Chen Jiang-Hong

(English)Chen Jiang-Hong Exhibition Press release

Opening reception in the presence of the artist： November 14 (Sat) 4:00pm – 6:00pm

Galerie Taménaga is pleased to present the seventh Chen Jiang-Hong Exhibition, held concurrently at our Tokyo and Osaka galleries. His first exhibition with the gallery since 2022 brings together approximately 70 new works created during two stays in Kyoto, in the summer of 2025 and the spring of 2026, each lasting around two months.

Born in Tianjin, China, in 1963, Chen Jiang-Hong studied traditional Chinese ink painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, one of China’s most prestigious art institutions. In 1987, he moved to Paris, where he studied oil painting at the École des Beaux-Arts. Now based in Paris, he has built an international career, exhibiting at galleries and art fairs around the world.

At the heart of Chen’s practice lies a sustained exploration of the harmony between East and West. Combining ink and oil painting with remarkable mastery, he has developed a singular artistic language that brings these seemingly distant worlds into dialogue. In this new body of work, his vibrant palette and vigorous brushwork achieve a heightened sense of dynamism and scale, revealing new dimensions of his expressive approach to painting.

The works presented here grew out of Chen’s profound explorations during his stays in Kyoto. Surrounded by temples, gardens and a rich artistic heritage, he found the city to be more than an encounter with Japan. There, he sensed the presence of ancient China, preserved, transformed and transmitted through Japanese culture. This gave him a rare opportunity to return to his own roots, reconnect with a deeper cultural and artistic memory, and look anew at classical Chinese painting, particularly its relationship to landscape, emptiness, space and time.

This engagement with the past, however, is neither a nostalgic return to tradition nor an exercise in classical imitation. Chen’s interest lies in how these time-honored ideas can enter his own contemporary experience and transform into new forms of artistic expression.