PENG JIAN
Peng Jian depicts the books which are at the centre of our theme – what does art communicate about literature when the one depicts the other? Peng Jian’s paintings are bold in colour, and angular in line, channelling the force and tools of the ancient Chinese architectural discipline of jiehua. They reside in the fulcrum where contemporary expressiveness and traditional dexterity collide.
The paintings are open to manifold interpretations: books here becomes not necessarily repositories of information and content, but a 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 ordered settings, and also how age and experience augment the role of theoretical learning.
In the artist’s words: "I define different objects in a limited space. I do so not just to depict a specific image, but by harnessing symbolism, I wish to express the hidden, profound meaning."
Peng Jian was born in Yueyang, Hunan Province in 1982. 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.

彭劍，1982年生於中國湖南嶽陽。 2013年畢業於中國美術學院國畫系，獲碩士學位。現工作、生活於杭州。
彭劍的創作，將原本存在於客觀現實中的某些美好的面貌，隱藏在藝術形式裡面，給客觀現實注入了新的精神意蘊，醞釀出一種美好的氛圍或狀態。對此，彭劍曾經說過：“在有限的空間內定義不同的對象，我不僅是為了描繪一個特定的形象，更重要的是希望以像徵手法來表達隱藏而有深度的意義。”他通過隱喻的方式將自身的主觀意願投射到了客觀現實中去，而這種客觀現實又是作者主觀構建的一個新時空——我們現實世界裡熟知的魔方、積木、不同顏色的球體——在這裡所有的事物都超越了本來的物性，呈現出人性的意義。

如此這般，經由創作而出色彩看起來真實而又純粹。但又不拘於對象之中，似乎懸浮在對象之上，讓色彩看起來有了無定形的主觀姿態。