From 1:30 pm through to 5:00 pm on January 9, 2014, “Creative Issues: CAFA Teachers’ Forum” was held at the Audio-visual Academic Lecture Hall of CAFA. Gao Hong, Party Secretary of CAFA, President Pan Gongkai, Vice President Xu Bing, as well as faculty teachers attended the discussion. Xu Bing introduced the agenda of the discussion, Party Secretary Gao Hong and President Pan Gongkai initially gave a speech, following that it was a recognition ceremony for the works selected by the “China Civilization Historical Subject Fine Art Creation Program”, and the final section was to discuss CAFA teachers’ creative issues.

Gao Hong stressed the significance of the construction of the CAFA brand, he hoped that through the academic discussion to find out our own issues, to promote teachers’ creations and improve the construction of the CAFA brand.

Pan Gongkai made a keynote address on the “creative issue”. He pointed out that the CAFA teachers’ works exhibition has a diverse appearance, and the overall level was very high, but it was necessary to strengthen the academic and theoretical research. Academic research should advocate reflection and debate, which was beneficial to create a new generation of famous artists and designers. In addition, in order to develop Chinese art, it was necessary to study both the traditional Chinese art and modern western art. Viewing the CAFA teachers’ works exhibition we find that many teachers had studied these two aspects, but it was superficial, we should not only know how to solve it, but also know why solve it in this way, comparing them with the combination of the related artistic atmosphere, social form, and the present context, etc.

Then, Tang Yongli introduced the situation of “China Civilization Historical Subject Fine Art Creation Program”, there were 21 CAFA teachers’ works selected by the program, coming from the art academies across the nation, but it was a pity that many teachers did not attend the collection. Prof. Tang said, the country paid attention to this activity, as it was important for the academy as well as a challenge and opportunity for the individual development of the artists, he hoped all teachers actively attend the program and win an honor for the academy. Party Secretary Gao Hong, President Pan Gongkai and Vice President Xu Bing awarded the selected certificates to the selected artists of the “China Civilization Historical Subject Fine Art Creation Program”.

In the section of discussion of CAFA teachers’ creative issues, Liu Libin reported the investigation of CAFA teachers’ scientific research and creation on behalf of the Scientific Research Office. This research unfolded around three issues: the status quo of artistic creation and research; badly wanting to do something; encountering difficulties. From the collection of 114 teachers’ questionnaires, he summarized several academic focuses and made a detailed analysis: firstly inheritance and innovation; secondly art and society; thirdly the relationship between CAFA creative scientific research and the international environment; fourthly materials, medium, and technology; fifthly the relationship between creative scientific research and teaching; professional promotion. Meanwhile he put forward creative scientific research in facing the real issues which is mainly concentrated in time, money, and the coordination of personnel relations. Liu Libin concluded, the academic focus of CAFA teachers was contemporary, while also revealing personal marks, he hoped that teachers regularly organized exchange meetings, exhibitions, lectures on the basis of the issue, in order to continuously deepen teachers’ thinking.

The graduate students team from the School of Humanities introduced the investigation to the visiting audience “CAFA Instructors: Special Exhibition Showcasing Creations by Faculty Members of the Central Academy of Fine Arts”. By constructing four different types of audiences (CAFA staff and students, students of entrance classes, artistic industrial workers and the public), they found CAFA teachers’ prestige suffices to frighten others, and the exhibition was widely focused on by the public. The exhibition was an important transmission carrier of CAFA spirit, while the audience hoped the teachers’ exhibition would reflect the level of CAFA’s teachers, the exhibition could show more interesting things and offer benefits for the spectators.

Finally it was time for an open discussion by the participants. Prof. Tang Yongli pointed out that although CAFA teachers’ works exhibition revealed a diversification, CAFA’s traditional painting was not prominent. It was necessary for teachers to continuously fight for the high academic level of CAFA, thus teachers should remove the market factors, putting more effort into academic research. Prof. Sun Weimin placed his hope on the new generation of young and middle-aged teachers, who should have a sense of crisis. Prof. Su Xinping started from the perspective of the individual and overall strength, hoping to build a platform which was more in line with personal development, to reflect all artists’ value, so as to enhance the influence of the academy. Some teachers also pointed out that the exhibition was scattered, without a relative subject, and failed to reflect the difference between academy artists and professional artists and was different from an external exhibition...

Journalist: Ye Yuanfeng, Photo: Hu Zhiheng/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO