A Concept Gallery Hong Kong presents STRANGE ROCKS IN THE CREEK, a solo exhibition of Taiwanese artist YU PENG. The exhibition features ten precious ink paintings by the eccentric artist. The exhibition will be from 24 March to 2 May 2020. Yu Peng is a representative figure in the history of contemporary ink painting in Taiwan. He was well known for his sketching of situational landscape paintings with white lines, both classical and modern. Known as the “Ancient Person of Today", Yu Peng’s paintings show a magnificently distinct style of Chinese ink painting perfectly reflecting his heroic spirit. Referencing the proportionate perspective skill of Western art, his works also displays an artistic charm in a delicate and rich way. In 1980, Yu Peng traveled to the United States and Europe, which inspired him to rethink the fundamentals of culture. In 1986, during a chance trip to China, his creations started a new period of ink painting that incorporated both past and present. In the 1990s, Yu once again traveled to China and completed his iconic works such as ‘Landscape of Lust Series’ including the 10 screens of the ‘Landscape Series’, the 4 scrolls of ‘Landscapes at Sea’, and the ‘Figure Series’. In the latter work, there are 300 characters interspersed across a garden landscape across a 13-meter-length paper metaphorically presenting people’s lives and deaths. Yu Peng once said, ‘it is essential for individuals to begin from life in order for art to return to life; subsequently, art will finally be congenial to people and the environment, and there will become a kind of commonality between life and art.’ Yu Peng’s exercise, understanding, and dissection of sketch lines are Western style, but the brush and China paper he used is Chinese classical. How to integrate both is actually a battle. What he created are contemporary scenario-like landscapes. He, himself, his relatives and friends have been drawn into the paintings. Some of them are fantasy transformation, but some are also reality. He seems to consciously wish to return to the ancient times, yet his true intention, ultimately, is just false utopian imagination.’ Yu’s unique new ink style is widely collected by major museums and art galleries around the world. The British Museum in the United Kingdom, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Harvard Art Museums, Hong Kong M+ Museum, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, amongst others.

---

NOTES TO EDITORS Yu Peng (1955-2014) was born in an area along Taipei’s Waishuang Creek, and passed away in Taipei in 2014. Compared to the people that suffered from separation and displacement back in the earlier era, whom Pai Hsien-Yung depicted in his novel, Taipei People, Yu grew up in the comparatively more stable post-war era. Yu’s lifelong art career could be divided into the following three stages: the early-stage from 1980 to 1997; the middle-stage from 1998 to 2004, and the late-stage from 2004 to 2014. Yu created mostly drawings and watercolor works in the early-stage, and besides stylistic influences from Chen Yi-Keng, Yu was also inspired by both Taiwanese and overseas artists that he had read about in magazines such as The Lion Art Monthly and Artist. During the middle-stage, he was invited by Cheng Tsai-Tung in 1997 to stay in Shanghai for three years. In addition to first-hand experience of the glamorous Shanghai, Yu also traveled through different parts of China, which inspired the depth and diverse features seen in his ink landscapes and paintings of people. Landscapes of Desire: Figure Series is an iconic series from this stage in Yu’s career. Yu began to suffer from medical conditions in 2005 till he passed away in 2014, but he still frequently traveled between China and Taiwan to partake in many art projects and exhibitions. Yu was well known for his ink paintings; however, his earlier sketches and pastel drawings also offer great insights on his masterful ink creations, as these earlier works reveal how he had successfully transformed the lines and strokes from Western drawings into the exciting ink expressions created later in his career. Yu’s oil paintings, prints, calligraphies, and hand-painted ceramic artworks are also innovative and highly unique.