Courtesy Alisan Fine Arts New York
Chinyee: Enraptured By Color
September 5 – October 26, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, Sept 5, 2024, 6-8pm
Curator Conversation: Saturday, Sept 7, 2024 , 2-4pm (kindly RSVP to [email protected])
120 East 65th Street
Join Alisan Fine Arts this week as they present their fifth solo exhibition by the late Chinese American artist Chinyee (b. 1929 Nanjing, China). This will be the first solo exhibition of her work since she passed away last June. Chinyee’s work, often been described as “Lyrical Abstraction,” is permeated with influences from both East and West. Her loose, unformulated brushstrokes reflect both Asian brush techniques and years of careful study of modern abstraction. The symphonic, colorful, and optimistic aura of her works is edged with dynamism.
Anchoring the exhibition will be a selection of works from the 1960s, two of which were recently part of the critically acclaimed exhibition Action / Gesture / Paint: a global story of women and abstraction 1940-70, exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery in the UK, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, France, and Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany. Showing alongside paintings by Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler and Elaine deKooning, Chinyee’s A Touch of Red and Solitude No. 2 were part of a long overdue survey of female abstract painters, most of whom were overlooked in the decades that were dominated by the New York school artists. The exhibition also includes a selection of Chinyee’s works from the 1980s through 2018, both on canvas and on paper, many of them being exhibited for the first time.
“Painting to me is a process of discovering, shaping and reshaping my inner being. I work spontaneously – starting with a line or a dot, similar to Chinese calligraphy… then I let the drama begin to develop among the colours and lines under my subconscious control. I seek in my work rhythm, harmony among conflicts, lines with energy, and even surprise. I chose to do abstract painting… the language utters energetic rhythm, subconscious cries, and subtle poems.” ~ Chinyee, 2018
Enraptured By Color coincides with the exhibition Asian American Abstraction: Historic to Contemporary at Hollis Taggart, which includes 3 paintings by Chinyee and is curated by Jeffery Wechsler, previously the Senior Curator of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.
In addition to their opening reception, Alisan Fine Arts will be hosting a curator conversation with Jeffrey Weshler and Chinyee’s son, Andy Sung on Saturday, September 7th to discuss the artist’s life and career. RSVP is requested through [email protected].
To learn more, click here.