xiang Art Space, Taiwan
Unending Distance—the 3rd Exhibition of Abstract Art, PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing, China
The Great Celestial Abstraction-Chinese Art in 21st Century, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Array with No Objects—Academic Inviting Exhibition of Contemporary Abstract Art, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
2009
Where the Spirit Lives: Exhibition on the Occasion of 100th Anniversary of Abstract Paintings, PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing, China
Yi Pai:30 Years of Abstract Art in China, la caixa forum Palma / la caixa forum Barcelona/ la caixa forum Madrid, Spain
Beyond the Image: Liang Quan, Lui Chunkwong & Yan Shanchun, Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, China
798 Beijing Biennale, 798 Art Area, Beijing, China
Water and Ink• Abstract, Shanghai Duolun Modern Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Ink, Not Ink, Drexel University, Philadelphia, U.S.A/Museum of Warsaw Royal, Poland
2008
Guangdong Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guangdong Fine Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
Yi Pai: Century Thinking, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Zeichen Im Wandel der Zeit, Staatliche Kunstammlungen, Dresden, Germany
Savoring Images with a Pure Heart: Contemporary Chinese Ink and Wash Invitational Exhibition, Daxiang Art Space, Taiwan
Ink, Not Ink—Chinese Contemporary Ink and Wash Exhibition，Shenzhen Art Museum/Shenzhen, Today Art Museum/ Beijing, China
Chinesische Tuschemalerei Der Gegenwart, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresgen, Germany
Double Exhibition of Abstract Art, Osage Gallery, Shanghai, China
Form, Idea, Essence, Rhythm—New Aspects of Contemporary East Asian Ink Painting, Taipei fine Art Museum, Taiwan
Collection Records
Art Museums
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Shanghai Art Museum
The National Art Museum of China
Guangdong Museum of Art
Minsheng Art Museum
The British Museum
University of San Francisco
The White Rabbit Gallery
Artworks Published Records
Italy Style – Chinese Abstract 30 Years
Italy Style – Century Thoughts
Here
Art Map
Gallery
The Art World Magazine
18th Biennale of Sydney Art Book
Loft Art
First CAFAM Exhibition Art Book
Sixth Most Influential Artist Book
Let’s Art
Chinese News Art Magazine
Mind Natural Art Book
Hi Art
