Toronto to host 'Emergence' contemporary Chinese art exhibition

By Guo Xiaohong: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, August 1, 2018

A press conference for Emergence-A Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition was held in Beijing on July 31. [Photo by Guo Xiaohong/China.org.cn]

Emergence - a contemporary Chinese art exhibition will be held at the Toronto Center for the Arts in Toronto, Canada, from August 11 to 21.

Co-organized by the Toronto-based Emerging Young Artists and Beijing International Hanwei Art Center, the exhibition is supported by both the Canadian and Chinese governments. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Zhuang Yaodong, acting consul general of the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto, sent a welcome statement to the event.

The exhibition will display some 20 art pieces in various forms including oil painting, soft carving and image art by eight renowned Chinese artists; Zhang Chunhua, Zhou Song, Li Hongbo, Wang Fei, Li Wang, Jia Shanguo, Jia Xinyu and Yang Shuwen, who in their artwork explore the relationships between the part and the whole. It also highlights a complex dialogue between visual form, perception, content and interpretation.

Dr. Alan McNairn, a former curator at the National Gallery of Canada and director of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and Dr. Wu Hongbin from Renmin University of China will act as academic hosts for the exhibition. Art Director Zhang Siyong of the Beijing International Hanwei Art Center will serve as curator of the exhibition together with EYA.

The exhibition aims to fill the gap in Western understandings of Chinese contemporary art by showcasing the latest trends and developments of new art forms in China, said Curator Zhang Siyong.

On the sideline of the exhibition, an art forum will be convened at the University of Toronto on August 10, where the exhibiting Chinese artists will meet Toronto-based scholars and professors, with academic specializations in modern and contemporary East Asian Art, Eastern philosophy, and humanistic art practices. Fellow art-lovers will also be able to engage in in-depth discussions about the theme of the exhibition, works of art, and the present state of contemporary art.