Maximalism in Contrasts, an exhibition curated by Gao Minglu just opened at Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai. Gao has curated many important exhibitions in U.S. and China including the China/Avant-Garde exhibition (1989) and Inside out: New Chinese Art (1998) and this exhibition features works by Zhu Jinshi, Zhang Yu, Lei Hong and He Xiangyu. The focus of the exhibition is Maximalism, the philosophical core of Chinese abstract art. Maximalism places an emphasis on the spiritual experience of the artist in the process of creation. Its primary objective is to question and overthrow assumptions about the meaning of art. In Maximalist theory, the meaning of a painting is not expressed by its surface or subject matter, but comes from a dialogue between the artist and the material object, a response to the rapidly changing material world. While the work in the exhibition is similar in appearance to modern or conceptual art, it has a different theoretical foundation. Most Maximalist artists consider their work to be incomplete and fragmented records of daily meditation. They do not adhere to compositional principles or ideas; their art is natural, repetitious and fragmentary. Zhu Jinshi’s installation “Soaking” is a metal container full with ink and xuan paper.
The paper is placed half in the ink and half above the ink. The top part of the paper will gradually turn dark giving the audience a chance to observe the process of painting without human involvement. In addition, there are also few of Zhu’s abstract painting in the exhibition, which have his diary and notes on the back. Zhang Yu’s uses random fingerprints to make “ink paintings” on scrolls. By turning a symbol of human identification into a repetitious “abstract” mark, the fingerprints lose their traditional symbolic meaning.
Maximalism in Contrasts, an exhibition curated by Gao Minglu just opened at Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai. Gao has curated many important exhibitions in U.S. and China including the China/Avant-Garde exhibition (1989) and Inside out: New Chinese Art (1998) and this exhibition features works by Zhu Jinshi, Zhang Yu, Lei Hong and He Xiangyu. The focus of the exhibition is Maximalism, the philosophical core of Chinese abstract art. Maximalism places an emphasis on the spiritual experience of the artist in the process of creation. Its primary objective is to question and overthrow assumptions about the meaning of art. In Maximalist theory, the meaning of a painting is not expressed by its surface or subject matter, but comes from a dialogue between the artist and the material object, a response to the rapidly changing material world. While the work in the exhibition is similar in appearance to modern or conceptual art, it has a different theoretical foundation. Most Maximalist artists consider their work to be incomplete and fragmented records of daily meditation. They do not adhere to compositional principles or ideas; their art is natural, repetitious and fragmentary. Zhu Jinshi’s installation “Soaking” is a metal container full with ink and xuan paper. 
The paper is placed half in the ink and half above the ink. The top part of the paper will gradually turn dark giving the audience a chance to observe the process of painting without human involvement. In addition, there are also few of Zhu’s abstract painting in the exhibition, which have his diary and notes on the back. Zhang Yu’s uses random fingerprints to make “ink paintings” on scrolls. By turning a symbol of human identification into a repetitious “abstract” mark, the fingerprints lose their traditional symbolic meaning.