Younger generation merges old and new
( 2003-10-08 08:52) (China Daily)
As traditional Chinese art encounters Western
contemporary art, new trends such as "modern calligraphy" and "experimental ink
and wash" have emerged.
Golden Beauty,
gongbi painting in deep colour by Yan
Xiaoping. | Gongbi paintings, which mean a
"meticulous style," have also had to adapt. The 1,000-year-old art form has
traditionally stressed realism, focused on details and therefore fallen out of
step with expressionist trends.
Fifteen young artists have come up with their own answers to this dilemma in
an exhibition entitled "The Unusual Merge." The show will be held from October
10 to 15 at the International Art Gallery in Wangfujing, downtown Beijing.
"All born in the 1960s and 1970s, these artists had systematic training at
Chinese art academies. They are not as revolutionary in their art as the gongbi
painters in the 1940s and 1950s, but more natural and individualized," said Yang
Weimin, curator of the exhibition.
"Their works combine the traditional and the modern, the Oriental and the
Occidental art forms and techniques."
Yang said the artists are improving the status of the gongbi painting,
previously on the fringe of the contemporary art world.
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