Mio Pang Fei

The Venice Biennial (La Biennale di Venezia) is a long-standing artistic event, hailed as one of the top three in the world, on a par with Documenta, a quinquennial event in Kassel, Germany, and the São Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil.

Having debuted under the name ‘Macao, China’ at the Venice Biennial in 2007, the Macao Museum of Art (MAM), under the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macao (IACM), will mark its 5th presence at this prestigious international art event with Path and Adventure: Works by Mio Pang Fei.

A pioneer in Macao’s contemporary art, Mio Pang Fei moved from Shanghai in 1982, and quickly integrated with the enclave’s art community. In early 1980s, his ‘Western abstractionism’ was a refreshing surprise to the local painting circles. During the Cultural Revolution, the artist, then in his prime, was not able to study or practice modern Western painting, thus opting for Chinese calligraphy, painting and cultural studies for ten years

Once settled in Macao, in a Sino-Portuguese cultural ambiance, middle-aged Mio Pang Fei let his 40-plus years of creativity andaccumulation in art blossom into a rich array of works. Over the past thirty years, he has been fervently exploring the integration of Chinese traditions and Western concepts to create works of great merit.

The title ‘Path and Adventure’ duly reflects the main theme of this exhibition – a relentless pursuit of art. I am sure the representative pieces from different periods of Mio’s career will establish a rich spiritual dialogue with audiences from around the world.