On January 15th, the "Road to the Peak - Freehand Exploration and Research Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Painting" opened at the Guangzhou Museum of Art.
The exhibition is sponsored by Guangzhou Museum of Art and China Art News, co-organized by Guangdong Yirun Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., and hosted by China Art News Art Center. As the final exhibition of the 2021 "Road to the Peak" series, it takes "freehand" as the research aspect, trying to explore and present the different generational characteristics of "freehand" in the 20th century from the 30s to the 70s. Through more than 220 works by 75 artists, the exhibition presents the exploration and experimentation of current artists on the "brush and ink" and "freehand" in Chinese painting as a whole.
"Peak Road" is an important exhibition brand activity launched by China Art Daily, the purpose of which is to explore the development of Chinese painting from an academic point of view of the current situation of "plateau" and lack of "peak" in artistic creation. The exhibition first starts from different painting disciplines of landscapes, flowers, birds and figures, and then presents the freehand thinking of artists of different ages on Chinese painting in the way of the painters, trying to present the exploration path of contemporary Chinese painting towards the "peak".
The 2021 "Road to The Peak" series of exhibitions focuses on freehand exploration. Shang Hui, the academic host of the exhibition, the director of the Art Theory Committee of the China Artists Association, and the president and editor-in-chief of "Fine Arts" magazine, introduced that "freehand" is the basic feature of Chinese painting, and even the essential characteristics, which do not need to be discussed more, but the so-called "freehand" of Chinese painting today points to the concept of "realism" opposite to Western painting, that is, all non-realistic paintings may be regarded as freehand. This makes some contemporary painters only understand the "freehandness" of Chinese painting as a kind of pan-calligraphic brush feature, misinterpret "freehandness" as "sloppiness", and understand "wantonness" as "arbitrary", believing that this is a manifestation of true temperament, but traditional literati are against sloppiness. In Shang Hui's view: "The reason why we talk about the topic of freehand today is because we have lost freehand, which requires us to discuss what Chinese freehand is through the discussion of the problem, so that we can absorb the nutrients of foreign art and at the same time be able to inherit and carry forward the traditions of the Chinese nation." ”
This series of exhibitions takes the creations of artists of different ages as the research object, with prominent focus and distinct themes, and summarizes the exploration of the freehand of Chinese painting by the three generations of old, middle-aged and young artists through the latest creative system of the artists.
Combining video with the exhibition is a feature of this series. According to Wang Ping, president and editor-in-chief of China Art News, in the previous "Peak Road" series of exhibitions, China Art News carried out a number of live broadcasts on "Exploration of Contemporary Chinese Painting Freehand", and invited experts and scholars to conduct in-depth analysis of the exhibited works, in addition to inviting participating artists to discuss pen and ink through video, combined with the vivid exhibition scene, let the audience deeply feel the artists' practice and thinking on the freehandness of Chinese painting.
The exhibited works in this exhibition not only let us see the vivid play of the older generation of Chinese painters on freehand, but also show the expansion and enrichment of freehand by young and middle-aged artists, which is quite contemporary. At the same time, their exploration also provides a benchmark and development direction for the younger generation of painters.
The exhibition will run until February 7.
Text/Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng reporter Bu Songzhu correspondent Li Kaiyu
Photo: Wang Weixuan, reporter of Guangzhou Daily And New Flower City
Video/ Guangzhou Daily New Flower City reporter Wang Weixuan Bu Songzhu
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Li Yani