Peng Jian was born in Yueyang, Hunan Province in 1982. His father was an engineer, so he grew up surrounded by minutely planned and highly complex architectural renderings which simultaneously...
Peng Jian was born in Yueyang, Hunan Province in 1982. His father was an engineer, so he grew up surrounded by minutely planned and highly complex architectural renderings which simultaneously ignited an interest in art and a respect for line. He graduated with a MFA from China Academy of Art at Hangzhou in 2013, where he still works and lives, with his wife, artist Pan Wenxun, and their young son.
Peng Jian’s paintings are bold in colour, and angular in line, channelling the force of the ancient Chinese architectural discipline of jiehua. The artist harnesses the ruler tools that were used to bring buildings to life in imperial times. Peng Jian’s paintings rejoice in the angularity of books, and Rubik’s Cubes. The paintings are open to manifold interpretations: the cube may be seen, less as a symbol of the 1980s when Peng was born, and more as the visual embodiment of the ordered grid with bold colours in unexpected combinations, controlled and yet somehow unpredictable. Wear and tear on the books may reflect the randomness that creeps into the most ordered of settings, and also how age and experience complement and realize the role of theoretical learning.
His paintings are complex and yet simple, historically inspired, yet deeply modern. His style flects the invisible thread which links geometric abstraction of the turn of the 20thCentury to today. In the words of prominent artist Xu Lei: “Geometric Absraction is the most characteristic expression of modern art... Peng’s works echo the revival of such a style in contemporary art.” And, as international art critic, Barbara Pollack, remarks: “Peng Jian manages to harmonize several different strains of art within his paintings because he is thoroughly educated in the history of each his influences.