Winter Group Exhibition

Art Beatus (Vancouver) Consultancy Ltd is pleased to present a special holiday selection of gallery artists’ works in Winter Group Exhibition. The work of Cheung Yee has a visual language inspired by prehistoric Chinese culture that is synthesized with a contemporary aesthetic. His paper cast pieces have a sculptural tactility of which he describes, “I wanted to be able to feel the surface of the work like the embossed surfaces of cakes made specially for Chinese New Year.”¹ The materiality of Hiroshi Hara’s work is also of great importance as the he not only paints layers of diluted, transparent ink on Washi – Japanese handmade paper with a well-established history and tradition – he also makes Washi himself. With a deep respect and appreciation for this material, Hara comments, “Washi has its own beauty…Washi, itself is an artist and I, myself produce works from the result of collaboration with Washi.” While looking for peace and tranquility in response to memories of his underprivileged and harsh childhood, Li Yibing created the Meditation series. As part of the series, the Meditation Miniatures Set is a trio of small figurines of humorously blithe characters the artist calls “Chubby Buddies” which are imbued with blissful visages and amusing, carefree poses meant to elicit a sense of felicity and lightness of being. The Chinese ink paintings by Water Poon depict the quietly beautiful landscape of Guilan in China. These works have clusters of tiny, far away buildings amidst ubiquitous blue washes of colour with a singular red dot sun – sparse elements that create a meditative image with slightly ambiguous landscapes. Using Chinese ink on Xuan paper (Chinese rice paper), Ban Wei creates striking monochrome life drawings/paintings with an elegant mixture of abstract gestural and measured empiricism. With regards to his work, he succinctly sums up, “My artworks will silently speak for themselves.”

¹ Findlay, Ian. ”From Tradition and the Natural World.” World Sculpture News. 2002: 31. Print.

About the Artists

An established artist and sculptor, Cheung Yee was born in 1936 in Guangzhou, China. Yee has worked as an artist for several decades in various media such as paper casting, sculpture and printmaking and has also lectured at various universities. He has exhibited in numerous exhibitions and his work can be found in various public and private collections throughout the world.

Born in Takamatus Kagawa, Japan in 1956, Hiroshi Hara has had a passion for Washi since childhood when his family moved to a city called Iyo Mishima where they lived next door to a workplace that produced handmade Washi. Hara has been exhibiting his work in Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Europe.

Li Yibing was born in 1966 in Handan in the Chinese province of Hebei and has been living and working in Song Zhang, an artists’ enclave in the suburbs of Beijing, since 2006. Li Yibing has been exhibiting throughout Asia and his work has been collected by private collectors in Asia, Europe and North America.

Constantly travelling between Vancouver and Hong Kong, Water Poon is a very prolific artist who is also a photographer, writer, designer and film director. Born in 1944 in Nanhai, China, Poon has been in numerous exhibitions throughout Asia and North America as well as being a recipient of several awards throughout his career.

Originally from Hong Kong, Ban Wei was born in 1963 and moved to Canada in 1992. An accomplished painter, printmaker and ceramicist, Ban Wei is also an ambidextrous artist who uses both left and right hands when painting. His works have been exhibited locally and internationally.

For more information, please visit our website at www.artbeatus.com or call the gallery at 1 (604) 688-2633.