This exhibition, featuring Kemin Hu’s rock collection and mountain paintings by Hai Tao and C.C. Wang, was held this year from February to April at Baruch College’s Sidney Mishkin Gallery in New York City. The exhibition was well received by many. For some, it was their first time learning about Scholars’ Rocks and seeing them up close. The exhibition especially the 17 Scholars’ Rocks had “held the attention” of major newspapers and Asian art magazine:
“Rock, Paper, Sculpture” Wall Street Journal, by Mr. Lance Esplund, March 5, 2011
Arts of Asia magazine, by Dr. Robert C. Morgan, May 2011 issue.
I began collecting rocks in my twenties, more than sixty years ago. Ever since, my interest has never diminished. Western painters use human bodies as models while we landscape painters prefer rocks. Human beings, despite differences in appearance, height, proportion and weight, are on the whole not much different from one another. Rocks come from nature, and they are God’s masterpieces, widely different in shape, material, color, texture, and, more importantly, in artistic conception and charm. To depict a rock in a landscape is to paint its bones and frame. A good landscape painter has a profound understanding of the shape and surface texture of a rock.