The exhibition reflects 3812’s dedication to fostering cultural understanding of Chinese contemporary art with “Eastern Origin and Contemporary Expression”. It will be the first time the London Gallery has presented such a vigorous mix of colourful works, with each artist representing the artistic perspective and aesthetic context of 3812's journey, whilst also bringing the traditions of Chinese creative culture into dialogue with the paradigm of contemporary art. Hosting Mind-Scape V at 3812’s London Gallery marks a significant moment in the gallery’s life: presenting their full and diverse offering and their stable of talent to London’s contemporary art scene.

‘Mind-Scape’ was conceived in 2013; it is an annual exhibition with an astute perspective of academic history. Traditional Chinese culture is drawn upon, whether it is in the recreation of Tang and Song poetry, or evoking literati painting. Ancient traditions are rediscovered through contemporary practices, whilst notions of East and West are explored and juxtaposed to create a new language of abstract expression.

‘Mind-Scape brings together a group of artists who not only have expanded the horizon of contemporary Chinese art practice, but also developed their unique and universal language in understanding the “mind” of ancient wisdoms and “art” as self-expression. Their works are both forward-looking and grounded in Chinese traditions, planting the seeds for the development of Chinese art in a global context.' Calvin Hui, Co- Founder & Artistic Director.

There are works from eight artists in this exhibition which demonstrate a huge diversity of style and contemporary approach. Using a range of disciplines from Chinese ink and coffee on paper to acrylic and oil on canvas, the artists who make up Mind-Scape V are: Wang Jieyin, Sophie Chang, Wang Huangsheng, Li Lei, Qu Leilei, Xue Song, Liu Guofu and Chloe Ho.

Wang Jieyin’s abstract acrylic paintings from his ‘Grand Landscape’ series, embody the allure of Chinese contemporary painting in their ability to integrate fields of Western abstraction with the freehand line of Chinese tradition in a naively romantic and vividly poetic fashion.

Dynamic, abstract landscapes are seen in Sophie Chang’s profound oil-on-canvas works. The artist’s so-called “Chang Style Technique” was developed during years of meditation, focusing her mind on nature. Beauty is integral to Chang’s expressive works. She uses vivid colours and brush strokes that express her vast inner vision. Her technique ‘shapes’ the paintings, layering new paint on top of old.

Also working with acrylics, Li Lei’s ‘Clouds and Water’ series will display his minimal use of colour to create paintings with a delicate, somewhat ethereal feel. Since 1996, Li has embarked on the practice and research of Chinese Abstract Art, striving to combine the essence of Chinese culture with abstract visual art language, and develop a new proposal for Chinese abstract art.

Exploring the idea of boundaries through various expressions of lines in space, Wang Huangsheng will show his ‘Metaphor Visions’ series. Wu Hung, Art history theorist and Professor of University of Chicago, describes Wang’s creations as “[dissolving] the two traditional meanings of the 'line' - as the subject of artistic expression, or as a means of depicting the subject".

Regarded as one of China's leading contemporary artists, Qu Leilei (who recently exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) will be showing a selection of his starkley realistic paintings. Qu demonstrates mastery in brush control and handling of monochromatic pigments, which results in intensely photographic works. He has been credited with creating a new, artistic language in Chinese art with The Stars Group.

Xue Song, one of the most important artists of contemporary Chinese Pop Art, will display his colourful landscape paintings which include palimpsests of his works burned in a studio fire in the 1990s. Xue, who was inspired by Robert Rauschenberg in the 1980s, is acclaimed as the first artist in China to bring western collage onto the contemporary Chinese art scene.

Liu Guofu’s distinctive oil paintings display a unique artistic language that is at once sensual and spiritual and will feature in the exhibition. Dr. Xia Kejun, acclaimed philosopher and art critic, once described Liu’s oil paintings as a magical spectacle: "Among Chinese contemporary oil painters, I have yet to see a single one who is so richly imbued with the dejected and pessimistic qualities of modernity, or can convey the lofty desolation of Shanshui landscape painting with such clear form and spiritual power. This is truly an 'otherworldly landscape', the most magical spectacle of the soul."

From rice paper and ink, to coffee and acrylic, Chloe Ho’s work, including Ink Eruption (pictured), displays her use of Chinese ink combined with a wide range of materials. The fundamental idea of human existence is at the core of Ho’s art, in which the artist explores the ambiguity of identity through the existential flow of ink. Ho was born in California but spent most of her formative years in Hong Kong. In America, she studied under Liu Hung (Chinese- American contemporary artist) and Moira Roth (American art historian and critic); her own work is reflective of this multicultural background.