Itinerant Exhibition “Oriental Wisdom: Contemporary Art Themed on Chinese Traditional Culture” Is Opened in Chengdu

pubdate: 2024/9/26   author: zjam  source: zjam  click:

The itinerant exhibition titled “Oriental Wisdom: Contemporary Art Themed on Chinese Traditional Culture”, which is independently curated by ZJAM, was opened at Chengdu Art Museum on September 26, 2024. This exhibition is jointly sponsored by ZJAM and Chengdu Art Museum, co-organized by Chengdu Library (Chengdu Ancient Books Protection Center), and supported by the Laboratory of Perception and Intelligence in Peking University under the Ministry of Education.

Since the initiation of a new phase of east-west cooperation under the adjustment of the state in 2021, exchanges and cooperation between Zhejiang and Sichuan in the cultural sector have become more frequent under the context of the close cultural and people-to-people connections. These two provinces have set an example in the east-west cooperation in the new era. This exhibition is not only a feast that gathers the excellent traditional Chinese culture and innovation in contemporary art, but also a vivid practice of the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture. More importantly, it stands as a strong testament to the cultural collaboration and profound integration between the eastern and western regions represented by Zhejiang and Sichuan in the new era.

Conversation at the opening ceremony

On the afternoon of September 26, a conversation at the opening ceremony took place in the academic lecture hall located on the basement floor of Zone A at Chengdu Art Museum, featuring the joint participation of many artists, experts, and scholars, as well as audience present and art lovers. The event was moderated by Xiao Feige, deputy curator of Chengdu Art Museum. Among the distinguished guests were: Ying Jinfei, curator of ZJAM; He Duoling, an exhibition artist; Wu Yongqiang, a professor from Sichuan University; and He Liang, director of the Department of Mural Painting in China Academy of Art. The discussion centered on the value and method of incorporating traditional Chinese culture into contemporary artistic creation and the value of art museums and curation in fostering the inheritance and development of traditional culture. The conversation was combined with the exhibition of “Oriental Wisdom” and its understanding and artistic expression of the spirit of traditional Chinese culture to stimulate wonderful discussions and sharing with all.

Xiao Feige, deputy curator of Chengdu Art Museum

Ying Jinfei, Curator of ZJAM

In his speech, Ying Jinfei shared insights from his experience in artistic creation and his focus on the exploration and inheritance of traditional cultures and oriental wisdom. Based on his personal career in creation practice and his mental process of planning the exhibition series under the brand of “Oriental Wisdom” in response to the spirit of “creative transformation and innovative development”, he discussed how to present the essence and philosophical thoughts of traditional Chinese culture to the public under the contemporary perspective. Meanwhile, he concisely reviewed the evolution of the Chinese intellectual history, dug into the inspiration and value provided by the Chinese traditional thoughts and spirits and aesthetic system in the contemporary society and art development, and called for renewed understanding, inheritance, and promotion of the excellent traditional Chinese culture.

He Duoling, an exhibition artist

In his speech, He Duoling examined the dichotomy between “metaphysics” and “physics”, East and West, as well as Taoism and appliances in artistic creation. He underscored the significance of media and its intrinsic connection to the content of expression in contemporary artistic creation. Drawing from his personal experience and artistic practices, he shared his inner transformation from rejection to obsession with oriental art and his attempt to incorporate elements of traditional Chinese culture into his oil paintings, in an effort to express the oriental spirit in a contemporary way. He contended that human should show awe to the medium. As for the exchange and mutual learning between oriental and western cultures, he believed that creation should be holistic and advised to seek common ground instead of completely separating east from west.

Wu Yongqiang, professor of Sichuan University

Wu Yongqiang shared his profound feelings after appreciating the exhibition on site, asserting that the exhibition employs contemporary artistic media and techniques to immerse the audience in the realm of oriental culture and wisdom. He further elaborated on the notion that oriental wisdom “transcends regional boundaries and is relevant to all humanity”. Citing conceptual music and works of happening art from some Western artists, he illustrated the presence of elements of oriental philosophical thoughts in these works. He mentioned that oriental thoughts and spirits not only play a significant role in traditional culture, but also provide an ideological resource for the modern West in its critique of technological rationalism. He concluded that this resource has important value in promoting the interplay, exchange, and balance between eastern and western cultures.

He Liang, director of the Department of Mural Painting, CAA

He Liang shared his exploration process from initially great concern for the aesthetics of scars to subsequently engagement, reading and feeling of The Classic of Mountains and Seas during learning, mural painting creation and research work. Mural painting is a medium for him to convey oriental wisdom and traditional aesthetics. For him, mural painting is more than just a form of painting, but a medium of culture and wisdom. He guided his team to visit major temples and grottoes across China, where they appreciated the hardships and wisdom of ancient people when pursuing mural painting creation, which urged him to gradually realize in practice the necessity of incorporating traditional aesthetics into modern mural painting creation. He specifically mentioned the “Program of Learning from Others”, underscoring the significance of local artistic creation. In the public art program “Searching for Gods in Mountains and Seas” associated with the exhibition, he expected to create a sense of spatial immersion through mural paintings, aiming to communicate oriental wisdom and further promote the inheritance of traditional aesthetics in the modern world.

All of the guests took a photo in front of the large screen after the conversation at the opening ceremony came to an end.

As an important window for ZJAM to display and communicate the excellent traditional Chinese culture, ZJAM always bears in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping’s profound directive to cultivate “beauty that reflects the spirit of the times and embodies Chinese temperament”. Since its inception 15 years ago, it has taken on the significant historic responsibility of “continuously promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture”. To this end, it has been committed to the research and preservation, interpretation and inheritance, innovation and development, communication and exchange of this cultural legacy, culminating in the successful launch of “Oriental Wisdom”, an independent exhibition curation brand project. Since its inception in 2016, several influential exhibitions have been planned and launched, including “Panorama of Lake and Mountain: Exhibition of Watercolor Printmaking on West Lake”, “Watermark Millennium: Grand Exhibition of Watercolor Printmaking in China”, “The Splendid Languages of Paper: Contemporary Art on Chinese Paper-making Culture”, “The New Classic of Mountains and Seas: Art Exhibition on Contemporary Art on Original Chinese Myths and Legends”, and “The Grand Canal as Epic on Earth: Contemporary Art Themed on the Grand Canal of China”. These exhibitions display the philosophical ideas, ideological systems, and life wisdom inherent in the ancient oriental culture to the world by deeply exploring the spiritual symbols in water culture, paper culture, original myths and legends, and canal culture integral to the excellent traditional Chinese culture, utilizing the language of contemporary artwork.

This exhibition represents a carefully curated select project under the “Oriental Wisdom”, an independent exhibition curation brand of ZJAM. Meanwhile, as a bridge for cultural exchanges between Zhejiang and Sichuan, this itinerant exhibition specially invites several representative artists from Sichuan to participate. The exhibition is organized into four sections: “Ultimate Regulation: The Tao of Heaven and Earth”, “Entire Nature: The Combination of Yin and Yang”, “Tact Maxim: The Principle of Longitude and Latitude”, and “Intangible Image: the Harmony of Universe and Man”. It showcases the works of 61 excellent contemporary artists at home and abroad, focusing on core concepts such as worldview, ethics, values, and life outlook as interpreted in the Chinese traditional philosophy system, through various artistic expression forms such as Chinese painting, calligraphy, sculpture, installation, and composite materials. The exhibition illustrates the creative transformation and innovative development of the excellent traditional Chinese culture under the contemporary art display mechanism. Ranging from majestic and antique to delicate and beautiful and to elegant and fresh styles, the exhibits are structured to progressively reflect and analyze the cognitive proposition and sensible experience of oriental philosophy and traditional culture through an artistic lens, while also reflecting on the oriental aesthetic ideals from the harmony between the object in sight and the inner heart of man from a modern stance. The exhibition aims to elucidate the real essence of traditional Chinese culture throughout the process of human civilizations’ transformation and innovation in the contemporary world, thereby revitalizing and carrying forward the intrinsic vitality of the Chinese civilization through innovation.