SUN JIAPEI: ONE-MAN EXHIBITION
	FOREWORD The dew hangs heavily in the still air at dawn when the waterways are calm, not yet disturbed with the day's comings and goings. In the morning mist, time seems temporarily displaced. This is the fleeting instant Sun Jiapei captures on canvas, a transcendental moment when reality mixes with memories. There is more than a captivating charm to the canal scenes Sun Jiapei paints; there is a profound contentment to be found in the harmony of air and water. The elements flow together like the past to the present. In the subtle poetry he creates, there is a grace that is both inspiring and healing. The Chinese refer to this remarkable quality as, "the spirit or breath of life." It is the attribute that defines the great artist from the merely competent. Born in Shanghai in 1958, Sun Jiapei went through the rigors and restrictions of a fine art education as the Chinese government then prescribed it. When he was a young student, the use of oil paints was labeled as too western a technique for artistic expressions, save for portraits of Mao. Luckily, Sun studied under teachers who themselves had been exposed to western culture and mediums prior to the Cultural Revolution. They were able to impart their knowledge, and he absorbed the lessons of the European masters, particularly Rembrandt and Monet, who were to have great impact upon his work. In a quest for greater artistic freedom, Sun Jaipei left China in the 1990's, and immigrated to Japan. Then fulfilling a long-held dream, he spent several years living in Europe gaining first-hand knowledge of the canal cities he yearned to paint, among them Venice, Amsterdam and Paris. He was also able to see in person the works of the great Western artists who had made such an impression in his youth. Sun Jiapei has returned to Tokyo to live, but in this current exhibition he continues to explore the European canal cities that were closed to him for so long. Though perhaps, his boyhood home in Suzhou will always be his special muse. It is a place that is disappearing through the massive modernization taking place in today's China. Through him we can still travel to this place of mystery and beauty. We can rest on the banks of a river whose current seems to flow like the endless continuity of life. We are refreshed and renewed by this artist's remarkable vision.
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