Viewing Lou Zhenggang: Shizen at Almine Rech

There’s a buzz about the current Almine Rech show in London – and it’s easy to see why. The solo exhibition by Lou Zhenggang at the gallery is organised with and co-curated by art world giant Simon de Pury, and is the first time the famed Chinese artist has presented a solo exhibition at the gallery.

Zhenggang, 58, is an acclaimed international artist. She was already well known as a child for her mastery of calligraphy, an art she began learning with her father from a young age. She was trained at an academy by China’s master in calligraphy and ink painting, and won national competitions. In 1986, she moved to Japan where she was also widely celebrated and exhibited. Her painting style would come to blend and blur influences from Chinese calligraphy, Gutai she encountered in Japan and Abstract Expressionism, and to cleverly combine traditional, technical techniques and skill with vivid, bold emotion, materials and colour.

Shizen is a rare chance to see Zhenggang’s work in the UK, and some twenty-one recent paintings are featured, all of them unfalteringly beautiful. De Pury writes: “Despite her prominence, Lou Zhenggang is entirely dedicated to her craft and uninterested in promoting her own work. She has abandoned travel, avoids distractions, and keeps studio visits rare, choosing instead to devote all her time to painting. Fortunately, her admirers and collectors—moved by the depth and power of her work—have taken it upon themselves to champion her art on the global stage.”