▲ Snowboarder (sculpture) from another parallel universe 2.7×1.6×4.3 meters Xiao Peng stands in the green space on the southeast side of the No. 3 blast furnace in Shougang Park
▲Snow Dance (sculpture) Jing Yumin Height 12 meters 9 pole spacing 6 meters 2022 Standing in the northwest corner of the National Speed Skating Hall
The Beijing Winter Olympics is a major landmark event at an important historical node of the mainland, and an important opportunity to show the national image, promote national development and invigorate the national spirit. The Olympic Games and the arts have a long and inseparable history, and they have been the "golden partners" of the Olympic Games. Olympic public art and Olympic venues are an important symbol of the Olympic city and the main Olympic cultural heritage of the Olympic Games. I had the privilege of participating as part of the planning team in the public art construction of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when we selected 100 sculptures from works collected from around the world and placed them in important locations such as the Olympic Central Area and Chaoyang Park. There are many excellent works that can convey the Olympic spirit to the public, express the concept of Beijing's "Humanistic Olympic Games", and also reflect the concern and support of artists around the world for the Beijing Olympic Games.
On July 9, 2020, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee, the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the Hebei Provincial People's Government jointly released the announcement of the beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games public art collection to the world, inviting global artists to use artistic language to show the concept of the Winter Olympics, jointly build the Olympic cultural heritage, promote the vigorous development of public art, and leave the most vivid image memory for history. In the public art creation of the Winter Olympic Games, the Beijing Academy of Painting, as the guiding unit, continues the experience accumulated in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, takes the Winter Olympic Games as the background, relies on the public art expression Chinese the understanding of the Winter Olympic Games and winter sports, and uses public art to convey the Chinese sportsmanship, shape the Chinese image, and express the understanding and professional action of the times in the field of art.
▲ Snow Mountain Flying (Sculpture) 70×87×50 cm 2021 Shi Zhongying Ren Shikun
The biggest difference between public art and other art disciplines represented by public sculpture is its publicity and relative eternity and large volume. In China, the concept of sculpture with modern significance is only more than a hundred years old, and the real development began at the same time as the republic, because in the early days of the founding of New China, the new China needed to present a national attitude of a new republic with large public sculptures. Around the 21st century, the "publicness" of sculpture was proposed, and the expansion of the concept of sculpture and the diversity of sculpture in urban space made public art based on sculpture the focus of creation. By the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the public art of sculpture had become mainstream.
The basic feature of public art is "made for this place", and the global collection of public art works for the Winter Olympics takes "Community of Human Destiny" and the theme of the Winter Olympics "Ice, Snow, Life, Joy" and "Wisdom Winter Olympics" as the theme, expressing our understanding of winter, ice and snow and ice sports in the context of the Winter Olympic Games, as well as the dreams and feelings placed in it. The artworks we look forward to related to the Winter Olympics can not only fully demonstrate the vision and Olympic spirit of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, but also express the relationship between people and space, architecture and the environment.
Public art is associated with monumentality and eternity, and public art may not exist in the form of monuments, but its essence is a symbolic memory connection. For example, some of the public artworks built around the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games still generate memories today. As the visual image of the essence of the Olympic Games, it is an important carrier to convey the Olympic spirit and show the image of the country, and everything we do today must face history and the future, which is our first intention. I have always believed that the more I emphasize particularity, the more we must have an international perspective and find a point of integration between history and the present and the future.
▲ Olympic Spirit (oil on canvas) 130×291 cm 2021 Lucy Zhuyan (France)
▲ Light of Life Chinese Speed (Chinese painting) 280×220 cm 2021 Shen Sulan
In addition to organizing the collection of public art creations and showing the visual image of the Olympic Games, in recent years, around the theme of the Winter Olympics, many artists have carried out theme creations, the National Art Museum of China, the National Academy of Painting of China, the Beijing Academy of Painting and other art institutions have also launched art exhibitions focusing on the theme of the Winter Olympics, and many theme exhibitions have also been included in the "Meet in Beijing" Olympic Cultural Festival and the 22nd "Meet in Beijing" International Art Festival.
▲ Ski jumping (ink) 35×49.5 cm 2014 Yang Gang
In the creation around the Winter Olympic Games, the works of Mr. Yang Gang of the Beijing Academy of Painting are more distinctive. Since 2000, Mr. Yang Gang has created a large number of works on the theme of the Winter Olympics, including sketches and inks drawn on various types of paper with brushes and markers, as well as signature pens or ballpoint pens. With solid Chinese and Western painting techniques and keen insight, coupled with the integration of calligraphy pen and linear experience, these Winter Olympic works combine sketching with calligraphy pens and image modeling, integrate modern abstraction and compositional elements, the artistic image is vivid and vivid, the painted objects have both a fleeting sense of presence and impact, and a sculptural sense of volume and eternity, realizing the contradiction and unity of "speed" and "strength" in a few strokes, reflecting the rhythm of life and the endless Olympic spirit. Co-sponsored by the Beijing Artists Association, the Beijing Academy of Painting and the Shenzhen Art Museum, the "Sheng Sheng - Yang Gang Art Exhibition" takes the theme of the Winter Olympics as the starting point and focuses on the works of ink, sketching and calligraphy created by Mr. Yang Gang between 2000 and 2018, becoming a dynamic and beautiful and unlimited artistic landscape.
▲ Together to the Future (propaganda picture) 76×56 cm 2022 Liao Kaiming
▲ Curling (print) 21×25 cm 2020 Zhu Xihua
▲ Untitled (print) 46.5×65 cm 2021 Xu Haoyu
In addition, for example, the "2022 Ninth China Beijing International Art Biennale" co-sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the China Artists Association, with the theme of "Light of Life", many excellent works showing the style of Beijing's capital, the love affair of the Olympic Games and the construction of winter Olympic venues have emerged in the exhibited works, which have become artistic tributes for building a community with a shared future for mankind. The "Focus - International Printmaking Exchange Exhibition on the Theme of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games" jointly sponsored by the China Academy of Art and the Beijing Academy of Painting invites artists who are more active in the contemporary international printmaking industry to take the Beijing Winter Olympics as the theme and carefully create works that not only have the artistic value of printmaking, but also reflect the Olympic spirit. The exhibition strengthens the in-depth exchanges between artists from all over the world on the platform for the creation and display of Chinese printmaking, and enhances the understanding and attention of the people of all countries to the Beijing Winter Olympics and its ice and snow competition projects.
The holding of these artistic creations and exhibitions responds to the initiative of the Beijing Winter Olympics to pursue the common goals of unity, peace, progress and inclusiveness, strengthens the dissemination and affinity of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Olympic spirit in various countries, and at the same time shows the world the style of the times of Chinese literature and art and the diverse styles of cultures of all countries and nationalities in the world. The artists' creations depict the charm and characteristics of ice and snow sports, showing the beauty of world civilization, the beauty of Chinese culture, the beauty of the Beijing Olympic scene, especially the beauty of the passionate sports and the spirit of hard work in the ice and snow world.
The development of global integration is closely related to all the peoples of the world, and in today's construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, it is more necessary for countries to understand each other and between nations and nations to meet each other, and the modern Olympic spirit of mutual unity and fair competition is needed. Through the interpretation of works of art, the Olympic concept and cultural spirit will surely become more brilliant and magnificent and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Let us carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture together, advocate the global consciousness of the community with a shared future for mankind, and compose a chapter in which culture, art and sports events are intertwined!
(The author is the president of Beijing Academy of Painting)
February 13, 2022 China Culture Daily
Special reports were published on the 4th edition
The Art of the Winter Olympics and the Winter Olympics of Art
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue