Liang Quan Chinese, b. 1948

Liang Quan (b. 1948, Shanghai) graduated from the Affiliated Middle School of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1968. In 1982, he received a MFA degree from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco (currently the Academy of Art University). Liang taught at the China Academy of Fine Arts after returning to China. He now lives and works in Shenzhen. When studying in the United States, Liang became interested in abstract paintings, including the works of Hans Hofmann and Jackson Pollock, as well as those of neo-expressionists. When creating his graduation piece Tribute to Tradition (1982), Liang collaged pieces of paper that had been torn, cut, and painted, juxtaposing abstract color blocks and figurative details. Liang usually creates his collage based on a drawing. In the process of collaging, Liang keeps adjusting his compositions till they reach a satisfactory visual effect, a working method the artist has maintained up to the present.

Around 2000, Liang Quan came across a wooden washboard that had been used by his grandmother. The visual similarity between the washboard and Chinese hanging scrolls inspired him to conceptualize the painting surface in a new manner. “The structure of a washboard is like a mounted painting. The upper and lower parts of a washboard are comparable to the silk brocades mounted above and below a painting; and the part in the middle of a washboard is just like a painting surface,” Liang once said. After 2000, Liang started to cut painted xuan paper into strips and pieces, which he than layers onto abstract compositions using traditional methods of mounting.

Liang Quan’s geometric division of space and luminous color blocks evince the influence of Richard Diebenkorn. Unlike Diebenkorn’s pieces, Liang’s works involve more numerous visual elements that generate complex spatial relationships. Diebenkorn’s paintings center on the interplay between architectural shapes and the light in California, where his studio is located, whereas Liang puts more emphasis on memories and emotions associated with a space. Even for works named after scenic spots, Liang establishes few direct connections between painting details and a specific place. Similar to Chinese literati painting, Liang’s works eschew visual verisimilitude in favor of subjective expression. He once explained: “I like abstract compositions, though the tone of my painting is figurative. My paintings present the rhythm of traditional landscape painting.” For Liang, both structural order and literati sentiments are essential for a painting.