Concordia Art Gallery will launch Jiang Zhaojin's solo exhibition "Theseus' Mountain" at 4:00 p.m. on October 18, 2025. Curated by curator Li Guiming, this exhibition features Peng Feng as the academic director. From a female perspective, Jiang Zhaojin transforms discarded denim into a "cultural container," breaking the dogma of environmental art. She replaces brush and ink with scissors and glue, "piecing together" landscapes using jeans to question the boundary between nature and desire—while deconstructing traditions, she mends the spiritual rifts of a generation.This exhibition brings together Jiang Zhaojin's artistic practices from 2018 to the present. Visitors will witness the dialogue between landscape themes and contemporary materials, including paper, silk, linen thread, cotton thread, pastels, oil paints, acrylics, and more. The artist has always been fascinated by material experimentation, and she seeks to construct a landscape expression unique to this era through integrated and diverse approaches.
Exhibition Site
The creative drive of Jiang Zhaojin is deeply rooted in her personal upbringing. As a former left-behind child, her mother worked in a denim garment factory in Guangzhou. Those denim clothes sent from afar became the physical embodiment of the emotional bond between mother and daughter. Thus, these old garments, imbued with the warmth of memory, are not merely materials in her works but vessels of emotion.
Material Desire: Landscape Series 4 (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 530x212cm, 2019
She even transforms the creative process itself into a dialogue that transcends time and space—much of the denim thread used in her works was unraveled and prepared by her mother's own hands, making her art a living testament to the intergenerational collaboration, imbued with profound warmth.
Landscape 2 (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 420x180cm, 2018
Visually, her works construct a multi-layered viewing experience. From a distance, they resemble vividly expressive Chinese landscapes—sometimes in freehand style, sometimes combining precise and spontaneous techniques—adhering to the composition and spirit of classical painting. Upon closer inspection, however, one discovers that the texturing of mountains and rocks, and the winding lines of riverbanks are entirely composed of denim patches, folds, and stitching.
Materialistic Landscape - Fog Lock Nanshan (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 310x120cm, 2020
This philosophical concept—"mountains are mountains, mountains are not mountains, and yet mountains are ultimately mountains"—is precisely the path of contemplation she hopes to guide the audience through. By skillfully juxtaposing the modern industrial and global consumer culture represented by denim with the traditional natural worldview that emphasizes "harmony between nature and humanity," she sparks critical reflection on the relationship between modern civilization and traditional culture through the striking contrast between material and subject matter.
Materialistic Landscape Series III (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 260x120cm, 2021
Jiang Zhaojin connects her own resilient character to the "durable and tenacious" nature of denim, and with strong execution, she continually expands the boundaries of her artistic language. From the early grand-scale "freehand" landscapes to recent explorations that incorporate painting on silk, imbuing her work with a more delicate and lyrical sensibility, her "denim landscapes" have evolved into a distinctive and signature style.
Chunshan Shallow Language (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 57.8x37.5cm, 2025
For Jiang Zhaojin, her artistic journey itself is a "Ship of Theseus" in constant renewal — steering the spirit rooted in Eastern tradition with materials born of Western industrial civilization, she perpetually navigates the perpetually shifting boundaries between personal memory, cultural DNA, and global discourse through continuous experimentation and recombination of materials.
Dream at Qinglan, Comprehensive Material, D120cm, 2025
works will stand as a sincere cultural calling card. Some have asked me, "Why do you choose such a traditional theme of landscape painting?" I believe that if we do not awaken tradition in a way that belongs to our time, culture will eventually become an echo in museums. What truly protects a person is never material possessions, but the choice of culture and the resolve of the spirit.
Heart Cloud Habitat (Partial), Comprehensive Material, D115cm, 2025
Sky Blue Distant Shadow (Partial), Comprehensive Material, 80x80cm, 2025
I hope that one day, when people talk about contemporary Eastern art, my Art does not need to rush to respond to anything; its meaning will naturally settle over time and take root in people’s memories. May you, in front of this "mountain," not only see the texture of the fabric and the shape of the mountains, but also hear—that quiet yet profound dialogue between nature, memory, and life. Thank you all for coming to this "mountain" and stepping into the years I have spent [on my artistic journey]. And I will continue forward, with faith and light in my heart.
— Artist Jiang Zhaojin
Chenghuai Guanxiu, Comprehensive Material, 80x80cm, 2025
Curator Li GuimingRenowned curator, photographic artist, and partner of the Common Art Center.
With eighteen years of experience in the contemporary art industry, she has curated exhibitions and events for hundreds of artists such as Zhong Biao, Chen Wenling, Wang Zhong, Ren Zhe, and Gao Yu, establishing herself as a key catalyst for numerous artistic careers. In recent years, while continuing her professional art curation, she has dedicated efforts to curating artistic and cultural content for brands and commercial spaces, enhancing commercial value through art. Her collaborative institutions include the National Museum of China, Today Art Museum, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanhai Art Museum, Faurschou Foundation, Asia Art Center, Parkview Green, THE BOX, and nearly a hundred other artistic and commercial organizations. As a photographer, she has been invited to create portraits and document art events for hundreds of leading artists, critics, and art institution directors, including Cai Guo-Qiang, Zhang Xiaogang, Liu Xiaodong, Fang Lijun, Xiang Jing, Fan Di'an, and Uli Sigg, making her one of the most significant documentary image creators of contemporary Chinese art.
Artist Jiang ZhaojinJiang Zhaojin (AKA Jiang Wanlin) is a contemporary environmental artist.
Born in Suining, Sichuan, in 1993, she began her international art education with an exchange program at Kookmin University in South Korea in 2014. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Chinese Painting from the Fine Arts College of Sichuan Conservatory of Music in 2015. Furthering her studies abroad, she attended Università Iuav di Venezia and Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy in 2017, specializing in Fine Arts and Painting. In 2018, she received her Master's degree in Ink Landscape Painting from the Chinese Painting Department of the Fine Arts College at Sichuan Conservatory of Music.
Since graduation, she has dedicated herself fully to her artistic practice and now works as a professional artist based in Beijing, China. Among her works, the "Denim Landscape" series is particularly remarkable and has gained international acclaim for its unique vision. This series utilizes recycled denim garments, integrating them with the classic compositions of traditional Chinese literati landscape painting. Through this innovative approach, she deconstructs modern society's material desires and explores the multifaceted symbolism of spiritual aesthetics. By breaking down the surplus of contemporary consumerism, and employing her characteristically feminine delicacy and resilience, she creates richly textured and powerfully compelling visuals. Her works, imbued with a contemporary sense of beauty, pay homage to the timeless tradition of Chinese literati painting.
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