The eastern world has been sensitive to the concept of dan 淡 (the lightness of a painting’s color. The name, “fade”, is inspired from fadeur in French art) and gone so far as to bestow it with an abstract structure. Though devoid of direct echoes and attention from viewers, the art concept is concrete: relative with the denseness of colors, it is characterized by clarity and originality in a non-solemn way. It exchanges the guiding and arousing effects for viewers’ focus on the natural presentation of the objects in paintings. Comprised of the dialectical relationship between “tough” and “gentle”, the concept serves as a link between the finite and the infinite and eventually merges into the tangible material and intangible ideology of paintings. Therefore, dan, the eastern fade, is not only a visual expression but also a symbol of ideal and wisdom of the literati in Chinese landscape paintings. 

This exhibition is honored to invite eight artists, including Chen Shuxia, Wang Shaoqiang, Zeng Jianyong, Peng Wei, Wang Muyuu, Hang Chunhui, Kang Haitao, and Huang Yishan, all of whom will interpret the eastern fade via the application of different media and materials as well as their unique way of expression. Their interpretations range from highlighting the subtle elegance of colors as well as utilizing transparent and flowing colors, to turning the common forms and narrative delicate and novel, and to constructing unadorned but intriguing imagery through abstract forms by minimizing the focus on connotations. As the concept is both the origin and the destination of all, it makes the balance shown in paintings possible and facilitates the normal functioning of their internal logics. Instead of implying deficiency, it tells the truth about naturality: all things are created by fade.