Abstraction and alienation
Shanghai-born painter Feng Lianghong, 64, moved to the US in 1990 and subsequently settled in New York, where he spent over a decade exploring the expressive potential of color and rhythm in his abstract canvases. His works, free from narrative, communicate directly through sensation, allowing viewers of different cultural backgrounds to appreciate them through perception rather than interpretation, according to the curator.
While some thrive on the novelty of a new culture, others experience displacement as a loss. Cai Jinmay fall into the latter group. While living in New York from 1997 to 2007, she channeled the loneliness of the expatriate experience into her signature Canna Lilyseries. Her strikingly red canvases of withering yet unyielding plants—a flora familiar from her childhood in East China's Anhui province—transformed her isolation into a powerful visual language of resilience.
"On an unfamiliar ground, artists are compelled to see anew, feel anew, and think anew, allowing the obscured 'true self' to gradually surface through artistic creation," curator Li Jin writes in the exhibition statement.
Li also notes that the free, inclusive artistic environment of the US offered expat Chinese artists a fresh visual experience while simultaneously prompting them to reconsider Chinese cultural traditions from another perspective.
Yuan Yunsheng, the eldest of the group, was a pioneer. He first gained fame—and sparked heated debate—in the late 1970s with his mural Water Splashing Festival–Ode to Life at the Beijing Capital International Airport. In 1982, amid the controversy surrounding his departure from social realism, he traveled to the US as a visiting scholar.
During his 14 years in the US, Yuan engaged with post-war giants like Willem de Kooning and Robert Rauschenberg. He discovered a striking resemblance between American Abstract Expressionism and the centuries-old tradition of wenrenhua (Chinese literati painting), as both prioritized self-expression over technical realism. His 1991 work, Inaccurate Distance, exemplifies this dialogue, clashing traditional ink with vibrant wax, gouache, and egg tempera.
Since his return to China, the art educator has spearheaded the national project to reconstruct the Chinese art education system, for which he champions establishing an advanced art education rooted in Chinese art traditions and techniques.
The homage to wenrenhua also informs the work of the late artist Li Xiangyang. His painting A Tribute to Ni Zan 3 (2017) juxtaposes the "quiet emptiness" of 14th-century master Ni Zan with the dynamic gestures of modern abstraction.
Interestingly, Li is the only artist in the exhibit who never lived in the US, yet the curator argues his inclusion is essential: his work was heavily influenced by American Abstract Expressionism during his time in Italy, highlighting the borderless nature of artistic movements.
