Shanghai-based artist Lu Dan’s solo exhibition at AroundSpace Gallery, The Study of Light, will open this December, and will feature the artist’s recent works on canvas. This is one of the exhibitions included in the Sixth Oil Painting Academic Series Exhibitions organized by Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute.

Following the suite of his previous Shanghai series, which captured details of old buildings such as the Eddington House, the Magy Apartments, and the Hengfu Art Center, Lu Dan’s new works, Shanghai Mansions (formerly known as the Broadway Mansions), Wukang Mansion (formerly known as the Normandie Apartments), among others, continue to take iconic historical buildings in Shanghai as subject matter. However, compared to the old series that focused on details of the architecture, the new works have a more comprehensive view. These paintings cannot be simply labeled as landscapes. In these small canvases Lu meticulously documented city corners in Shanghai with skillful realistic draftsmanship and a delicate lyrical tone, along with scientific precision of lights on each location. One of the earliest open cities in the 19th century China, city lights were essential in the development of Shanghai’s urbanization. They light every corner diligently and reveal the mood of each place. Born and raised in Shanghai, Lu Dan shows deep affection for his native city in his art. In his works he captures the intensive daylight on rough building facades which creates strong contrast as if in abstract paintings, while the sporadic night lights from apartment buildings seem to be ready to tell intriguing stories of their owners. Lu Dan studied interior and outdoor lights, including mild natural light, bright sunlight, and melodramatic night light, capturing ever-changing lights with limited and bewildering brushworks. 

In addition to historic buildings, Lu Dan also shows several paintings on various clouds, clouds at night, clouds surrounding the moon, etc. “That group of circling clouds represent the existing status of human or objects,” says Lu Dan. It is not an easy job to render those elusive clouds on canvas yet the challenge attracts artists from all times. English landscape painter John Constable once made a series of paintings titled Cloud Studies, depicting clouds in different times, locations, or weather conditions. Lu’s lively brushwork, subtle tones and understanding of the structure and movement of clouds made him adept at expressing mood in his cloud painting.

Lu Dan’s study of light or cloud is ultimately the study of Shanghai. It is Shanghai’s people and life, architecture and history that he is passionate about. He tirelessly captures the light and shadow in the city and the clouds in the sky, presenting us a familiar and strange, common and special Shanghai, which exists in one’s life and imagination and can be interpreted in endless ways with indefinite possibilities.