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HUANG I-MING: New Ink will open for Asia Week NY, March 15 through May 5th

By Announcement, Asia Week NY, Huang I-Ming, openings, Press

HUANG I-MING : NEW INK, March 15 – May 5, 2018

For Immediate Release

Huang I-ming (b.1952, I-lan, Taiwan) is an accomplished Chinese calligrapher based in Taiwan who also has taught and exhibited extensively in the PRC. Huang has practiced calligraphy his entire life, ever since he could hold a brush as a small child. Much like in the Ming and Qing Dynasties when scholar artists were first court officials and then retired to lives of creative contemplation, Huang, after a short political career, turned to practicing and teaching calligraphy full-time. Few modern calligraphers have full mastery of all script forms, but Huang is an outstanding exception. Huang’s oeuvre includes all calligraphic scripts, from Ancient Seal Script to Han Clerical Script, Regular, Running and Cursive scripts. Teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, Huang absorbed the creative excitement and vigor of the art scene there. He came away with renewed enthusiasm for a “modern” calligraphic style.

For many years, calligraphy art has been my life. I have used every ounce of my being to create these lines. All the changes in these lines are produced with feelings and emotions. My frame of mind has evidently affected their creation, and they have, in return, brought me into a new realization and awareness of what is happening to the different environments, matters, and things surrounding me. This is a process of incessant cause and effect evolution………These lines have already become my entirety.

Huang further explains that a piece of Chinese calligraphy has two levels of meaning: wen yi and shu yi. The classical styles of Chinese calligraphy, according to traditional canons, have both wen yi, the literal meaning of the image in Chinese, and shu yi, the expressive content of the brushwork that expresses the feelings of the calligrapher. Some art theorists regard wen yi as the “narrative” aesthetic in contrast with shu yi, the “lyric” aesthetic of calligraphy. Just as musicians interpret a musical score, so calligraphers celebrate the execution of the characters. Huang defines this dualism in modern calligraphy as “classical linearity.”

What happens when wen yi becomes irrelevant to the creative act? The link between an actual symbol or word and brushwork is divorced and shu yi, “lyric aesthetic” becomes paramount. Huang credits the Japanese post –WWII calligrapher, Teshima Yukei of the Shosho group or “Shao Zi Pai” (or “Few Character Group), with promoting the first theoretical basis for separating wen yi from shu yi. To convey the utter despair and ruin of Japan in the late 1940’s and 1950s, Teshima believed that he could only do so by deconstructing and re-forming the written symbols of calligraphy. The resulting works allowed people who cannot read Chinese/Japanese kanji to grasp the intended wen yi or meaning of his visual perception. Inspired by this theoretical basis, Huang forged a new creative path, one where shu yi (expressive/lyrical nature of the brush) is transcendent, without specific reference to written language. Huang describes his new work as “abstract expressionism with classical linearity” and is quick to remind that his works are not paintings per se, as the brushwork is firmly rooted in the framework of calligraphy brush traditions separate from classical ink painting. Further, Huang also gives credit to the influence of Western art on his style, specifically from the Abstract Expressionist painters of the second half of the 20th Century.

The current exhibition will feature Huang’s breadth of style, from unwavering perfection of his small running script in “Autumn Stillness,’ to the mesmerizing abstraction, ”The Changes of Mother Earth.” The show will open for Asia Week (March 15- 24, 2018) and then continue through May 5 by appointment. This is the third exhibition of Huang’s works at M. Sutherland Fine Arts.

 

HUANG I-MING : NEW INK – March 15 – May 5, by appointment

Asia Week Opening Reception Friday, March 16th, 6-8pm

Asia Week Hours
March 15–24th, 11am – 5pm daily

M. Sutherland Fine Arts
7 E 74th Street, Third Floor, New York, NY
Tel. 212-249-0428 | Cel. 301-529-2531

 

[At Top] – Huang I-Ming, Resplendence, 2014, ink on paper 106 x 92cm

 

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Hsia I-Fu, A Life in Ink (1925-2016) Opening and Catalog

By Announcement, Hsai I-Fu, openings, Uncategorized

Our Hsia I-Fu memorial exhibition opens this evening, if you’re in New York please stop by M. Sutherland Fine Arts between 6–8pm and join us in celebrating the life and work of this magnificent artist.

A fully illustrated exhibition catalog is available to view here in pdf:  Hsia I-Fu, A Life in Ink

The show will be up through November 17th, by appointment.

For further on the Exhibition: Hsia I-Fu, A Life in Ink

Scenes from a Grand Re-Opening…

By Fung Ming Chip, hsu kuohuang, Hung Hsien, Liang Quan, openings, Uncategorized

Last week brought us our inaugural exhibition for M. Sutherland Fine Arts at its new home on East 74th street.  On view are selections revisiting highlights from recent years including works by Fung Ming Chip, Hung Hsien, Hsu Kuohong and Liang Quan.

Thank you all for coming out and welcoming us to our new home!

The gallery will be open by appointment through the Summer.

Grand Re-Opening!

By openings
Please Join Us for our Grand Re-Opening!
Thursday, May 19, 6-8PM

Please join us for a first look at M. Sutherland Fine Arts’ new home at:

7 East 74th Street, Third Floor

We invite new friends and old to join us in enjoying a selection of works from the gallery’s collection, accompanied by cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

Our new home is located on 74th Street between 5th Avenue and the Apple Store.

FINAL LOOK | BETWEEN TWO WATERS – Three Artists from Virginia’s Eastern Shore

By openings

msfaBetweenShoresC

A Final Look at…

BETWEEN TWO WATERS

THREE ARTISTS FROM VIRGINIA’S EASTERN SHORE: Moe Spector, Ann Hayden and Barnaby Conrad

Saturday, January 23rd, 11am–2pm

Please join gallery owner Martha Sutherland and artists Ann Hayden and Barnaby Conrad for a final look at “Between Two Waters”.

Light refreshments provided.

for additional information about the exhibition:  Between Two Waters

 

IMG_5425

[TOP, Left] Barnaby Conrad, “Chinese Rooster” , 2015, Oil on canvas, 15 x 10 1/2 inches

[TOP, Middle] Moe Spector, “Cone Shell” , 2015, Marble and black walnut, 18 x 13 x 8 inches

[TOP, Right] Ann Hayden, “We Come from a Military Family”, 2015, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

Links:

Between Two Waters Exhibition

Moe Spector

Ann Hayden

Barnaby Conrad

BETWEEN TWO WATERS – THREE ARTISTS FROM VIRGINIA’S EASTERN SHORE

By openings, Press, Uncategorized

msfaBetweenShoresC

BETWEEN TWO WATERS

THREE ARTISTS FROM VIRGINIA’S EASTERN SHORE: Moe Spector, Ann Hayden and Barnaby Conrad

For Immediate release

What happens when three urban artists move to one of the last great, undeveloped spots on the East Coast and respond to the creatures of its forests and tide-swept beaches?

The natural beauty of the Eastern Shore of Virginia is our dirty little secret. Few people are aware of it as they hurtle down Highway 13, passing boarded-up service stations and abandoned farmhouses before crossing the sublime 20-mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the bustling naval port of Norfolk. But halfway down the highway is a small town with an Indian name, Nassawadox, which means “Between Two Waters”. Indeed, this narrow peninsula—10 miles wide at most—is flanked by the Chesapeake Bay to the West and the Atlantic Ocean to the East. Fields of corn and soybeans give way to forests of pine and hardwoods, then to bayside creeks, seaside marshes, and uninhabited barrier islands with pristine beaches. This is not the Hamptons; there is a rough, sobering reality to living among the hardscrabble watermen and farmers who have worked the sea and land for generations.

The three artists showing in the “Between Two Waters” exhibition chose to move to the Eastern Shore after successful careers in art-related fields in big cities like New York, Miami and San Francisco. Now each artist’s creativity is sublimely connected to his/her natural surroundings. Maurice, “Moe” Spector creates sculpture from wood and stone, capturing the essence of a shell, bird or female figure in sensuous, semi-abstracted forms.  Ann Hayden paints wry almost abstract images of birds that are hauntingly beautiful. Barnaby Conrad’s brightly-colored paintings of crabs, owls, and fig trees from his seaside farm vibrate with animist power.

We are all creatures of our environment and of our past experiences; thus I take a view informed by my background in Chinese art history.  Chinese artists believe that a successful landscape brushed in ink has the ability to transport the viewer out of their immediate, urban environment into the pristine wilderness of the painted scene.  In this spirit, M. Sutherland Fine Arts invites the viewer to whiff the salt air, hear the seabirds’ call and experience the primeval stillness of the Eastern Shore of Virginia when you visit the gallery. The show remains up through January 9, 2016.

 

 Exhibition Hours: Nov 11-14, 11am-5pm. Otherwise by appointment.

[TOP, Left] Barnaby Conrad, “Chinese Rooster” , 2015, Oil on canvas, 15 x 10 1/2 inches

[TOP, Middle] Moe Spector, “Cone Shell” , 2015, Marble and black walnut, 18 x 13 x 8 inches

[TOP, Right] Ann Hayden, “We Come from a Military Family”, 2015, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

Links:

Between Two Waters Exhibition

Moe Spector

Ann Hayden

Barnaby Conrad