This year marks the 15th anniversary of Soka Art Beijing. The director of the gallery, Mr. Xiao Fuyuan, had walked this long path by himself.  Relying on his willpower alone, he established Soka as a renowned brand throughout Beijing, Taipei, and Tainan. Soka Beijing is an important stronghold he developed through patience and hard work. When Soka arrived in Beijing 15 years ago, there were only 2 foreign-owned galleries in the city; this undoubtedly has allowed Soka to witness the development of China galleries over these years as well as the growth of the Chinese contemporary art market. Over the past 15 years, we have been cataloguing and managing the works of first generation oil-painters, such as Li Tiefu, Lin Fengmian, Yan Wenliang, Xu Beihong, Zhou Bichu, Dai Bingxin, etc., in our commitment to uncovering and promoting works with potential by outstanding Asian contemporary artists. Today, Soka does not follow trends nor  randomly gathers art pieces we discreetly dig up from the art field. Our dedication to quality and strong principles deepen the long-term cooperation with our recognized artists; we have been collaborating with Hong Ling for 17 years, Mao Xuhui for 8 years, and Zhao Bo for 5 years. During our course of collaboration, Soka professionally focuses its efforts on promoting the artist’s position in art history.

During an interview, gallery director Xiao Fuyuan said: “Even if my mindset is deeply rooted in Chinese culture, I like it when an artist borrows materials from the West, such as oil painting. Oil painting was originally a Western technique.  A lot of sculpting techniques also come from the West. However, I dare say that the medium is actually not important anymore. What’s more important is the way of thinking. I particularly like Eastern thinking, particularly concepts from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. So, I wish for my artists to have Eastern roots yet borrow Western media for their creations. In this way, their works do not end up becoming a complete  imitation of others. The biggest problem of Chinese contemporary artists these days is that they have no roots. They doesn’t know where their roots lie.  They blindly think that all things from the West are good, so they just westernize all their creations.  This is how it is now.”Under the guidance and leadership of Xiao Fuyuan, Soka Beijing has overcome many difficult challenges over the past 15 years.

For the 15th anniversary of Soka Beijing, we selected 6 particularly representative artists who embody an “Eastern Culture Spirit”: Liang Quan (1940s), Hong Ling (1950s), Moon Bong-Sun (1960s), Zeng Jianyong and Tan Jun (1970s), and Wang Mengsha (1980s).  This event attempts to explore different art styles through the works of these 6 artists from different eras, outlining the constantly developing, diverse, and three-dimensional appearances of contemporary Eastern ink-wash painting.