China: Jose Gelabert-Navia

The beauty of regional China captured with exquisite mastery in 23 original, exhibition-quality drawings by a leading architect

Between 1915 and 1917 the Russian composer, Sergei Prokofiev wrote a series of twenty piano pieces. While playing them for a gatheringof friends, the poet Konstantin Balmont wrote a sonnet which entitled Mimolyotnosti which Kira Nikolayevna would translate as Visions fugitives.

Inspired by these dazzling miniatures, I have assembled a jewel box containing twenty individual felt-tip drawings on watercolor paper capturing fugitive visions of China.

For a country that has of late been focused on the future, I have been fascinated by the search for a true contemporary regional language in traditional Chinese architecture and painting.

The intricate and careful composition in relation to landscape and light has been a continual revelation, as evidenced by the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing and vanishing water towns such as Zhujiajiao, known as the ‘Venice of Shanghai.