Cao Jigang
(China, b. 1955）

Born in Beijing, China, Cao Jigang currently works and lives in Beijing. Graduated from the Oil Painting Dept. of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1984 and later completed his master’s degree in material expression research, where he taught at the Art Foundation Dept.. Cao Jigang's artistic style combines elements of Eastern and Western aesthetics and literati thoughts. In his early works, he depicted the ruins of the Great Wall using oil painting, after that he began to explore different materials and create his own techniques. Later he began to use the ancient European technique of “Tempera” creating large-scale series “Guangling San” and “Barren Cold.” From Tempera Cao's works are characterized by an unique semi-transparent luminosity and a jade-like quality, achieved through layered brushwork to express a sense of emptiness. His art continue to combine and mix the Western landscape and Chinese Shanshui. Recently he moved towards a "decomposition of Shanshui" and a "minimalist" style, further expanding the imaginative space of the metaphysical. Cao Jigang's artistic achievements have been recognized and received the Silver Award at the 9th National Art Exhibition in China(1999), exhibited in museums including National Art Museum of China, permanently collected by the National Art Museum of China, the Shanghai Art Museum, and important Chinese private collectors.

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