SAN DIEGO, CA.- The San Diego Museum of Art welcomes an exhibition from acclaimed contemporary Chinese artist Pan Gongkai, on view through February 2016. The exhibition includes six stunning new paintings, created specifically for The San Diego Museum of Art from the artist’s studio in Beijing.

For The San Diego Museum of Art, the artist completed Noble Virtues, a 15-meter-long work, and Lotus Pond, a series of more intimate ink on rice paper paintings. Reading from right to left, Noble Virtues includes four poems in the artist’s distinct calligraphy and a vibrant depiction of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums. The images are allegories of the qualities admired in an ideal individual or a traditional Chinese scholar.

The pairing of classical Chinese brush and ink techniques with more contemporary Western practices—once viewed as completely divergent—results in a series of work that does not seek to reconcile the differences between East and West, but adapts their unique qualities to reflect a more global perspective. The works have been installed in Gallery 15 in the West Wing of the Museum, a public area adjacent to the May S. Marcy Sculpture Court and Panama 66.

Pan Gongkai is one of the foremost contemporary Chinese painters working today. He is president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, one of the most prestigious art schools in China, as well as the former president of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Having shown his work worldwide, including a recent exhibition at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the artist also represented his country at the 2011 Venice Biennale. Known for his study and practice of traditional Chinese art and its history, the artist has focused on the recent and rapid explosion of Western influence within China.

“As one of the most acclaimed artists working in China today, it is an honor to have Pan Gongkai contribute these new works,” said Roxana Velásquez, Maruja Baldwin Executive Director of The San Diego Museum of Art. “The works add a new context to the Museum’s already world class collection of Asian art, and help us to further enliven the public spaces in and around our institution. We couldn’t be happier with this gift.”