Retreat from world and wander in mountains and water
"Na Shui – 22.5.7" by Wu Guanzhen.
"Mountain Water Wandering," an exhibition featuring 37 artworks created by 12 Chinese contemporary artists, is on display at Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum through June 2.
Some big names include Yu Youhan, Wu Guanzhen and Jin Jiangbo.
"Retreat from the world" – the seclusion of Taoist, is a concept that romanticizes and venerates the "natural" world beyond human society.
Guided by this philosophy, nature has long been an enduring theme in Chinese art, most notably embodied in the "Mountain and Water" landscape paintings.
Today, "Mountain and Water" paintings continue to play a pivotal role in contemporary Chinese art. Apart from inheriting the reverence for nature of the ancient literati with historical and cultural essence, they also offer a kind of spiritual solace to urban people.
These 12 Chinese contemporary artists try new media, techniques and concepts to interpret this timeless theme, asking visitors to reconsider the relationship between art and reality, between the natural world and artificial world, between "retreating from the world" and "living in the mundane world."
"Landscape of Shanxi No.2" by Yu Youhan.
"Ineffable" by Ye Bing.
The spotlight of the exhibition is on "Na Shui – 22.5.7" created by Wu with lacquer and ramie. Through the semi-transparence of ramie, trunk, branches and leaves, Wu conjures up a visible natural world, close and fragile.
Another impressive piece is "Dialogue Series – A Moonlit Night on the Spring River," a video work created by Gao Yitao. The video depicts the artist reciting the ancient Chinese poem at the backdrop a river shimmering under the dusk.
"You may find a real boat came into the scene when I recited the similar scene in the poem," Gao said, "A purely unexpected happy coincidence."
Date: Through June 2, 10am-6pm (closed on Mondays)
Admission: 38 yuan
Address: 6/F, 27 Zhongshan Rd E1
中山东一路27号6楼
