Hanart TZ Gallery is proud to present The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, Paintings by Cao Xiaoyang debut solo exhibition in Hong Kong, opening on 18 July till 16 August, 2014, showcasing set of 24 charcoal on papers from the series. Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, he has held the master of Arts from the Print-making Department and is currently the Head of The Foundation Studies Branch of the China Academy of Art. Cao’s debut solo show at Hanart TZ Gallery is curated by Professor Gao Shiming, Director of the School on Intermedia Art, China Academy of Art.

Xiaoyang has devoted himself exclusively to shanshui (Literally, ‘mountains and water’; the Chinese concept of brush-and-ink landscape painting) art for over ten years. And through all these years, each time Xiaoyang paints, it seems that he is seeking to evoke the archetypal shanshui scroll: the scroll that has endured through thousands of years, through the ravages of time, the invasions of insects, the turmoil of war, and that retains faint, misty traces still discernible on its surface. The scroll, in itself, is shanshui.

When sketching in nature, the artist stands amidst the mountains. When painting in the studio, the scenery reappears in the artist’s mind, and materializes through the movements of his body: the painter and his subject matter become as one, bonded together in a process of mutual cultivation, like polishing a piece of jade.

Excerpted from Sharing Silent Secrets: Cao Xiaoyang’s Way of Shanshui , Gao Shiming

Tradition can also confuse people. Those who have seen Cao’s work often willstart talking about the classical elegance of Song-dynasty shanshui paintings and mourn the loss of the ancient methods. Painters think about this too; it is an inescapable question. However, artists still must paint; and thus they must seek out the traditions that exist within their own minds and hearts, and harness the inner wellspring that connects them to the dao of Nature. These shanshui must be his own shanshui, must be his own tradition, must be his own self: his own present, in this moment and as it begins to move into the past.

Excerpted from Shanshui: A View: An Appreciation of Cao Xiaoyang’s Art, Sun Shanchun