So Close, So Far By Xie Lei and Jiayi From Deyang to Chengdu, it’s a spatial distance of exactly 64.08 kilometers. From Deyang to Chengdu, it’s a time distance of approximately 40 minutes. Many years ago, due to the development of heavy industry, a small town got a boom. In the past one decade, Deyang, like many other cities, has got highrises and underpasses. The city is close to Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China since ancient times. People from this city love going shopping in Chengdu, enjoying tea or coffee by the Hu River and the Nan River, and also sitting in a daze in the narrow lane and the wide lane watching the passersby of different crowds. All such scenes are the contents of life of many people in and close to the economic circle of Chengdu. Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, in a certain sense is one of the leading cities in contemporary art. This beautiful, leisurely metropolis owns all the elements that a modern metropolis has—giving off a sense of enjoyment and desultoriness typical of the Sichuanese. There is a way that is called art, which is seemingly a goal that many people long for, but to reach the goal called art, every artist engaged in painting can not give a correct definition. In China’s art history of painting, the Chinese contemporary art as a new-born, open and independent force has become a mainstream and large numbers of contemporary artists have caught much international attention. In the current exhibition, some of the middle-aged artists, who were influenced by the Soviet art in their early years, underwent a gradual transition and witnessed the rise and growth of the Chinese contemporary art; while some young artists, who were born after the 1980s, have become veritably a new force among the Chinese contemporary artists. Their works tend to making expressions of and pondering on the vitality of life, perplexity of youth and the spirit of freedom and independence. Frankly speaking, we are not qualified to define what contemporary art is, what distance there is between the artists, and what difference there is between city dwellers. With a misunderstood feeling of nervousness, we seek the theme for this exhibition. After thinking back and forth to ourselves, we believe for an art exhibition like this one it’s better not to discuss academic-featured topics, as we all the more hope to return to the unadorned nature of the people drifting in different cities and from the viewer’s states of mind to seek different understandings of art between different cities. It’s been a long-cherished dream for artists from the third-rank cities to take part in exhibitions at the Blue Roof or the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts in Chengdu, and it’s been a good anxiety of the artists in Deyangwhen not having faced with local identity because Chengdu is close, but the soul is a great distance away. The present exhibition, hosted by Gaudi Art-on-Line, puts some 50 pieces of works by 20 artists from Chengdu and Deyang on show. It’s our sincere wish that we are able to provide a platform for theartists from the two cities to have a zero-distance dialogue and also to allow for such a dialogue between the artists and the audience. Through such a stretching force between the soul and the actual distance, we hope to bring to the viewer visual pleasures and reflections in spiritual terms. In the two cities, which are close to each other and have quite different connotations, tens of thousands of artists live and have their dreams, who persist in their own belief in art in the throes and have created lots of works boasting various styles that impact our visual sense and spiritual world, each making new signs of civilization in his/her own living space. But different cities and living environmentplay a great role in influencing the artists in their creations and will therefore produce never-the-same art styles and attainments. What Gaudi Art-on-Line is doing is to attempt to find resonance between different cities and build a way for more localized and pure interchanges in the distant spiritual space, making it possible for artists from different cities to have a chance to get together so that they can physically experience their counterparts’ comprehension of the art state and the significance of painting. It will also be possible to inject a sense of exploration in the craze of collecting contemporary art works that is sprouting from the emerging cities. The Internet has long changed the living style of the world’s people. Cyber logistics have made itquite possible to enjoy the same aroma of lobsters from Boston on the dinner table in a Sichuanese family. So it’s equally possible to bestow more trendy cultural signs upon such a young city like Deyang. A city is only a coordinate in the map and the right of speech on culture is a stale concept that can be struck at. In the era of globalization, cultural exchange is not something as hard as the road to the Kingdom of Shu in ancient times. This is the very significance of Gaudi Art-on-Line in its existence. That the artists from Chengdu come to Deyang to take part in art exhibitions is not something that can’t happen; artists of Deyang can also look forward to having more and boundless possibilities to get to know the unknown. We are therefore very grateful to the artists from Chengdu and we also appreciate the indigenous artists of Deyang for their courage. We are more impressed by the reputed local enterprises such as Minfu Group Co. and Zhongya Real Estate Co. for their extraordinary andtremendous support, with which it has been possible for the two-city joint exhibition to take place here inDeyang, where great significance is symbolized. To appreciate the works by artists from the two cities at the Zhongya Art Gallery at the Gulou Cultural Street is a great cultural event by itself. That the government and enterprises of Deyang have offered great support to the exhibition is indicative of the cultural vigor and vitality of the young immigrant city. The fact that multi-cultures get prosperous tells us that Deyang not only has her powerful industry but also possesses fresh, vigorous creativity for culture—in such a beautiful city.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 17:52:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015