798 District Blog

A new exhibition at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado is showcasing Xu Beihong’s work for the first time in North America. Generally considered to be the father of modern Chinese painting, his influence on the art world is acknowledged to be vast.

Featuring 61 works including oil paintings, Chinese ink brush paintings, drawings, pastels and calligraphy, the exhibition titled Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting demonstrates the artist’s unique blend of Western and Chinese techniques. Visitors may recognize his dynamic paintings of horses in movement, for which he received great acclaim.

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Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang likes explosions; he likes to see how traditional mediums transform spontaneously before the spectator’s careful gaze. In “Saraab,” the artist’s exhibition to be held at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha next month, Guo-Qiang explores his personal connection to the Gulf through installation works and a series of gunpowder drawings in which he incorporates elements from Islamic miniature paintings, decorative art, and textiles, as well as ancient maritime routes between the Arab world and his hometown of Quanzhou, China. Mathaf’s first single-artist exhibition since its opening in December 2010, “Saraab” features more than 50 works, including newly commissioned pieces and documentary material to highlight the artist’s creative process. Guo-Qiang’s works are riveting in scale and execution. Their power lies with their ability to re-expose a seemingly forgotten past: the relationship between China and Arabia that dates back to the Silk Road.

“The Middle East is very mysterious for me,” says the artist, who took part in the exhibition “Talking Arts: Emirati Expressions” in 2009. “Geographically speaking, the Gulf and the Middle East have always been part of Asia. I want to retrace these histories and show the rich and long cultural exchange between these two civilizations.” Guo-Qiang also hopes to probe the contemporary society of the region and discover what is real and what is illusionary. “Saraab” (Arabic for mirage) was chosen by Guo-Qiang because parts of Doha have a mirage-like quality for him.

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A very important window on Chinese history has been opened in Europe thanks to “Manchu, the Last Emperor” exhibition which kicked off Saturday in northern Italy’s town of Treviso, Italian curator Adriano Madaro told Xinhua.

The show, which will last till May 13, is the fourth of a series of exhibitions each covering a different period of China’s history since the foundation of its empire, with exhibits carefully selected from the most famous archaeological sites and museums in China, Madaro said.

“Many of the objects which have been displayed in Treviso are listed as State treasures, and I must thank the Chinese government for allowing us to borrow exhibits which are normally locked away in security vaults,” he said.

The curator highlighted that over the four exhibitions, started in 2005, more than a thousand exhibits have been displayed, from the Xi’an terracotta warriors to the jacket of China’s last emperor Pu Yi.

The “Manchu, the Last Emperor” exhibition features over 250 robes, weapons, furniture and objects dating back to Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) including the Manchu iconic throne.

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From ceramics to metal, from realistic figures to abstract post-modern images, a complex world of contemporary Chinese sculpture is presented at an exhibition of young artists from Chinese Sculpture Academy.

The exhibition, which opened on Aug 22 at the Chinese Museum of Women and Children, showcases the works of 21 young sculptors from the academy, which is attached to the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

“This exhibition shows how the younger generation of Chinese sculptors has learned from both Chinese and Western sculpture traditions, as well as the visual arts revolution of the 20th century,” says Wu Weishan, director of the Chinese Sculpture Academy. “It also shows young Chinese artists’ understanding of the specific time, location and context in which they live.”

Some of the artists, like Zhang Wei and Zhi Min, in the spirit of classical Chinese art, express spiritual transcendence through ritual scenes. Some others, like Qu Feng and Chen Gang, present their views on nature and society.

The young sculptors’ exploration of materials is a highlight of the exhibition. Zhang and Zhi choose ceramics to add more elements of traditional Chinese culture into their works, while Qu and Chen use wood to invoke the vitality of art. Li Hengfeng and Wang Wei present their idea of “humans and nature in harmony” through the use of melted metal. There are also works using more complex materials.

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Exhibition / SAGYA ZHANG XIAOTAO SOLO EXHIBITION
curator / Cecilia Freschini
Artists / ZHANG XiaoTao
City / Beijing
Opening Reception / 16:00 20-Aug-2011
Date / 20-Aug-2011 To 10-Oct-2011
Place / Whitebox Museum of Art
Organizers / WHITE BOX MUSEUM OF ART

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SAGYA  ANIMATION  15Mins 06Secs   2011

CURATOR: Cecilia  Freschini
Art Director:Gu Zhenqing
PRESENTED BY: Sun Yongzeng
EXHIBITION DIRECTOR: Dai Zhuoqun
ASSISTANT CURATORS: Hao Danmeng, LI Yunxia
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Wu Wei

SPONSOR: WHITE BOX MUSEUM OF ART
OPENING: 4pm.Aug 20(Sat), 2011
DATES: August 20, 2011 – October 10, 2011
MUSEUM OPENING HOURS: 10:00 – 18:00, Tuesday – Sunday
VENUE: WHITE BOX MUSEUM OF ART, 798 Art Dist., NO.2 Jiu Xianqiao Road, Chaoyang Dist., Beijing, China

CONTACT US: +86-10-5978 4801
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.798whitebox.com

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Artist BIO:

Zhang Xiaotao (born 1970) is a painter based in Beijing and Chengdu.

Zhang Xiaotao was born in Chongqing in China. He graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1996.

Zhang makes paintings with sexual imagery often involving small animals such as frogs and snakes, and incorporating images of putrefaction and pollution.

His work Condom Series: Enlarged Props – Crystal And Fishes 2 sold for US$64,500 at Sothebys Hong Kong in 2007.

Solo exhibition of Ye Yongqin, 54, As Light as a Feather, in the Singapore Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and curated by Zhu Zhu, features 20 artworks, organized by the Beijing, Singapore and Indonesia-based Linda Gallery.

The themes are a conjunction of his Bird and Injury/Heart series.

“Flying birds are traditionally used to express the wandering and carefree. Ye’s paintings are a nironic echo of the words of Du Fu, a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty [618-917]: ‘A gull on chilly Earth, not free from care,’” Zhu explained. “Thus, the imagery… delineates the crucial theme of the unbearable lightness of being.”

In Birds, avian imagery is partially glimpsed. “Feelings and thoughts are portrayed through feather-light improvised strokes,” Zhu continued. “This is an unintentional abstract, a capture of pure emotion. The lines are like pulse beats and the negative spaces which evoke feelings of emptiness.”

“An artist, whether he has consciousness about the nation or the races, depends on his own past experiences and memories,” according to Ye. “Such change in ideology began when I worked in London. Drifting and wandering abroad, alienated from my mother tongue, the feeling of loss of familiar experiences seemed to be magnified.”

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Christie’s, the world’s leading art business, announced that tonight’s sale of International Modern and Contemporary Art in Dubai made $14,043,000 / AED 51,565,896, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate of $6.7 million and confirming Christie’s market leadership in the region. The auction was 94% sold by value and 84% sold by lot. The buyer breakdown by lot was 60% from the Middle East, 28% from Europe, 10% from the Americas and 2% from Asia. The sale concludes a record year for Christie’s in contemporary Middle Eastern art, with an increase of 117 percent over 2009.

Jussi Pylkkänen, President of Christie’s Middle East and Europe, said: “A packed saleroom, a team of 20 Christie’s staff manning the telephones and internet bidding from around the world, helped to make tonight’s auction both successful and hugely memorable. The sale achieved $7.3 million over our pre-sale expectations and saw record numbers of clients registering to bid, with nearly 200 registrants from 23 countries. The 30 works from the Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi collection were again 100% sold and saw a huge increase in international interest in Egyptian art. We were delighted to see Mahmoud Said’s Whirling Dervishes sell for a world record $2,546,500 making it the most expensive Middle Eastern painting ever sold. Following the trend of the Frieze art sales in London two weeks ago, tonight’s auction here in Dubai had a tremendous spring in its step.”

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Sotheby’s 4 November auction of 19th Century European Art in New York will feature three works by the prominent Italian painter Giovanni Boldini. This offering comes just after the close of the important exhibition Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris, which opened at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara in 2009 and traveled to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts in early 2010. This exhibition represented the first major show of the artist’s work outside of Europe, and an exciting opportunity for Americans to discover Boldini’s impressive and varied oeuvre.

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Tate Archive will celebrate its 40th anniversary this week with a fascinating new display, 40 Degrees of Separation, featuring forty items from the Tate Archive Collection, all of them interconnected in sequence. From Kenneth Clark’s notebook when he was making the epic Civilisation for the BBC to Keith Vaughan’s suicide note, and from Jake Chapman’s schoolboy essay on his favourite painters to a loving letter from Constable to his wife, this rich diversity of material reveals undiscovered gems which provide intriguing insights into the workings of British artists and institutions over the last three centuries.

Tate Archive has also significantly enriched the Collection in its fortieth year with over forty archives pledged as gifts, thanks to the generosity of artists, individuals and institutions, Highlights of these include: 30,000 photographs taken by Gemma Levine comprising, among other items, the most comprehensive set of images documenting the last decade of Henry Moore’s life; and important bodies of material relating to Stuart Brisley, Prunella Clough, Nigel Henderson, Josef Herman, Cedric Morris, John Nash, Norman Reid and Leonard Rosoman.

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The 2011 programme at the Kunsthaus Zürich is the most exciting yet. News of one highlight has already leaked out: the prestigious private collection of the Nahmad family is to receive its world premiere in Zurich. There will be a retrospective of the work of Franz Gertsch, one of the most important contemporary Swiss artists. Full of fascinating insights, ‘The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture’ transfers to the Kunsthaus Zürich from the Museum of Modern Art New York. There is a revival for the ecological and political work of Joseph Beuys. ‘Beastly Good Show’ will be of particular interest to families. Exhibitions featuring the most recent work of Roman Ondák and international rising star Haris Epaminonda will be of particular interest to experimental art enthusiasts.

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