Kong Jinghai

Background

Kong Jinghai was born in 1965 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

Education

A Hai Kong graduated from the Chinese Painting Arts Department of Nanjing University of The Arts in 1989.

Career

A Hai is a painter who weaves together the sense of nothingness within contemporary individuals with the deep-rooted traditions of Chinese art.

A Hai’s work is characteristic of the poetic and calligraphic qualities of Chinese traditional painting, albeit with a contemporary metaphorical outlook. During his process, A Hai attempts to ignore time and spatial realities by using staining or smudging techniques. In a sense, this technique serves as an attempt to mask the artist’s projected emotions, but simultaneously demonstrates that these feelings remain even if they are altered. In his most recent works, A Hai integrates the past with modern society, adding hints of recollection or memory to the individual figures he paints.

A Hai currently works and lives in Shanghai.

Achievements

• A Hai has held several solo exhibitions across Greater China and Germany since 2008. His work has been featured in multiple exhibitions since 2011, predominantly in the Greater China region, and with international shows taking place at Art Gate Gallery (Venice) and Permanence Gallery (Elsa Finn Fort, Germany). His work has been featured in two international tours across Australia, United States, China, Canada, United Kingdom, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Clam

  • Yin and yang be one

  • Smoke pool

  • Swaying

  • Evergreen marsh

  • Broad sand

  • Song of triumph

  • Light and beautiful

  • Desolate

  • In the setting sun

  • Seek Yingying

  • Leisurely

  • Calling bamboo

  • Wind in the sky

  • Far sound

  • Error No.1

  • Roaming heart

  • Fruit of Buddha

  • Royal wind

  • Intoxicated autumn without dream

Views

Quotations: "The professor used to tell us to apply white pigments dozens of times to the rice paper in order to achieve the right shade of color. Every time we had to wait until the color dried before applying a new layer. I was lazy and decided to find another way of doing things."

"I like to struggle with my paintings. I often don't know when a piece of work is complete."

Connections

Cousin:

Bai Yunli