Time: Dec 29, 2020 - Feb 28, 2021
Location: Gallery 1, 2, 3, Shijiazhuang Art Museum
Organizer: Shijiazhuang Art Museum, CAFA Art Museum
Academic director: Fan Di’an
Chief planner: Zhang Zikang, Wang Wenling
Art director: Wang Chunchen, Cao Fengxiang
Curator: Guo Xiaohui, Gao Gao
Exhibition tour supervisor: Shen Tianshu
Exhibition supporter: Zhonghong Chuangyi Co., Ltd.
Artists: Fan Di’an, Fang Lijun, Feng Haitao, Gao Hong, Han Yajuan, Hong Hao, Ju Ting, Li Songsong, Li Xiaolin, Liu Gang, Liu Shangying, Liu Wentao, Liu Xiaodong, Liu Xiaohui, Liu Ye, Lu Chao, Ma Lu, Ma Xiaoteng, Meng Luding, Pan Lin, Qiu Xiaofei, Shang Liang, Shen Ling, Su Xinping, Sun Xun, Song Kun, Tang Hui, Wang Guangle, Wang Huaxiang, Wang Huangsheng, Wang Yuping, Wang Yuyang, Wang Qing, Wu Jian’an, Wu Wei, Xia Yu, Xu BIng, Xu Zhen, Yan Lei, Yang Hongwei, Yang Fudong, Ye Nan, Yin Chaoyang, Yu Hong, Yuan Yuan (苑瑗), Yuan Yuan (袁元), Zhang Chunyang, Zhang Dali, Zhang Lujiang
The exhibition "The Logic of Painting", organized by Shijiazhuang Art Museum and CAFA Art Museum, opened at Shijiazhuang Art Museum on December 29, 2020. The “painting” in the title means the artworks that take the materials, styles, customs and history of painting as their major reference points. Most artists in the exhibition teach at or graduate from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Through exhibiting the classic art form of painting, the exhibition tries to discuss the exploration and breakthrough of contemporary artists in the language of painting. The exhibition can be seen as a dynamic sample of Chinese contemporary painting practice, and CAFA’s historic contribution to art creation and education.
The exhibition is composed of three units. Although the units are divided according to the history and tradition of painting, the classification nevertheless does not rely on any commonsense definition. Here, the exhibition focuses more on methodology than iconography, and suggests the audience to rethink the meaning and applicability of the definition. It is fair to say that most artists can be classified into any unit - and this could help us to understand the multiple possibilities of painting.
The "Painting Now" unit mainly exhibits the artists’ reflection on and response to the cutting-edge issues of the contemporary time. Most artists’ works responded to issues such as appropriation, attitude, production, body politics and introduction of high tech, installation and special materials into artworks.
The "Traveling Painting" unit mainly exhibits the evolvement of painting from life. As the unit title suggests, this part refers mainly to the action itself. Contemporary painting from life has transferred from recreating nature and real-world scenario to a desire for action. When the action becomes an attitude, a choice, the painting itself naturally grows its concept and thoughts.
The "Beyond Painting" unit presents the artists exploration beyond the pattern of traditional painting. As a complementary form to easel painting, these experimental practices (such as painting outside the frame or inside an installation, or introduction of special materials) reveal the multiple possibilities of painting.
The beginning of CAFA can be dated back to the National School of Fine Arts in Beijing founded by renowned educationist Cai Yuanpei. It is the first modern fine art academy of China. In 1946, Xu Beihong returned to China from France, and became the director of the National Art School in Beiping. He emphasized the realistic plastic arts skills he learnt in France, which became the core educational concept of the academy, and has become the legacy of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Today’s China is undergoing vast social changes resulted from the rapidly growing economy, and drastic collisions between traditional Chinese culture and western culture in the globalized world. From economy to politics, from art to technology, from daily life to international relations, everything is changing dramatically and permanently. New things and structures keep emerging, and thus gives birth to new agents and cultures.
Since its birth, painting has been seen as the highest-rank and most important form, and a medium that keeps expanding and growing. The fundamental change that happened in the 1960s and 70s turns painting back into an artistic practice, and endows it with vigor and multiplicity that carry on until the modern days. As the most important form of visual art, the biggest challenge that painting has faced was the appearance of photography in the 19th century and the arrival of conceptual art marked by Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. In the 1960s and 70s, conceptual art became the major art form, and the main problem of visual language is all kinds of discussions and practices that feature the turn of modernism to post-modernism. Alternate medium appeared one after another, with video, performance and installation being seen as the most timely art form. The phenomenon saw its peak in the 1980s, as some artists, writers and curators even described the moment that post-modernism appeared as "painting is dead". In 1990s, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved, and identity politics campaigns that call for feminism, rights of the LGBT group and post-colonial studies emerged, the multi-culture international structure was further strengthened. Also amid the enthusiasm of a variety of international art biennales, painting has been confronted with increasing challenges.
With the proliferation of images produced by the computer and cellphones, and new kinds of images produced by 3D technology and artificial intelligence, artists face more choices and enjoy more freedom while portraying and reflecting on reality in their creative practice. However, on the other hand, the explosion of new technology and new visuals is also in fact accelerating the process of homogenization. Therefore, a heterogeneous way of writing needs to be awakened, and it is exactly when art answers the call. This is because the temporal nature of art could generate a multiplet structure full of tensions, which opens a space for different kinds of heterogeneities to fill in, and therefore produces a heterogeneous space.
The vitality that today’s painting presents shows that painting is still meaningful in modern days. How the contemporary artists re-engage with, reconstruct and challenge painting is thus the main theme of this exhibition.
The exhibition runs from December 29 2020 to February 28 2021.
Director of CAFAM Zhang Zikang gives a speech.
Curator Guo Xiaohui in the middle of an interview
Group photo of the guests
