Galerie Ling

Galerie Ling is a gallery for contemporary Chinese and international art based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in January 2010.

History

The gallery was founded by the Chinese art historian Zhu Ling as an attempt to promote individuality and independent spirit in contemporary Chinese art. During her research trip in Beijing 2009, Zhu Ling found the contemporary Chinese art scene to be seriously afflicted by problems of plagiarism, commercialism and what she terms as "political exhibitionism". Instead of dealing with real issues of the Chinese society, many Chinese artists work to meet expectations among others of a few European and American art dealers who force upon them Western projections of being a "progressive" or "revolutionary" Chinese artist. Typical characteristics of art produced under such market pressure are downright realism, ostentatious political cynicism and usually a complete rejection or only superficial borrowing of the Chinese tradition.

After her return to Germany, Zhu Ling opened up the gallery with an exhibition of the Berlin-based Chinese artist Zhang Hui who seeks to combine European and Chinese traditions in her landscape paintings. The second exhibition was with Li Yan, a Beijing-based artist known for his mini-canvas series reflecting on the depiction of war and violence in the news media. The gallery also works with a series of other Chinese, German and international artists who meet the criteria of artistic innovation and genuine individual expression.

Since Summer 2010 the gallery is directed by psychologist and art collector Dr. Reinhard Schoepe.