{"id":158,"date":"2024-03-16T05:18:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T05:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/?p=158"},"modified":"2026-10-15T12:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T12:48:07","slug":"counterpoints-lu-chunsheng-jia-aili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/?p=158","title":{"rendered":"Jia Aili"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Counterpoints<\/h3>\n<h5><strong>Project description<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><em>Counterpoints<\/em> is an exhibition featuring Chinese contemporary artist Jia Aili (b. 1979, Liaoning, China). Bringing together several of his paintings alongside a newly commissioned work, the exhibition explores industrialisation, post-socialist transformation, and the psychological and existential experience of the individual within the machinery of modern life.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition brings together major works by Jia Aili, exploring his distinctive response to the social, cultural and psychological transformations of contemporary China.<\/p>\n<p>Jia Aili\u2019s large-scale figurative paintings draw on references from Eastern and Western intellectual and art historical traditions. His work is characterised by a restrained, almost ashen palette, expressive brushwork and layered symbolism, reflecting the disorientation of the individual in the face of technological acceleration and social change.<\/p>\n<p>In Counterpoints, Jia presents monumental paintings alongside a site-specific installation created for Iniva\u2019s large street-facing window. Inspired by Caravaggio\u2019s <em>The Incredulity of Saint Thomas<\/em>, the work explores faith, doubt and transformation within a society marked by uncertainty. His practice brings together philosophical traditions including Confucianism and Existentialism while remaining grounded in the social realities of contemporary China.<\/p>\n<p>Through painting and installation, Counterpoints examines the tensions between technological development, social transformation and individual experience. Jia Aili\u2019s work considers how memory, symbolism and imagination can provide ways of responding to the profound changes of modern life.<\/p>\n\n<h5><strong>Bio<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Jia Aili (b. 1979, Liaoning, China) is a contemporary painter whose practice draws on Eastern and Western intellectual and art historical traditions. His work explores themes of alienation, uncertainty, technological change and the psychological experience of the individual within contemporary Chinese society.<\/p>\n<p>Jia Aili has held solo exhibitions at CAC M\u00e1laga, Platform China in Beijing, Hartell Gallery at Cornell University and He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen. His work is held in international collections and has been presented at institutions including the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, The Saatchi Gallery in London and China National Museum in Beijing.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Project details<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><strong>Year:<\/strong> 2010<br \/>\n<strong>Artist:<\/strong> Jia Aili<br \/>\n<strong>Curated in collaboration with:<\/strong> David Thorpe<br \/>\n<strong>Partner institutions:<\/strong> Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Beijing and Fountain, London<br \/>\n<strong>Support:<\/strong> Arts Council England<br \/>\n<strong>Venue:<\/strong> The Institute of International Visual Arts (iniva)<br \/>\n<strong>Country:<\/strong> United Kingdom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jia Aili (b.1979, Liaoning, China)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,30,28,34,29,9,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-commission","category-curating","category-education","category-exhibition","category-projects","category-publication"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7665,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions\/7665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}