Ancient Myths, Modern Visions: Bian Kai reshapes Chinese Storytelling Art

Buddhist frescoes, imperial miniatures, and ancient legends blend with urban visions and contemporary dreams in Bian Kai’s first solo exhibition at INKstudio. The Chinese artist, born in Liaoning in 1981, reinterprets myths and classical texts such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and Peach Blossom Spring to construct visual parables that speak to our time. His works - monumental paintings, narrative screens, and richly colored panels - do not illustrate but rather evoke. Each image is a pictorial performance, an artifice that transforms traditional sources into new symbolic worlds. Standout pieces include Next Stop: Peach Blossom Spring (2024), The Unbound Journey (2022), and Peach Blossom Spring: Arcadia as Unfinishable (2016), all expressions of a visual language that intertwines aesthetics, spirituality, and philosophical inquiry. A journey through religion, art, and storytelling that opens up new perspectives for the present.