Join us at the gallery for an art talk by Cai Xi.

A journey from China to United States

Cai Xi highlights three generations of artists. Her great-grandfather, a late Qing dynasty governor of Zhejiang province, was a traditional Chinese painter, poet and calligrapher. Her father was a stage designer in Communist China. Cai was in the first generation of art students when universities in China reopened after The Cultural Revolution. Her work traces a path from Sichuan Style in the late '70s with a palette of intermingling hues that echo the surrounding environment, and the Shanghai style of the '80s with color used straight from the tube, with bold and loose strokes, to the present day through her landscape and abstraction. In early teens in the '70s, Cai studied under her father. An essential lesson was given to draw an egg 100 times, the result being 100 differences in emotional subtlety. Cai's meticulous studies had a realistic approach to the characteristics of the object and the relationship between light, shadow and surroundings. Through magazine pictures Cai had a glance at Impressionism and German Expressionism which opened her imagination in spite of no exposure yet to abstraction. Arriving in New York in 1987, Cai embraced the idea that art is possible everywhere and in everything.

“In the 90s, I derived inspiration from cement sidewalks, the subway walls and weathered buildings. Everywhere I went, I kept discovering painting in my surroundings. Surface andtexture have been self-renewing areas of exploration. My mother's principle of Tong 通 - 'GoingThrough' - led to a greater transformation that is present with me. The Edge series is an experience of stepping into and out of myself. I was painting as a cement worker or as a cleaner, using trowels and brooms, as if I was leaping, jumping, reaching, and stretching across the canvas. The Wu Ji (Infinity Within) series attunes to the concept of qi-yun ‘flow of energy into balance’ which is not just movement but also related to the vitalityof the state of stillness, the interaction of the painting medium, the forms depicted and the painting surface. Calligraphy and Not-calligraphy at the same time. “To me, Art is about Paradox: appearance-disappearance, nothingness-wholeness, chaos-groundedness, emptiness-substance, movement-fixity. This is Tao. That is being in the present. I appreciate the 17th century Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting views that painting is not a profession but an extension of the art of living. Since 2001 living in Vermont, inspired by the majestic landscape, My Earth & Sky series is in homage to Mother Nature's teachings. I have come to realize that my ego and style are not important. I just stop, listen and contemplate Nature as I am painting."- Cai Xi