Contemporary Chinese art is this season’s biggest draw

For centuries, humankind has evaluated arts of civilisations to understand the way of life of a particular period. If we look at various art movements of the world, Chinese art will easily topple most others due to its rich history and tradition. Chinese art relies heavily on its heritage and clings to its ancient traditions.

In China, the tradition of ink wash painting was practiced mostly by scholar-officials and court painters. These paintings developed their aesthetic values on the basis of individual imagination of the artists. From the 19th century onwards, Chinese artists began getting acquainted with Western art due to which the participation of Chinese artists in the worldwide arts community increased. And that participation continues to this day.

Art Spice Gallery is presenting a group exhibition titled Silk Road in Delhi, featuring  Chinese contemporary painters and sculptors who are showcasing their artistic talent through different mediums, including painting and sculptures. The aspect that will strike the viewer most about this exhibition is the importance these artists have given to traditional practice of calligraphy. All 27 artworks on display arevivid in imagery and comprise landscapes, flowers, birds etc. The curators of the exhibition Cai Cheng and Yin Hong Sheng believe that the exhibition will pave the way for cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Among the participating artist are Yuan He Bin, Mao Xuefeng, Wang Zhong, Guo Youhe, Luo Yun, Liu Hengjin, Shu Shilin who is a famous calligrapher, Shi Wensheng, Xie Huanghong, Yang Ming, Sun Zongde, Lu Zhenyun, Quanzhou Zhuo, Zhang Qi and others.

Artist Guo Youhe, who also happens to be a vice president of Beijing National Academy of painting and calligraphy is known for depicting the true spirit of his characters in his traditional Chinese watercolor paintings. His works cover a variety of themes, including ancient Chinese beauties, contemporary figures, still life and landscapes. Guo paints every day and if he doesn’t his conscience pricks him. When he is unable to paint for the entire day, he reviews his already done works and tries to improve them. “We account for a quarter of world’s population, but unfortunately Chinese painting is almost absent on the international art stage, which is dominated by the western oil painting, “says the artist.

Mao Xuefeng is the artist who is known for heavy-color style of his landscape paintings. His works have been displayed at many national and international art exhibitions. He has won numerous domestic and international prizes, including the “Art Award of International Peace Year” issued by the United Nations. Mao’s works represent the aesthetic values of traditional Chinese landscape painting.