ANDREW LUI1

ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI

PILGRIM PROGRESS

For thirty odd years, I have earnestly toiled in my artistic pursuit, progressing from resolute to probable; from absolute to relative; from conceptual to reflecting life and from trendy to cognitive. Somewhat bewildered and not learning much along the way, I have now reached the crossroad of post-modernity.Experiences, to me, are the moments of self-inflicted happiness from the ups and downs in life. In recent years, I have indulged myself in depicting the melancholy as well as the exhilaration of voyageurs on the move. They can be the lasting regrets of the Roman cavalries as described by Paolo Uccello or the disillusions of the Crusaders travelling on their never-ending journey….horses and pilgrims self-professing a shared common destiny: men and horses; misery and bliss, life and death, and the perpetual interplay of between emptiness and fulfilment. I must confess that I am addicted to this temporal yet virtual relationship to life and aesthetic standard….

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The confrontation between the eastern and western civilizations; the expansive nature of Judeo-Christian civilization and the intrinsic fermentation of the Chinese Confucian-Buddhist civilization, I count myself blessed to be able to live in such a niche. Since the Renaissance period, humanistic values have been advocated by both the eastern and western aesthetics. These combine with the evolution of the post-modernistic language as well as the non-secular yet subversive elements in the Ming-Qing paintings have provided unlimited rumination and struggle for my artistic creations.Pilgrimage is virtual in nature. The scene is a fictitious set-up and the space seems to be ready for staging an opera from olden days. The only real elements are the sorrows and joys of living, the comings and goings of the actors as well as the ups and downs in life.

Andrew Lui (Translation: Richard Yiu)

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LIST OF PAINTINGS

(medium: Acrylic on rice paper, mounted on board)

1. Woven journey I, 2009, 66” x 84” (diptych)2. Woven journey III, 2009, 70” x 38”3. Pilgrimage VIII, 2007, 70” x 38” 4. La melodie en violet, 2009, 37” x 37”5. Woven journey IV, 2009, 70” x 38”6. Cantabile IV, 2007, 64” x 33”

7. Woven journey V, 2009, 70” x 38”8. Cantabile V, 2007, 64” x 33” 9. Cantabile VI, 2007, 64” x 33”10. Cantabile VII, 2007, 64” x 33”11. Woven journey VI, 2009, 70” x 38”12. Cantabile VIII, 2007, 64” x 33”13. Cantabile I, 2007, 70” x 38”14. Cantabile II, 2007, 70” x 38”15. Opéra rouge, 2009, 70” x 37”

ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI

REPRESENTING GALLERIES:

Han Art, Montréal, Québec, Canadawww.hanartgallery.comOeno Gallery, Bloomfield, Ontario, Canadawww.oenogallery.comArt Beatus, Hong Kong & Vancouver, Canadawww.artbeatus.com

Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho, USAwww.gallerydenovo.comRenee George Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USAwww.reneegeorgegallery.comHillcrest Galleries, Clearwater, Florida, USA www.hillcrestgalleries.com

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THE PILGRIMAGE CONTINUES

Tradition and Discipline below, Clarity and Vision above. Describing Andrew Lui’s creative process is like taking a page from the I Ching. For it is more Chinese philosophy than the vast artistic tradition of that culture that imbues his paintings.Sparse and strikingly contemporary, Lui’s compositions proclaim their own visual territory while his brushstroke harks at the fluidity of eastern calligraphy.Admittedly at “the crossroads of post-modernity”, he has found his own voice, and from the plethora of personal and artistic experiences produced a series of works that opt for the lyrical and the aesthetic.Having honed his art over three decades, he is in a new

phase, and while the pilgrimage continues uninterrupted, the pilgrim has changed.Highly sensitive, and enamoured of quality, this artist has no trouble attracting collectors. His acrylic and ink on rice paper paintings are unusually accessible while remaining of the highest artistic calibre.Forever the humanist, Lui has not lost his interest in higher ideals, and the duality that lives in all things continues to be present in his paintings.Whether it is the dialogue between east and west, or between anguish and bliss, the artist’s internal confrontation expresses itself on canvas in images of profound sensibility and mastery of plastic demands.Like most artists fascinated with the passage of time, Lui’s choice of title for his series is self-explanatory. We are witnessing emotions in movement, fleeting before our eyes in a colourful parade of oblique forms, at once animal and alien. And there is no point seeking references to other artists and styles, for having absorbed it all, Lui is in full command of his own unique visual lexicon.His eponymous Pilgrimage I leads as it were into the series, a horizontal composition dominated by a stylized turquoise horse and rider in the company of earthy abstracted forms. A perfectly composed visual discourse

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ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI

message, perhaps a longing for union.In Triumph, what we feel is in fact what we see: a joyous swirl of movement, a vertical explosion of pure colour, and all held in check by a delicate network of lines, the artist’s indelible imprint.Lui’s true sophistication shines through most, however, in his abstracted paintings, compositions that entrance and soothe. With poetic titles like Graphia Mongolia, Spring Rain and Woven Love, they invite the viewer into a realm where the delicacy of gesture embraces the strength of vision.These works speak in a soft yet decisive voice, they weave a unique tapestry where light and shadow follow the brushstroke in quiet unison.To the untrained eye, Lui’s canvas is a dance of shapes and colour, a concerto in subtle tones, engaging the visual senses in a poetic seduction.But deeper, beyond the prancing horses and sensuously entangled forms, behind the palette of turquoise and ochre lays the emotional world of Andrew Lui. A landscape marked by both suffering and ecstasy, and infused with a profound understanding of the human experience. Dorota Kozinska

is taking place between the lines and strokes of colour, a signature found in all of Lui’s works.This harmony amid chaos also marks the painting titled East, West which picks up the visual equestrian theme but breaks the composition into two without actually splitting the image. A subtle tension underlies this otherwise colourful picture, a deeper

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ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI

HAN ART4209 RUE STE-CATHERINE OUEST, WESTMOUNT (MONTRÉAL), QC, CANADA H3Z 1P6

T: 514.876.9278 WWW.HANARTGALLERY.COM

All rights reserved © Andrew Lui, Han Art (6440622 Canada Inc.) ISBN 978-2-9806996-4-1

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ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI . ANDREW LUI