L.L. Contemporary is thrilled to announce Kui Cai’s upcoming solo exhibition, ‘Northern Dreamscape,’ featuring 18 of his latest oil paintings. Some of these pieces were created during a recent plein air painting event that the artist attended in Muskoka. It was a captivating gathering where artists painted, dined, and reveled so deeply that time seemed to stand still. This experience not only honored the joy of artistic creation but also cultivated a serene and cheerful atmosphere among the participants. Within this lively environment, artists were moved to explore and capture the surrounding beauty, continuously energized by the excitement of creation and the passion of the painting process. Cai regards these works with great esteem, valuing them as treasures and is eager to share them with the audience.

In Kui Cai’s artistic world, realism is viewed as merely a ‘value judgment’ and a reflection of ideology, rather than as an absolute truth. His works, therefore, are not direct reproductions of reality, but rather explorations of romanticism and postmodern subjective consciousness. The theme of the exhibition ‘Northern Dreamscape’ reflects this Chinese artist’s contemplations on his years spent living and creating in Canada, and his commitment to expressing his artistic ideals and pursuits. As approaching his seventieth year, amidst the snowy expanses of Canada, Cai is resolved to transcend the limitations of worldly aesthetics, to surpass traditional thinking and artistic norms, and to realize an artist’s ‘present.’

Kui Cai, born in 1955 in Qingdao, China, now works and lives in Toronto. He attended the Qingdao University Academy of Arts and Design in 1980, stayed on campus after his graduation in 1984. In 1986, he was admitted to the advanced class for assistant professors at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University for his master’s studies. Currently, he is the President of the Oil Painting Academy of Canada, a member of the Ontario Society of Artists, and holds membership in the China Artists Association.

Kui Cai’s artistic focus revolves primarily around landscapes, scenery, and portraits. Through the construction of conceptual spaces, Cai encourages viewers to immerse themselves in his aesthetic vision and artistic endeavors. In his landscape paintings, Cai often expresses the abundant energy and inspiration inherent in humanity through observations and reflections on the growth of the natural world and the evolving seasons. He is skilled at capturing serene moments in landscapes with bold compositions, and he occasionally steps away from traditional spatial perspectives to draw the viewer’s imagination into visual transformations. In his portraiture, Cai uses soft colors and bright tones to represent the external environment of his subjects, while also delicately capturing the inner emotions of his characters through their fleeting expressions.