Pan Jian 潘剑

Rising star Pan Jian is a young and dedicated artist who is rapidly gaining international recognition thanks to subtle and mysterious paintings. His work is included in numerous prominent collections such as The Uli Sigg Collection, The DSL Collection and The Yuz Collection by Budi Tek, amongst others. In 2013 Pan Jian’s works were displayed in An Exhibition of the Treasured Collections of the Today Art Museum alongside renowned contemporary Chinese artists Yue Minjun and Fang Lijun.

Pan Jian’s night-time landscapes present a new generation of contemporary Chinese artists. Born in the 1970s, his individualised style and concept derives from his own personal emotion rather than collective thinking driven by socio-political matters. The artist delves into the forefront of the unknown, creating a poetic world on canvas or paper. He explores uninhabited deep forests through calm and intricate brushstrokes. His palette ranges between muted dark blues, greys and blacks, conveying abstraction at a first glance. However when your eyes adjust, nocturnal landscapes slowly emerge.

Deliberately eschewing bright colours like the ancient traditional Chinese landscape painters, who regarded this as a distraction for the mind, Pan Jian’s natural visions are both real and symbolic. They convey a sense of magic and melancholy, leading the viewer wandering between dim silhouettes and silent shades.

Pan Jian graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Xi’an Academy of Fine Art where he is now a teacher. He lives and works between Beijing and Xian.