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Artist defies esthetic biases to illustrate the vitality of youth
By Xu Wenwen |
September 19, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LIU Guohui is a leading figure of traditional Chinese painting even though he never sells his creations. He plans to donate them all to museums after his death.
For decades Liu has been called a "master" by other masters.
Today the 72-year-old keeps working, creating portraits along with figure and landscape paintings.
A solo exhibition called Liu Guohai's Works started last Friday at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou.
Liu attended the opening ceremony, but true to form, spoke very briefly, saying only one sentence to guests.
"My feelings are in those paintings, you are welcome to visit," he told them.
Co-sponsored by the China Artists Association, China Academy of Art, National Art Museum of China, Chinese Painting Institute and Zhejiang Art Museum, the exhibition features 75 paintings, one of which consists of 52 pieces. Despite being based in Hangzhou, it is Liu's first solo exhibition in Zhejiang Province.
The exhibit follows one in Beijing that showcased essentially the same works.
Liu is vice chairman of the Chinese Painting Institute and professor of the China Academy of Art's Chinese Painting Department.
Many of the paintings are portraits of young people, mostly students from the China Academy of Art who have volunteered over the years. Of the portraits on exhibit, the first was done in 1980 and the last finished recently.
"Young people are energetic, vivid, and I like to paint them," Liu told Shanghai Daily, adding he would keep painting as long as possible. "For the same reason, I never ask them to pose," Critics love taking a stab at analyzing Liu's work.
"I see he adopts slight ink and color on a figure's face and shoulder, seemingly as if light flows there," said Liang Pingbo, director of the Zhejiang Research Institute of Culture and History.
Xu Jiang, principal of the China Academy of Art, said: "On one hand he inherits tradition, on the other hand he creates."
Richard Vine, editor of Asian art for Art in America, has long had an interest in Chinese art and once wrote a critical essay full of praise about Liu's work.
Figure paintings
"Liu's pictures defy many of the esthetic biases that prevail in the West and among Chinese avant-garde artists strongly influenced by Euro-American practice," Vine wrote. "His work actually realizes some of the solidarity-with-the-people values that experimental art espouses but, caught up in its own contradictions, often fails to fulfill."
The exhibition shows Liu is interested in more than just portraits. There is also a section of figure paintings of farmers in Yunnan and Shanxi provinces, as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region - three places he likes to visit. The figure painting section also includes well-known people such as Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Wu Changshuo and Henri-émile-Beno?t Matisse, a pioneer of Western experimentalism.
In addition, some landscape paintings show Liu's versatility. They include everything from Russian street scenes to the canals of Venice.
Date: Through September 25, 9am-5pm (closed on Mondays)
Address: 138 Nanshan Rd
Other exhibitions
2012 HangzhouDesign Week
2012 Hangzhou Design Week is underway on Imperial Street of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) with designers from China, Canada, Holland, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the US. Their works are featured at seven pavilions along the street during the seven-day event. Visitors will be able to attend lectures by famous designers from home and abroad. The lectures will be held on the second floor at 65 Zhongshan Road M. from 2pm to 4pm every day until Saturday.
Date: Through September 23, 10am-8pm
Venue: 13 Zhongshan Rd M., 39 Zhongshan Rd M., 34-36 Zhongshan Rd M.
Tel: (0571) 8835-2666
Lost - Solo Exhibition of Hua Peng
Hua Peng is an animator. He has worked on "Lost" for one year without any assistants. Hua uses things such as vegetable parchment, common paper, glass and lamps. He prints, cuts, slices and sticks them to create the animation.
Date: September 22-October 21, 10am-5pm
Venue: Inna Contemporary Art Space, 465 Hefang Street
Tel: (0571) 8702-3522
For decades Liu has been called a "master" by other masters.
Today the 72-year-old keeps working, creating portraits along with figure and landscape paintings.
A solo exhibition called Liu Guohai's Works started last Friday at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou.
Liu attended the opening ceremony, but true to form, spoke very briefly, saying only one sentence to guests.
"My feelings are in those paintings, you are welcome to visit," he told them.
Co-sponsored by the China Artists Association, China Academy of Art, National Art Museum of China, Chinese Painting Institute and Zhejiang Art Museum, the exhibition features 75 paintings, one of which consists of 52 pieces. Despite being based in Hangzhou, it is Liu's first solo exhibition in Zhejiang Province.
The exhibit follows one in Beijing that showcased essentially the same works.
Liu is vice chairman of the Chinese Painting Institute and professor of the China Academy of Art's Chinese Painting Department.
Many of the paintings are portraits of young people, mostly students from the China Academy of Art who have volunteered over the years. Of the portraits on exhibit, the first was done in 1980 and the last finished recently.
"Young people are energetic, vivid, and I like to paint them," Liu told Shanghai Daily, adding he would keep painting as long as possible. "For the same reason, I never ask them to pose," Critics love taking a stab at analyzing Liu's work.
"I see he adopts slight ink and color on a figure's face and shoulder, seemingly as if light flows there," said Liang Pingbo, director of the Zhejiang Research Institute of Culture and History.
Xu Jiang, principal of the China Academy of Art, said: "On one hand he inherits tradition, on the other hand he creates."
Richard Vine, editor of Asian art for Art in America, has long had an interest in Chinese art and once wrote a critical essay full of praise about Liu's work.
Figure paintings
"Liu's pictures defy many of the esthetic biases that prevail in the West and among Chinese avant-garde artists strongly influenced by Euro-American practice," Vine wrote. "His work actually realizes some of the solidarity-with-the-people values that experimental art espouses but, caught up in its own contradictions, often fails to fulfill."
The exhibition shows Liu is interested in more than just portraits. There is also a section of figure paintings of farmers in Yunnan and Shanxi provinces, as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region - three places he likes to visit. The figure painting section also includes well-known people such as Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Wu Changshuo and Henri-émile-Beno?t Matisse, a pioneer of Western experimentalism.
In addition, some landscape paintings show Liu's versatility. They include everything from Russian street scenes to the canals of Venice.
Date: Through September 25, 9am-5pm (closed on Mondays)
Address: 138 Nanshan Rd
Other exhibitions
2012 HangzhouDesign Week
2012 Hangzhou Design Week is underway on Imperial Street of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) with designers from China, Canada, Holland, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the US. Their works are featured at seven pavilions along the street during the seven-day event. Visitors will be able to attend lectures by famous designers from home and abroad. The lectures will be held on the second floor at 65 Zhongshan Road M. from 2pm to 4pm every day until Saturday.
Date: Through September 23, 10am-8pm
Venue: 13 Zhongshan Rd M., 39 Zhongshan Rd M., 34-36 Zhongshan Rd M.
Tel: (0571) 8835-2666
Lost - Solo Exhibition of Hua Peng
Hua Peng is an animator. He has worked on "Lost" for one year without any assistants. Hua uses things such as vegetable parchment, common paper, glass and lamps. He prints, cuts, slices and sticks them to create the animation.
Date: September 22-October 21, 10am-5pm
Venue: Inna Contemporary Art Space, 465 Hefang Street
Tel: (0571) 8702-3522
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