Gualala Arts Workshop
Traditional Chinese Ink Painting
Instructor: Xie Tianzi

Saturday, June 24, 2006
10:00am - 4:00pm

Tuition: $75 members; $100 non-members
Materials fee: $25, almost all materials will be provided
Materials list: Two containers, one for ink and one to wash brushes
Maximum: 10 students

Direct from the Beijing arts and music underground, Xie Tianzi will offer a one day workshop on Traditional Chinese Ink Painting with an alternative flavor. Traditional ink, brushes and special paper brought from China will be supplied to each participant.

Tianzi will be showing his recent works in solo shows at the Mendocino Art Center from June 1 to June 30 and the Mendocino Jewelry Studio from July 8 to August 10. Additional information from his US rep at rainbird@mcn.org or (707) 937-0840.

Xie Tianzi (family name Xie, given name Tianzi) was born in 1975 in northern China's Shandong Province. Tianzi studied Chinese painting and calligraphy at the Jinan City Institute of Painting and Calligraphy in Shandong, but was unwilling to remain within these narrow confines. In 1997, he moved to Beijing to join the exploding underground Chinese rock scene, playing in a series of bands and dedicating himself to painting in his unique self-discovered style. He had his first solo exhibition in Beijing in 2001, and since then has exhibited throughout China and Europe.

Xie Tianzi will introduce his work to the United States in 2006, with a group show at the Northcoast Artist Gallery in Fort Bragg in April and solo shows at the Mendocino Art Gallery and the Mendocino Jewelry Studio in Mendocino in June and July.

"Xie Tianzi's paintings are full of unexpected rhythms and imagery, embodying the intersection of China's traditional and revolutionary culture with the new millennium. He continues to draw from his classical training and alternative lifestyle to create an aesthetic that is at once intensely personal, radically contemporary, and distinctively Chinese."