Dallas Design District Gallery, Laura Rathe Fine Art, announces a highly anticipated solo exhibition ‘In Full Bloom’, featuring new works by internationally acclaimed artist, Zhuang Hong Yi. LRFA will be hosting the opening reception on Saturday, September 8th from 6:00-8:30pm with artist talk at 7pm moderated by gallery owner, Laura Rathe.
Brilliantly colorful and richly textured, the work of Zhuang Hong Yi has a powerful yet elegant presence. While flying between his hometown of Beijing and Holland, Zhuang was inspired by the breathtaking colors that shifted in the flower fields below. He then recreated this experience into what he is now most notably known for: his Flowerbed paintings. Zhuang uses delicate rice paper that he painstakingly paints and folds into hundreds of tiny flower buds. He then embeds them into the canvas, as if he has just planted a garden in bloom. The artist densely gathers these elements into dazzling three-dimensional constructions with the colors continuously undulating, depending on the viewer’s distance and perspective.
LRFA will also be exhibiting Zhuang’s new Landscape paintings, in which rice paper is still a highlighted component, but this time it is assembled with a heavily sculpted and gestural acrylic impasto. The seamless and graceful blend of Chinese and Western cultural influences in Zhuang Hong Yi’s work reflects his upbringing and education in China followed by years of being immersed in the European experience.
‘In Full Bloom’ will be on display through October 6th, 2018.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in 1962 in Sichuan, China, and based in Beijing and The Netherlands, artist Zhuang Hong Yi draws influence from both his native China and his experiences living part-time in Western Europe since the early 1990s. Zhuang Hong Yi masterfully works in a variety of media, often blending elements of painting, collage, and sculpture into bold series of works that defy traditional categories.
The work of Zhuang Hong Yi has been collected and exhibited worldwide in such countries as Belgium, England, Italy, Germany, Spain, and France. A graduate of the Sichuan College of Fine Arts, Zhuang Hong Yi has also been the subject of multiple museum exhibitions including at the Found Museum in Beijing, China, and the Groninger Museum, the Stadsmuseum Zoetermeer, and the Stedelijk Museum Zwolle in The Netherlands.
ABOUT LAURA RATHE FINE ART
With over 25 years’ experience in the industry, gallery owner, Laura Rathe, started her career working as a private art dealer before establishing Laura Rathe Fine Art (LRFA) in 1998 in Houston, Texas. LRFA now operates out of two locations in Houston and a third gallery in Dallas on Dragon Street, the city’s premiere arts district destination. Since the gallery’s inception, LRFA has established itself as a leading contemporary art venue, offering an impressive range of exhibitions and programming to its patrons in both cities.
LRFA represents a dynamic roster of established and mid-career contemporary artists working in a variety of media, many of whom have been acquired into world-renowned private, corporate, and museum collections. Various clientele include BBVA Compass, HKS Architects, Wells Fargo, W Hotels, UT Southwestern, and Halliburton. LRFA also participates in a number of prominent art fairs including CONTEXT Art Miami, Art Southampton, Art Wynwood, the Houston Fine Art Fair, Texas Contemporary, and the Dallas Art Fair.