Van Cleve Fine Art - Representing the Work of emerging and mid-career artists

"Art Capsules" by Steph Hurst
Miami New Times, February 7, 2008

Six 21st-Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists: Once again, gallerist Virginia Miller has gained access to the as yet restricted, but lucrative, contemporary Chinese art market. The new group exhibition of two-dimensional media at ArtSpace features the work of six young artists based in China. Many of the works are unmistakably political. The exhibition is a joint effort between Miller and curator Pierette Van Cleve, whose exclusive contacts in China enabled the transfer of the art to the States. The show memorializes each artist's individual struggle for expression within a densely populated environment.

"Art Pick | Six 21st century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists"
Miami Herald, January 25, 2008

China is in the midst of yet another cultural revolution, this one in the visual arts, which makes the compact yet vivid sample of Chinese Neo-Pop artists at ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries in Coral Gables worth a visit. Contemporary Chinese art is hot. It made a big splash at last month's Art Basel Miami Beach and was featured in many of the satellite art fairs in Wynwood. This show, Six 21st Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists, is more accessible, fun, and in town through Feb. 29. The artists -- Liu Yan, Kang Can, Lu Peng, Li Bo, Yang Na and Xiong Lijun -- tackle in strikingly different styles the sweeping changes and challenges facing China today. Their imagery is full of humor, irony, whimsy -- and they display remarkable technique. Globalization, pollution, indoctrination and freedom of expression are all addressed. One of the most popular artists in the show is Yang Na, whose sensual acrylics feature oversized women's heads and tiny bodies.

"Contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop Art"
Miami Art Guide, No. 12

For the last 33 years ArtSpace / Virginia Miller Galleries has brought historically significant and innovative art to South Florida. True to its tradition, the gallery presents Six 21st Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists, the region's first exhibition of contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop paintings and mixed media from November through February 2008.

Among our nation's major museums incorporating Chinese contemporary work into their exhibitions and acquiring it for their permanent collections are the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Others are certain to follow suit.

The most recognized of the artists being exhibited is Lu Peng. Born in Beijing in 1967, he has participated in more than 70 exhibitions in prestigious museums and galleries around the world. Two years older, Liu Yan's 28 exhibitions include group shows in Paris, Minnesota and the Cologne art fair. Their works tend to contrast traditional subjects with rock stars and media icons.

Xiong Lijun and Kang Can, two of the four younger artists in the show, are strongly influenced by Japanese "manga" comics and their animated versions. Yang Na clearly is deeply concerned about the influence of Western culture upon the relative infancy of the new materialism in China. And the provocative juxtapositions of Li Bo also remind us of the incredible contrast between Chinese tradition and his generation's new affluence and its emphasis on the Internet, where "surfing" can create fortuitous associations just as those triggered by his iconic images.

These works of representative Chinese Neo-Pop artists present us with a glimpse into the efforts of their nation's artists to process the Western influences on the rapid changes in Chinese society during this extraordinary era," Miller explained.

"Asia, Meet Gables" by Carlos Suarez de Jesus
Miami New Times, January 2008

Six 21st-Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists In exchange for a booming economy, China has paid a steep price to carve a spot on the global financial stage. It's been a bitter pill for many Chinese to swallow since pictures of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders began to outnumber those of Chairman Mao on Beijing streets. A new generation of Chinese artists has taken as their theme the Western corruption of their society and created a niche in the international art market. Tonight at 7 at ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries, the exhibit "Six 21st-Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists" will present the local debut of that nation's talent whose vision reflects the baffling changes sweeping their land. Catch Liu Yan's nifty balancing act in works mixing traditional Chinese painting with Western imagery, ranging from the mugs of ancient emperors to scintillating nudes to punk rockers and fugitives from classical Chinese opera.

"Six 21th Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists" by J.T.
MartiniBoys.com

Kang Can paints tiny babies in various stages of distress over modern objects like being squished by a giant burger or balancing precariously at the end of a cigarette.

Li Bo's work lays out specific objects on the mantle piece for easy juxtaposition, like what the monkey has to do with the machine gun, for example.

Xiong Lijun paints neon fashionistas in full-on looks of the moment; think Asian Barbie electric.

Yang Na makes emotional big-heads with big lips that are so provocative in colour and texture you'll want to lick them.

Lu Peng does red Kung Fu cubism and Liu Yan dirties up tradition.

These six 21st-century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists are ones to watch very closely. Or just buy their stuff.

"ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries"
Miami Daily Photo, December 18, 2007

ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries is Miami's longest-established gallery, showcasing innovative contemporary art for over 40 years. This photograph shows artworks by Xiong Lijun. Lijun's work is influenced by fashion magazines, MTV, cartoons, and advertising. Canvases are billboard size, in fluorescent hues that present a critique of commercialism and material consumption, while offering a commercial vision of a new China.

"As modern China society blossoms, I am striving to celebrate our coming of age. My work embodies the human spirit and flaunts an unencumbered and carefree individual freedom of expression. I believe that our future is bright and cheerful." - Xiong Lijun

"We are fortunate indeed to be able to offer these works at a time when contemporary Chinese art is one of the hottest new categories for the art world's collectors." - Virginia Miller, gallery owner and director.

"ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries show Contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop Art"
ArtKnowledgeNews.com

Coral Gables, FL - ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries, which has brought historically significant and innovative art to South Florida for 33 years, is about to do it again with the latest hot ticket on the art market, contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop art. True to its tradition, the gallery will present "Six 21st Century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists," the region's first exhibition of contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop paintings and mixed media from Nov. 2nd through February 2008.

"We are fortunate indeed to be able to offer these works at a time when contemporary Chinese art is one of the hottest new categories for the art world's collectors," said gallery owner and director Virginia Miller.

Yang Na Fate From The Mirror As recently noted by Suzanne Muchnic in the Los Angeles Times, "Contemporary Chinese art has made a big splash on the art scene during the last decade or so, grabbing attention at major international exhibitions and commanding enormous prices at auction."

A recent article in Forbes magazine reported that the market for Chinese art began to soar three years ago. "In 2004 Christie's only sold about $18 million worth of postwar and contemporary Chinese art; in 2006 those sales hit $120 million," noted writer Barnaby Conrad III, citing one Chinese artist whose portrait prices shot from $76,500 to $1.4 million in four years.

"Clearly, the prices reflect the skyrocketing Chinese economy and its newly affluent professionals," noted Miller, "but the fresh outlook of a new group of contemporary artists, born during an era of their country's tremendous social, political and economic upheaval, is the basis for the booming international market in these works.br>
Among our nation's major museums incorporating Chinese contemporary work into their exhibitions and acquiring it for their permanent collections are the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Others are certain to follow suit.

"These works of representative Chinese Neo-Pop artists present us with a glimpse into the efforts of their nation's artists to process the Western influences on the rapid changes in Chinese society during this extraordinary era," Miller explained.

The most recognized of the artists being exhibited is Lu Peng. Born in Beijing in 1967, he has participated in more than 70 exhibitions in prestigious museums and galleries around the world. Two years older, Liu Yan's 28 exhibitions include group shows in Paris, Minnesota and the Cologne art fair. Liu Yan The Mans WorldTheir works tend to contrast traditional subjects with rock stars and media icons.

Xiong Lijun and Kang Can, two of the four younger artists in the show, are strongly influenced by Japanese "manga" comics and their animated versions. Yang Na clearly is deeply concerned about the influence of Western culture upon the relative infancy of the new materialism in China. And the provocative juxtapositions of Li Bo also remind us of the incredible contrast between Chinese tradition and his generation's new affluence and its emphasis on the Internet, where "surfing" can create fortuitous associations just as those triggered by his iconic images.

"These are pioneering examples of contemporary Chinese Neo-Pop art," Miller said. "When we have the perspective of a few years to look back on this show, we'll be able to see how this fascinating group of artists fits into the evolution of the international art market as well as to more fully appreciate their position in art history."

"Six 21st century Chinese Neo-Pop Artists" by Omar Sommereyne
Flavorpill.com/Miami, November 20, 2007

Asian neo-pop art (encompassing South Korea, Japan, and China) is one of the hottest new trends on the contemporary market - and deservedly so. Just check out the inspired new show at the Virginia Miller space to see why for yourself. The exhibit gathers some of the most promising talent coming out of China right now, with works ranging from purposefully garish cartoons to subtle socialist realism, executed on traditional mediums such as rice paper or Chinese book paper. The work of Kang Can, one of the more delightful discoveries of the bunch, wryly satirizes consumer culture with adorable little babies placed daintily atop giant hamburgers, cigarettes, and cocktails.