Zall Bookstore will officially launch in Singapore in January 2021, featuring 80% of its collection to be Chinese books. It also embodies the spirit of humanities, creativity, art, and lifestyle, aspiring to reshape Singapore’s Chinese cultural landscape.
"Reading from N angles" is the first collaborative art exhibition between Zall Bookstore and NOTHINGART®️ in Singapore. Specially invited, is famous German-Chinese Curator and Artist, Dr. Jie Li- Elbrächter (as the curator and artist) together with five internationally well-known artists who are now living in Singapore, namely Boo Sze Yang, Justin Lee, Xuanqi Liu and Kaiting Koh to participate in this exhibition.
Zhang Yan Yuan（Tang Dynasty） often compares "painting" to "book" in "The Legend of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties", suggesting that "paintings and writing are essentially the same without distinction. The books exists to convey its meaning; and paintings exists to show its shape.” Although the current “book” does not completely refer to the “book” of Zhang Yan Yuan in ancient times and the term “painting” is now more of a manifestation of visual art, "book" still nonetheless conveys its meaning while "painting" sees its form.
Starting from "reading", this exhibition not only includes the five artists' interpretation of life, art, and culture, but also includes the perspective of "Zall" of life, art and culture, including the "reading" of their audiences and readers.
Curator & Artists
Dr. Jie Li-Elbrächter
Sojourn in Singapore, China and Germany.
Artist; Curator; Founder of NOTHINGART; Director of China Art Foundation, Guest professional of Fudan University, Guest professor of Jinling Institute of Technology.
Dr. Jie Li Elbraechter is devoted to spreading Chinese culture and art since 2009. She organized many exhibitions of Chinese and foreign artists as well as the art exchanges between colleges and institutions. She's held solo- and group exhibitions in some cities and countries, such as China, Singapore, Germany, France, Switzerland, and England.
She took part in the exhibition of Germany Munster Architecture Festival,Won the Prize of Germany Jestburg Creative Artists. Her autobiography was made into a film released in the Cinema in Munster, Germany. Her professional art literature has been published in Sinology Studies, Journalism & Communication, Research in Education Development, and Overseas Researches on China.
Jieli finished her Ph.D. of anthropology of art of Fudan University in China. She obtained the Master of Liberal Arts in Germany Munster Academy of Arts and won the title of the Meisterschueler.
She studied in London Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in England, Ecole superieure des Beaux-arts de Geneve in Switzerland and Central Academy of Fine Arts in China.
Boo Sze Yang
Boo’s paintings deal with a broad range of subject matters, from mundane domestic objects to images of car and airplane crash-scenes, derelict interiors of cathedrals and unpeopled chambers of shopping malls. Boo treats banal objects, modern architectural interiors and destructive scenes as metaphors for the human condition, transforming these into a symbol of contemporary life through his loose, gestural technique and use of a restrained palette to emphasize the materiality of paint.
Boo Sze Yang graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in 1991; completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art at the University of Reading, UK in 1995 and received his Master’s in Arts Degree from Chelsea College of Art & Design, the University of the Arts London in 2004.
He's held the solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in some cities and countries.He is a recipient for the Asian Artist Fellowship Award 2010/2011 sponsored by Freeman Foundation for residency at the Vermont Studio Center in USA, and the Distinguished Alumni Medal 2017 from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. In 2003, he was awarded the Juror’s Choice for the Philip Morris Singapore-ASEAN Art Award and in 2009, the Platinum Award, UOB Painting of the Year Competition. He is featured in the publication 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by Thames & Hudson in 2014.
His works are in the collections of the National Gallery Singapore, the Singapore Istana Art Collection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, United Overseas Bank, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Simmons & Simmons Contemporary Art Collection, Urban Redevelopment Authority Singapore and Yingu Art Mansion in Beijing.
Justin Lee
Justin Lee was awarded Mont Blanc Young Artist World Patronage Project 2006, Hamburg, German. He was also awarded the Lasalle Scholarship (Master of Fine Art), NAFA Scholarship for his BA degree course in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in 2005 and the National Art Council, Georgette-Chen Arts Scholarship for his Diploma in Fine Arts from the Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore which he completed in 1999.
Justin has also participle in several exhibitions in Singapore，Japan，Korea，Beijing，Bangkok ，Taipei，and Malaysia.
Xuanqi Liue
Born in China 1977, Liu Xuan Qi majored from Shanghai Publishing and Printing College in Art and Design, in 1999. He moved to Singapore in 2006.
With his background as a graphic designer, he explores elements from traditional Chinese ink paintings, icons and imagery from eastern cultures and fuses them with contemporary design, merging the east and west. He adopted a different artistic expression by exploring the art with his personal style touch of traditional media and design element of eastern meet western culture.
Liu Xuan Qi’s works are exhibited and well-received in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States. He received various awards, such as the 2012 Platinum Award from United Oversea Bank Painting in Singapore.
Kaiting Koh
Koh Kai Ting(b. 1996, Malaysia) is a recent graduate from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a Diploma in Fine Art ( with Distinction).
With a keen interest in human relationship, she actively involves in community art project. In 2014, her works were collected by Lim Lian Geok Foundation, Malaysia and the family of politician Karpal Singh. Besides, her recent works exploring the intersection of physical space and social relationship were exhibited in The Very Quiet Studio, Singapore and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
Her works were exhibited in the Creative Differences: NAFA’s Best of the Best Showcase 2018 as well as the Savour the Arts, a group exhibition held by the Connoisseur Concerto and NAFA International in 2017. She has also participated in the Pulau Ketam International Art Festival 2016, and her artworks produced during the residency were showcased at the Muskat Studios in Boston in 2017. Recently, she won the first prize in UOB Painting of the Year, Emerging Artist Category. Also she was a recipient of the NAFA Fine Art Awards 2018.
