Foreword
By Pan Gongkai, President of China Central Academy of Fine Arts
“The Start of A Long Journey - 2013 CAFA Excellent Graduation Works Exhibition” is the fifth round of “The Start of A Long Journey”, which has attempted to boldly breakthrough the traditional inner exhibition mode of an academy, after five years of development, it has been successfully extended to the whole country, and becomes an important brand of academic exhibition of CAFA.
As a major exhibition of the year, the exhibition features the selected works of 155 graduates of the master or bachelor’s degree from the School of Chinese Painting, School of Plastic, School of Design, School of Architecture, School of Urban Design and School of Humanities, through a strict academic assessment and careful selection. All participating students are highly innovative and curiosity, not only the graduates of CAFA, but also the hope for the future development in Chinese art circles. Through these works we can clearly see the current standards of teaching of CAFA, as well as the achievement of the stage.
The flourishing development of “The Start of A Long Journey”, reflects the increasing open academic attitude and a high-level international academic vision of CAFA. We aim to inherit the excellent and strong academic tradition, melted into the present real research and teaching as well as creative practice activities, extensive exchanges, interaction with communities, through a project that is open to the public, building an open and equal platform for an exchange and study, also offers society a more comprehensive and intuitive understanding of the status quo of Chinese higher art education. The exhibition in 2013 is undoubtedly the best gift to celebrate the 95th Anniversary of CAFA - all exhibited outstanding works are condensations of the common labors of the students and their teachers, which is the most sincere gratitude to their alma mater.
“The Start of A Long Journey” has always strived to be academic and professional, presenting the teaching achievement of the academy through a professional artistic venue, publishing an high quality album, in order to offer opportunities to as many as possible, outstanding students. After five years of unremitting efforts, “The Start of A Long Journey” has not only become a highlight of important exhibitions, but also been widely recognized in the country and aroused a positive response – with participation from nine major art institutions in China, “The Start of A Long Journey – Chinese Key Art Academies Excellent Graduation Works Exhibition” has been held successfully three times since 2010, and the fourth round will be held in the China Academy of Art in November, 2013, which is undoubtedly to further strengthen the exchanges and cooperations in the field of personnel training in Chinese high artistic educational circles.
Moreover, with the growing influence of Chinese culture and art in the world, the project has also travelled out of the country, to the world. In early 2012, “The Start of A Long Journey: The Collection of Excellent Graduation Works (2009-2011) From CAFA” was successfully held in London, England and widely acclaimed by international peers. In a sense, it has become a bridge for outstanding young Chinese artists to go to the world stage, opening up a wider road for their artistic development, also fully reflecting the superior tradition of CAFA that is always student-centered, caring personnel and spares no effort in helping them grow.
When the exhibition was initially held in 2009, I had said “it is just a prelude, and we will take a more open attitude to show more teaching activities to the public, so that the achievements of these activities better serve the community. Looking back on the development over five years, the initial purpose has been already attained, and has entered into a nirvana which is better than what we expected. Therefore, I sincerely hope that “The Start of A Long Journey”, as a new brand of CAFA in the 21st century, is capable of constantly optimising and expanding, to better develop.
2013 CAFA Excellent Graduation Works Exhibition
Dates: June 25 – August 25, 2013
Venue: CAFA Art Museum
Host: CAFA
Organizer: CAFA Art Museum
General Exhibition Director: Xu Bing
General Project Executive: Tang Bin
Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO
