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Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain

Gallery Exhibition/Event

The exhibition Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain celebrates Chinese New Year in conjunction with the San Francisco Chinese community, and showcases works of art by all the artists of Chinese descent at Creativity Explored while also celebrating their heritage.

February 18 through April 7, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

San Francisco, January 25, 2010—According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, the year 2010 is the year of the Tiger—one of the most energetic of the zodiac’s twelve animals. The exhibition Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain celebrates Chinese New Year in conjunction with the San Francisco Chinese community, and showcases works of art by all the artists of Chinese descent at Creativity Explored while also celebrating their heritage. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Chinese Culture Center has lent a red painted silk dragon’s head. Used for ceremonial purposes in Chinese New Year celebrations, this spectacular object will be placed in the window of the Creativity Explored gallery to herald the theme of the exhibition.

Says Ming Mur-Ray, artist, Creativity Explored instructor, and the curator of the exhibition, the title of the show derives from an aspect of Chinese American history. The early immigrants who arrived from China around the time of the California Gold Rush in search of both work and gold, called California “Gold Mountain” - 金 山, pinyin: Jin shan, also pronounced as Gum Shan. Today, within the Chinese community San Francisco is still referred to as the “Old Gold Mountain.”

The centerpiece of the exhibition is the remarkable work of Alan Ku. Says Mur-Ray, “I think of him as a savant because of the way that he draws from both the deep repository of Chinese art history and his own unconsciousness and personal heritage to create his powerful and highly individual art.” An example is a suite of four large-format oil pastel drawings of a tiger, a lion, a leopard, and an elephant that is based on 1000-year old documented Chinese New Year wood block prints. In these historic prints, images of the four animals, which are associated with gentleness, kindness, and luck, appear against a jet black background—a departure from the traditional red used for New Year prints—so that they would stand out in sharp relief in the dim interiors of the temples for which they were created. In Ku’s versions of these images, the vibrantly colored and beautifully executed animals seem both suspended in time and about to burst away from their black backgrounds.

Alan Ku also refers to Chinese art history and ancient cultural belief in his drawings of deities. An almost life-size pair of door gods, shown in full regalia, guards the entrance from the Creativity Explored gallery to the studio. Based on ancient works that Ku saw in a book of Chinese art history, the gods, which ward off evil spirits and attract good luck, are drawn in oil pastel on a hand-dyed deep red paper with gold flocking that is widely used by calligraphers to write auspicious words and greetings for the New Year. Explains Mur-Ray, “when I was recently in Hong Kong, I found this gorgeous paper, which is no longer made, in a store that sells items for rituals. It’s the perfect complement for Alan’s art and imagery.” In addition to the pair of deities, Ku has also used this sumptuous red paper for another, equally spectacular and compelling deity.

Deities also appear in a series by Ku that is based on his daily life experience. Their presence is startlingly juxtaposed with both the content and the style of the works on paper. In one example, a trio of fierce household deities, drawn in oil pastel with elaborate detail and coloration, appears within the context of an otherwise simply drawn pen and ink scene of a modern family having dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The smiling family members, who are oblivious to the deities, are seated at a table enjoying a meal. A large lobster tank occupies the right side of the background, while on the left, the three deities are crowded into what appears to be either a ceremonially draped doorway or a very large picture frame. The fact that the people and the deities are the same size and occupy the same spatial plane creates a humorous and slightly unsettling blend of reality and fantasy.

Just two examples of the other standout work on view in Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain include series by Cathy Tang and Andrew Li. Cathy Tang’s group of six elegant ink and watercolor images of animals is rendered on linen and wood panel. One of only two artists in the show who reads and writes in Chinese, Tang has laid down a beautiful background of Chinese characters written in perfect strokes, against which she then placed her animals. A number of the expressive creatures are from the Chinese zodiac, such as the monkey and the mythological Pixiu. The ninth son of the dragon, Pixiu protects one from evil and signifies the accumulation and the bringing of wealth. All of Tang’s drawings are based on works of art that are in museum collections in China.

Andrew Li, a native of Shanghai, has also incorporated Chinese characters in the series of drawings that he created in honor of the year of the Tiger. His lively and evocative pen and ink renderings of tigers on linen board bear his signature in both Chinese and in cursive script, as well as short blocks of characters that reveal cryptic thoughts on his subject. Li’s remarkable skill as a versatile draftsman is evident in these drawings, which capture the restless yet indolent nature of the tiger. His sketch-like images are beautifully punctuated and animated by the accidental drops of ink that fell from his pen and became an integral part of the compositions.

In addition, all the studio artists at Creativity Explored have been invited to create an image of a tiger for the exhibition. These varied interpretations of the animal will be displayed in the Creativity Explored studio on a wall that has been painted a ceremonial red for the occasion.

Calendar Listing

Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain

GROUP EXHIBITION AND OPENING: The exhibition Tiger Leaping Gold Mountain celebrates Chinese New Year in conjunction with the San Francisco Chinese community, and showcases works of art by all the artists of Chinese descent at Creativity Explored while also celebrating their heritage.

What

The title of the show derives from an aspect of Chinese American history. Early immigrants from China arrived around the time of the California Gold Rush, in search of both work and gold. These early immigrants called California “Gold Mountain” - 金 山, pinyin: Jin shan, also pronounced as Gum Shan. Today, within the Chinese community San Francisco is still referred to as the “Old Gold Mountain.”

When

• Opening Reception: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
• Exhibition Dates and Times: February 18 through April 7, 2010; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Thursday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Where

Creativity Explored Gallery, 3245 16th Street at Guerrero Street, San Francisco CA 94103 (Map)

Information

• (415) 863-2108
• www.creativityexplored.org

Cost

FREE

Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.

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Press Contacts

Barbara Traisman: publicity@creativityexplored.org
Amy Auerbach: (415) 863-2108 · gallery@creativityexplored.org
Amy Taub: (415) 863-2108 · director@creativityexplored.org

# Posted on January 26, 2010