Exhibition Title: The Journey that Didn’t Happen
Dates: June 7 – July 6, 2025
Location: UM Gallery, Zhongyi Street, 798 Art District, Beijing
As you step into a quiet space, you may discover, within the texture of paper, a deep doorway. It gently opens, revealing a beam of light named time. At this moment, the paper has already absorbed the warmth of ink; the images have emerged. These imprints, like composed verses, are arranged with precision and restraint throughout the space, guiding you into a journey that can be read.
On this journey, you might encounter a horse, a solitary traveler, or a fleeting landscape hovering on the edges of memory. They are not here to retell a fixed narrative, but to remind us: visual experience itself is an “unfinished” journey. It sets no final destination—forever unfolding at the crossroads of history, in the interplay between perception and action.
And this unfolding is itself a way of entering the world—a commitment to act. Throughout art history, printmaking has carried multiple identities: once a vehicle for politics, religion, and knowledge; once embraced by modernist avant-garde. As ideas and technologies evolve, printmaking becomes a practice that is critical, expressive, and socially engaged. Today, it is no longer a mere container for images, but a site where visual perception occurs. It is the artist’s process of refining rhythm through material, and for the viewer, an entry into a renewed relationship with the image—through nuance and tactile intensity.
This exhibition brings together six artists from Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and Serbia, including prominent Irish artist and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers member Stephen Lawlor RE; Serbian artist and Vice Dean of the University of Arts in Belgrade, Dimitrije Pecić; Japanese artist Yoko Akino; and New Zealand artist Kelvin Mann. They do not pursue a unified aesthetic, but speak in the language of copperplate, woodblock, screenprint, and more—each forging a deep dialogue with the world from within their own contexts. You are invited to enter a journey that is contemplative, abundant, gazeable, participatory—and even misinterpretable.
And in this journey, the process itself becomes a dialogue—not necessarily loud, but resonant—a journey unfinished, unfolding through perception.
Text by Tang Xueying
Ausstellungstitel: Die Reise, die nicht stattfand
Ausstellungszeitraum: 07. Juni – 06. Juli 2025
Ort: UM Gallery, Zhongyi-Straße, 798 Kunstbezirk, Peking
Wenn du einen stillen Raum betrittst, entdeckst du im Gewebe des Papiers eine tiefe Tür. Sie öffnet sich leise und lässt ein Lichtstrahl namens Zeit hinein. Das Papier hat längst die Wärme der Tinte aufgenommen, die Bilder sind erschienen. Diese Spuren – wie geschriebene Gedichte – sind präzise und zurückhaltend im Raum angeordnet und führen dich in eine lesbare Reise.
Auf dieser Reise könntest du einem Pferd begegnen, einem einsamen Wanderer oder einer Landschaft, die nur an den Rändern der Erinnerung aufflackert. Sie existieren nicht, um eine festgelegte Geschichte zu erzählen, sondern erinnern uns daran: Visuelle Erfahrung ist selbst eine „unvollendete“ Reise. Ohne festes Ziel entfaltet sie sich an den Schnittstellen von Geschichte, Wahrnehmung und Handlung – immer weiter.
Und dieses Entfalten ist eine Form des Weltzugangs – ein Versprechen des Handelns. In der Kunstgeschichte hatte der Druck viele Rollen: einst Medium für Politik, Religion und Wissen; später ein Bereich der modernen Avantgarde. Mit dem Wandel von Ideen und Technologien ist Druckgrafik heute eine kritische, expressive und gesellschaftlich relevante Praxis. Nicht bloß Träger von Bildern, sondern Ort der visuellen Wahrnehmung. Für Künstler ist sie ein Weg, Rhythmus im Material zu formen, für Betrachter ein Zugang zu neuen Bildbeziehungen – durch Feinheit und taktile Intensität.
Diese Ausstellung vereint sechs Künstler aus Irland, Japan, Neuseeland und Serbien – darunter Stephen Lawlor RE, ein bedeutender irischer Künstler und Mitglied der Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, sowie Dimitrije Pecić, Vizedekan der Kunstfakultät der Universität Belgrad, die japanische Künstlerin Yoko Akino und der neuseeländische Künstler Kelvin Mann. Sie eint keine gemeinsame Ästhetik, sondern die Sprache von Tiefdruck, Holzschnitt, Siebdruck – jedes Werk ist ein tiefes Gespräch mit der Welt, aus je eigenem Kontext heraus. Du bist eingeladen zu einer Reise, die still, reich, betrachtbar, teilbar – ja sogar missverständlich sein darf.
In dieser Reise ist der Prozess selbst ein Gespräch – nicht unbedingt laut, aber kraftvoll. Eine „unvollendete Reise“, die sich stets in der Wahrnehmung neu eröffnet.
Text: Tang Xueying
Dimitrije Pecić
Title: The Field
Medium: Woodcut
Edition: 40
Image Size: 42 × 80 cm
Dimitrije Pecić
Born in 1961 in Serbia, Dimitrije Pecić graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade in 1986 with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting. He later obtained both his Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Arts (DA) degrees from the same institution. He is currently a full-time professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, teaching Drawing and Painting. From 2002 to 2004, he served as the Faculty’s Vice Dean, and from 2014 to 2022, as Dean. Between 2012 and 2014, he also directed the Center for Graphic Arts and Visual Research. Since 2024, he has been the Vice Rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade.
He is a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS) and the Serbian Artists’ Association LADA.
James Kearney
Title: Beech Nuts
Medium: Screenprint
Edition: 12
Image Size: 40 × 60 cm
Paper Size: 50 × 70 cm
James Kearney was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, and is currently based in Limerick. He graduated in 2018 from the Limerick School of Art and Design with a degree in Printmaking and Contemporary Art Practice. In 2019, he completed a 12-month artist residency at Cork Printmakers.
Kearney is currently a member of Limerick Printmakers and works across a variety of techniques, including screenprinting, etching, mezzotint, and alternative photography.
His work has been exhibited in both Ireland and internationally, including at the 191st Annual Exhibition of the Royal Hibernian Academy and at the Halftone Print Fair in Dublin. He has received several awards and recognitions, including the Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Tipperary Artist Awards.
Kelvin Mann
Bird’s-eye view of another bird flying over a Tower
Etching (Intaglio)
Edition: 50
Image Size: 14 × 14 cm
Paper Size: 40 × 40 cm
Kelvin Mann was born in New Zealand in 1972 and studied at the Otago School of Fine Art. From 1994 to 1996, he worked as an animation artist at Vidmark Television. In 1997, he moved to Dublin, where he became a member of Graphic Studio Dublin.
In 2007, Mann won first place in the “Dublin Port” exhibition. His work has been widely exhibited across New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, and Australia, and he has participated in several international touring shows, including The Cracked Looking Glass (2004), which traveled to Sweden and New York.
Since 2002, Kelvin Mann has served as the Studio Manager at Stoney Road Press in Dublin.
Ria Czerniak-Lebov
Title: Outlier
Medium: Etching (Intaglio)
Edition: 20
Image Size: 26 × 31 cm
Paper Size: 48 × 50 cm
Ria Czerniak-Lebov is a printmaker and writer based in Dublin. She holds a BA in Fine Art Printmaking and Art History from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin, and was awarded the Graduate Prize from Graphic Studio Dublin.
Her etching works have been widely exhibited in Ireland and abroad and are held in several permanent collections, including the Office of Public Works (OPW), Trinity College Dublin, and Mason Hayes & Curran Solicitors.
Ria’s recent essay, Irish Printmakers in the Age of Digital Reproduction, was selected for publication by the IMPACT International Printmaking Conference.
Through both her visual and written work, Ria explores the relationship between analog and digital processes, the built environment, and the ways we record and remember those spaces.
Stephen Lawlor
Title: Busted Dream
Medium: Etching (Intaglio)
Edition: 50
Image Size: 19 × 29 cm
Paper Size: 38 × 40 cm
Stephen Lawlor has worked in numerous international print studios, including Galleri Astley in Sweden, the Jyvaskyla Printmaking Centre in Finland, Paupers Press in London, Hampton Editions in the United States, and the Guanlan International Printmaking Base in China.
He participated in the 7th International Printmaking Biennial in Douro, Portugal (2014), and won First Prize at the New Grounds International Print Exhibition in Albuquerque, USA (2013). In 2015, he was co-recipient of the First Prize at the 35th International Mini Print Exhibition in Cadaqués, Spain (Adogi).
In addition to his studio practice, Lawlor has curated several international exhibitions, including Art into Art (1998), Holy Show (2002), A Lonely Impulse of Delight (2016), and Kwaidan (2022).
Yoko Akino
Title: Everywhere and Everywhen
Medium: Etching with Gold Leaf
Edition: 30
Image Size: 24 × 34 cm
Paper Size: 38 × 48 cm
Yoko Akino was born in Kyoto, Japan, and began studying painting at the age of nine. She worked for four years as a draftsman in an architectural office in Tokyo before returning to Kyoto in 1991, where she created a series of line drawings using gouache. In 1996, she moved to Ireland and began working at the Graphic Studio Workshop, participating in the Temple Bar International Print Exhibition. She is currently a member of Graphic Studio Dublin.
In 2007, Akino was awarded the “Best Print Prize” by O’Sullivan Graphic Supplies at the RHA Annual Exhibition.
Her work is marked by a minimalist sensibility and a quiet, dreamlike narrative style—evocative and otherworldly. Now living on the Cooley Peninsula, surrounded by seascapes, Akino draws deep inspiration from the dramatic forms of the coastline.
Her imagery intertwines vivid color fields with intricate linework, depicting the landscapes of Ireland’s east and west coasts, while also reflecting her memories of the Honshu shoreline and the Pacific Ocean in Japan.
urban mirage gallery is a professional art institution under the German terracons group, originating from Berlin. Since its establishment in 2015, it has been committed to promoting the development of independent art, advocating for international street art, and disseminating art in public spaces.
As a professional organization, UM collaborates with internationally renowned printmakers, illustrators, leading visual designers, animators, and painters. It curates art exhibitions, sells artworks, and organizes cultural exchange programs.
