So many things are happening these days that it’s better just to pick out one or two items to write about. Otherwise all these stories would become much too long.
Today it will be just one item, Brian Wallace. Who the hell is Brian Wallace you’ll ask because the name is not really a Chinese one. Well, that’s right, he’s from Australia. But he is an icon in the booming Chinese art world and also the owner of one of the most beautiful art galleries in town. This of course means that there is a story to tell.

In 1984 Brian arrived in China as a backpacker. In that time there was no modern art scene in the country. Only the traditional Chinese art was promoted and modern artists had difficult times. When Brian came back in 1986 he opened a gallery in Beijing to give modern Chinese art a podium because he thought he could be of some help for the artists. How he managed to organise one of the best spaces I don’t know yet but when I see him again I intend to ask him about that. Till now I met him twice, the first time at an exhibition Friday last week, the second time today in his own red Gate Gallery during an opening (have a look at the first picture) and I don’t mind if there will be a third time. He really is a nice man, knows of course a lot about the intriguing, booming Chinese art world of today and may be he would like to tell me more about that. It’s probably not exaggerated when I say that nearly all those world known modern Chinese artists started in his Red Gate Gallery.

The gallery can indeed been found in the Red Gate. Of the walls of the old city only a few rebuilded parts have remained together with a couple of the huge, now also renovated entry towers in this wall. Two floors in one of those towers take in Brian’s gallery (see one of the photos).
The exhibition itself, of a certain Lu Peng, was also wonderful. This guy, completely unknown to me, showed a tremendous skill in especially his work on paper. Not only was it modern, it was also really China. Very impressive!