Eaton Studios Sponsored Modern Chinese Art
I imported these contemporary fine art originals on my eighth trip to China. With a bachelors of fine arts degree and many years of teaching and working in the arts, I started traveling to China in 1994. I discovered a culture very diverse from the one I know and developed an appreciation for contemporary Chinese art and a desire to share this with an American audience.
I bought my first piece of Chinese art at an artists' commune, in Chongqing, Sichuan, on a rainy afternoon at the end of a four-day Yangtze River cruise. It was a colorful muti-layered woodblock print that portrayed a lively peasant village. The print captured the spirit and vibrancy of a land I was seeing for the first time.
On subsequent trips I have led tours, lived with a family, dined with local officials, traveled solo with a guide to remote locations; always experiencing the challenge of learning about another culture and enjoying the thrill and wonder of finding something unique and beautiful to bring home that represents China, either past or present. That search led me to the art of Li, Yi Wei.
In 1998, after leading a group of American tourists to Jiuhuashan and Huangshan in Anhui Province I stayed on to explore future tour locations. I traveled to an artists' community outside Shanghai and I traveled to tourist locations outside Beijing in Hebei Province. It is in Hebei that I met Li Yiwei at a local group art exhibition.
Li had two paintings on exhibition. I was impressed with the originality of his work and asked to see more. He invited me to visit his studio the next evening where he showed me his collection of original paintings. I bought a beautiful brush and black ink study and knew I would return to buy another painting on a future trip. In July 2000, I returned and bought a painting, Gentle Wind.
When I met with Li in 2000, I introduced the idea of bringing more of his art to the United States. We discussed the idea and in letters and emails over the year established an agreement and a plan.
In June 2001, I returned to Hebei with the express purpose of meeting artists and bringing home art for sale. I met Li again, and he introduced me to artists in Shijiazhuang and Beijing. I came home with 18 paintings representing the work of three artists: Li Yiwei, Liu Aimin , and Wang Liming.
This is the first of many trips I am planning to China, to explore different regions, meet artists, to buy art, and to bring back art to the United States to sell. I hope you enjoy your tour of Eaton Studios On-line Gallery. If you have questions or want more information about the art shown on the site you can contact us at info@eatonstudios.com.
All images are for sale unless listed as "Sold".
All images are protected by copyright.
For information contact info@eatonstudios.com