LI Yi, Vice-chairman of CFLAC and other Chinese and Greek guests take group photo at opening ceremony. DING Wei/Phot
Chinese and foreign guests to visit the exhibition. DING Wei/Photo
Dance of Bali (Chinese painting) LI Dingcheng
Zayed Grand Mosque, UAE (Chinese painting) LI Qingke 136cm×68cm，2016
Onsite Exhibition ZHANG Xue/Photo
Czech Cesky Krumlov Town (Chinese painting) ZHANG Liang
Flower·Story (Sculpture) LIU Yuting
On the evening of May 10th, local time in Greece, the "Arts and Peace - Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art Works",organized by the China Artists Association has been held in the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. The exhibition shall last until May 27th. which is one of the serial important events of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chinese Art Works committed to implementing the Belt and Road initiative and advancing the Going-out of Chinese culture of the central government. CFLAC vice-chairman LI Yi has attended the opening ceremony.Earlier, he also made a special trip to Athens to pay a courtesy call to Lydia Koniordou, Minister of Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and ZOU Xiaoli and Chinese Ambassador to Greece, fully exchanging opinions and reaching consensus in various fields on the institutional exchanges between China and Greece in the field of literature and arts.
Entrusted by LI Yi, XU Li, Vice-chairman of the China Artists Association to the event, has addressed the opening ceremony, during which he said that a special Greek exhibition had been successfully held during the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale. As a friendly return visit to this activity, China Contemporary Art Exhibition now came to Greece, hoping that this event will continue to promote the development of the fine arts in the two countries and enhance the friendship between the two peoples.AlexandrosThanos, Central Macedonia ViceGovernor of Tourism and Culture has recalled the close ties and practical results of the two countries in the field of cultural tourism in recent years, expressing that they will continue to strengthen relationship with relevant parties in China and endeavor to display the two-country long cultural traditions and splendid achievements of civilization to the world.
More than 40 works are displayed in this exhibition, including three parts as the famous Chinese artists' themed creations based on the different national styles along the "Belt and Road" initiative, the outstanding works of the successive Beijing International Art Biennial Exhibition and the achievements of the Chinese young artists’ overseas research training project, featuring multum in parvo.The exhibition employs abundant Chinese elements to represent the exotic customs and the spirit of contemporary China. The varied style of the works includes the Chinese art, oil paintings, prints, sculptures and other art forms, presenting the lively appearance of contemporary Chinese mainstream art from multiple levels while vividly interpreting the concept of "harmony comes first" of the Chinese nation and the its longing for the peaceful and harmonious life and unremitting pursuit.
The "Arts and Peace",as the serial exhibition theme established by the Chinese Artists Association,is determined under the framework of the "China Art World Tour" project in the process of reviewing international hotspots and development trends through collective deliberation and planning.Since its launch in 2016, it has been successfully held in important venues globally, such as Frederiksborg Slot in Denmark, the EU headquarters in Brussels, Vittoriano Palace in Rome of Italy, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Mall Galleries in London, and the National Museum of History in Georgia, applying the languages of the Chinese contemporary art to continue to tell the story of peace in the international community.
Across all the works, exotic natural landscapes possess unique charms, such as ZHANG Fuxing's Glimpses of Latvia,SHI Feng’s Impressions of Lake Ohrid in Macedonia , DONG Xiaoming’s Santorini•Greece , LIANG Shimin’s Romania Peles Castle and other paintings of landscape,presenting the romantic poetry of the painters with the blend of Chinese and Western ink brushwork.In addition, the Chinese artists depict works of foreign architecture, based upon which combining the Chinese ink painting with the light and dark shadows of Western paintings, creating the "New Territories Painting" that expresses foreign architecture, especially cultural sites in contemporary China, including HOU Yaozhou’s Impressions of Slovakia’s Capital, ZHENG Baizhong’s Mirage of the Sea , ZHU Daoping’s Remembrance of Prague, HE Jialin’s City of the Sky, YU Guangqing’s Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, FANG Xiang’s ChediLuang temple of Chiang Mai.Moldova's Sunshinewas created by SUN Zhensheng, a young painter of the Beijing Academy of Painting, one of the members of the delegation. The work employs a technique of light freehand brushwork to depict the beautiful and moving dance of a Moldovan girl, showcasing that the Moldovan people can sing and dance, and be optimistic. The Ink painting No Return Tonight was made by the delegation's member and the young painter from the Beijing Academy of Painting, WANG Guanjun, showcasing the adolescent's unique sentimental and ignorant beauty through portraying the physique of the modern urban youth through in-depth and exquisite depictions.As a painter of meticulous figure painting, he used traditional painting materials to create super realistic textures to make the image more realistic, subtle and stylish.George Divaris, President of the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki said: "After admiring so many contemporary Chinese works of art, we can feel that Chinese contemporary artists are trying to blend tradition with modernity, showing that they have made great efforts inarts of painting." During the exhibition, XU Li’s oil painting Shan Gao Shui Chang has received much attention. Based on the stance of local culture, he used the characteristics and expressive power of Western oil painting materials to integrate the pen and ink taste of Chinese landscape elements and strong freehand spirit into oil paintings, developing it into a unique national cultural temperament "freehand oil painting"with innovation and opening up a brand-new trail of Chinese contemporary oil painting.According to Divaris, the reason why Chinese contemporary art has such an appearance is inseparable from the long history of the country, showcasing vividness and abundance which have influenced the creation of contemporary Chinese painters. This is not only the foundation for the creation of Chinese artists, but for Greece, it is also a topic that cannot be ignored. He also suggested that China and Greece could carry out the activities of the artist's mutual residency, which would bring more creativity andpossibility to the world art if it works.
Greek artist Richard Whitlock had visited universities such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts to give lectures with a more in-depth study of Chinese paintings. He thought that both China and Greece had traditions in painting, but they have not realized or even abandoned the mainstream of focus perspectives in the performance space, the reasons for which are worth studying, for example, HOU Yaozhou's Athenian Style, whichhas abandoned this rule, has used the scattered perspective, this type of artistic creation thinking can be used as a new direction and trend of art development.
It is easily found by the audiences the creative topics that are of universal concern to the international community in the exhibition. WANG Fushun's oil painting Scenery That Will Disappear, PENG Wei’s prints The Besieged City, LI Lihong's pottery McDonald's - CHINA, and TAN Xu's sculpture The Creamy Chinese Donut all reveals the multi-cultural landscapein the rapid progress of urbanization. Since the successful holding of the Beijing Olympic Games a decade ago, the Olympic spirit has gone deep into people's hearts. FU Zuodong's sculpture Polo has shaped the contemporary form of traditional sports, demonstrating the aesthetic relevance of art and sports competitions; there are also works concerning ecological homes, such as LUO Zhinan's oil painting Chopsticks Tree and others employ art forms to appeal for people to protect the ecological environment, maintain and build the common homes on which human beings are relying.As the deputy secretary-general of the China Artists Association, TAO Qin said that today's Chinese art is no longer merely a commitment to tradition, it is also breaking through the barriers of modeling language, striding across the barriers of artistic conceptions, intervening in a powerful way at present,participating in building a community of shared future and contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to global issues. The grand theme of "Art and Peace" reflects the feelings of the nation and homeland that belong to our nation's heart, also containing a beautiful vision of realizing the ideal of peace, amity and harmony. This exhibition is the best comment accordingly.
