Lianjie Zheng + Inter/national Contemporaries—Moberg Galley
Friday, April 26 through Saturday, June 15, 2019 | Media contact: Ryan Mullin (515) 279-9191 ryan@moberggallery.com
An exhibit of works by internationally-renowned artist Lianjie Zheng opens at Moberg Gallery on Friday, April 26th. Alongside Zheng’s insightful paintings, work by the following artists will be shown: Georgi Andonov; Carolina Sardi; Mariela Yeregui; Goizane Esain; Antwaine Clarke; Annick Ibsen; Juan Arreaza; and 2018-19 Pollock-Krasner Grant recipient, Tibi Chelcea.
Multidisciplinary and genre-spanning, Lianjie Zheng’s work falls into or straddles the categories of photography, performance art, video, calligraphy, installation, and contemporary ink painting. Zheng’s early life in China—experiencing the Cultural Revolution, traditional ink painting and calligraphy—melded with the cultural translocation of later moving to New York City, lends to the integration that takes place in his work. In 1986, Zheng founded one of the earliest painting schools in Beijing, the Beijing Earth Calligraphy and Painting Art School. And after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he became more engaged with art that resisted the traditional and conservative artistic languages in use then. In 1996, Zheng immigrated to New York City, where he continued investigating the experimental in calligraphy and ink painting. Between 2004 and 2008, he returned to China annually to make a pilgrimage to the holy Taoist Mount Hua, a sacred mountain in Shaanxi province. This experience changed his artistic philosophy and approach, which is evident in his paintings. Zheng has exhibited worldwide, and has lectured at prestigious institutions, including Harvard and Columbia Universities. His work can be found in numerous museum, university, and private collections. In 2012, Zheng was named United Nations Messenger of Peace, in Linzhou, China, acknowledging his arts practice as bringing attention to the work of the United Nations. Other works by Zheng will be on view concurrently with this exhibit: at Cleveland State University and Lyman Allan Art Museum, in New London, CT.
Bulgarian artist, Georgi Andonov, believes that “art should express beauty and joy.” Andonov works in many mediums and genres, and his paintings draw from the inclination to nostalgia. Working with deference to the masters, he creates paintings that are strikingly contemporary, though without specific timely references. Andonov graduated from the National Art Academy in 1990. He has managed an owned galleries in Beirut, Lebanon, and has exhibited extensively in Bulgaria, where he’s resided since 2006. He has also exhibited in London, Dubai, Greece, Prague, Berlin, Istanbul, Vienna, and Los Angeles. In addition to his work as an artist, Andonov is passionate about his work with Contemporary Art Society, bringing art to a wider audience, in partnership with Art Contemporian/Fadi Mogabgab Gallery (Beirut), the latter with which Andonov has been associated since 1998.
Miami-based Argentinian sculptor Carolina Sardi’s wall and hanging sculptures incorporate space as its own medium. Sardi earned a Masters in Sculpture from the National University of La Plata, Argentina, where she also studied architecture and urbanism. This combination of studies is evident in each of her pieces, as well as in her frequent material of choice: painted steel. The simplicity of form and vibrancy of color allow the repetition she employs and her echoes of the natural world to visually reverberate. She has had solo gallery and museum exhibitions worldwide, including: Miami, Dallas, Paris, London, New Orleans, New York, and Washington, DC. She has also shown in international art fairs, such as: Art LA, Art Shanghai, Art DC, Miart Milan, Ela Asia Taipei, Diva New York, Scope London & Miami, Bridge Art Fair London and Miami, Art Miami, Arteamericas Miami, Palm Beach Contemporary, Art Santa Fe, Art Brussels, Affordable Art Fair New York, and Art Elysees Paris. Sardi’s works are held by private, public and corporate collectors in the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Senegal, and South Africa.
Mariela Yeregui is a multi-media artist, educator and filmmaker, who works primarily in the electronic arts, including interactive installations, video installations, net art, public space interventions, video-sculptures, and robotic installations. She is founder and director of the Master in Technology and Aesthetics of Electronic Arts at the National University of Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Yeregui is philosophically and socially engaged with technology as it interacts with and affects human experience. She’s the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes, such as First Prize in BEEP_Art (Barcelona, 2003), First Prize at National Salon of Visual Arts (2005), and First Prize Museum of Modern Art and Telefonica (2004). Yeregui has a Bachelor degree in Arts (University of Buenos Aires); graduated from the school of the National Institute of Cinematography; holds a Master degree in Literature (Université Nationale de Côte d’Ivoire) with a specialization in African literature; and earned a PhD in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought from the European Graduate School (Saas-Fee, Switzerland). She was artist in residence at the Hypermedia Studio (University of California-Los Angeles), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the MECAD (Media Centre d’Art i Disseny – Barcelona, Spain), and the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen (Germany).
Moberg Gallery is delighted to show such prominent luminaries from around the globe. This exhibition embraces philosophies and art from east and west, north and south. Help us welcome these artists and their work, and in doing so, celebrate Des Moines as the center that it is. Opening Reception: Friday, April 26. Runs through Saturday, June 15, 2019.
