Cultivation

A retrospective of the female painter Zhao Hai Tien, who reimagines abstraction as spiritual inquiry rather than just aesthetic form.From airbrush on glass and acrylic on canvas to calligraphic experiments, large-scale public murals, and oil paintings, Zhao Hai Tien's creative explorations are characterized by the diversity of media in her work. Her practice blends technical precision with expressive freedom and spiritual influences. Over more than three decades of Buddhist and Taoist study-and twenty-four years under the guidance of a respected qigong master-Hai Tien's work has shifted from contemplative, figurative compositions to liberated, spiritually resonant expressions that capture the flow of energy and inner awareness in vibrant, form-defying strokes. This exhibition catalogue follows fifty years of her experiments in abstraction.