Italy is the cradle of modern Western civilization, and also the holy land that every Chinese artist has yearned for a long time. Jointly invited and hosted by the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting and Northwest University for Nationalities, “Autenticita – Invitational Exhibition to Five Famous Italian Contemporary Artists” shows us nearly 200 selected works by five important artists from Italian art circles, for us it is undoubtedly a high-end Sino-Italian art exchange event.

For the Italian artists, who have experienced a baptism in the ideological trend of contemporary art and art movement, what is their artistic creative state and artistic explorative depth? The exhibition is the most powerful interpretation.

All the five invited participating artists are special and have a firm artistic faith, strong personal artistic pursuit and profound cultural accomplishment, with a solemn and quiet independent and strong artistic creative state, use of pure and precise art language. The works are full of a pristine emotion of nature and the ultimate thinking on life.

On the occasion of the exhibition, through the direct communication of work and thought, Chinese artists can actually feel the inner structure of Italian culture and art, while the Italian artists can deeply understand Chinese culture and Chinese art, so that it will bring a new enlightenment to the development of Sino-Italian contemporary art.

- Yang Feiyun

About the artists

Enzo Faraoni was born in S. Stefano Magra (near La Spezia) on 29 December, 1920, he lives in Florence and belongs to the Tuscan school. A graduate of the Istituto d'Arte in Florence where he studied under Cappelli and Parigi, he was Rosai's assistant at the Accademia. He struck his first plate in 1937 and held his first show in 1942. Rosai wrote: "One is tempted to make sweeping statements and yield to an unmeasurable enthusiasm." His corpus includes more than 900 engravings. His preferred techniques are etching and woodcut. Style: expressionist; his line following Chiappelli's teaching, is sharp, broken, clearly defining the areas of light and shadows. He use zinc plates. Catalogues: Dizionario degli Incisori by L. Servolini, Bolaffi, Mondadori, Engraving Biennali in Venice, Graphic Biennale in Florence, Dic, Biennale of Engraving Prize (Venice, 1961). Museums : Bertarelli.

Adriano Bimbi was born in Bibbona, a small mountain town of Livorno in Italy in 1952. He once studied painting with Professor Fernando Farulli in Florence National Academy of Fine Arts, and then self-studied sculpture. He once held solo exhibitions in Munster in Germany, New York in the US and Brussels in Belgium. Now he teaches painting in Florence National Academy of Fine Arts.

Piero Vignozzi was born in Florence, Italy in 1930. He was once a racing cyclist and journalist, and then he switched to the fine arts, and teaches painting in Florence National Academy of Fine Arts. He had held many solo exhibitions in various cities in Italy. He was awarded a gold medal at the Florence Biennale in 1977. His work was invited to attend the Venice Biennale 2011.

Rodolfo Ceccotti was born in Florence in 1945. He once won Young Artist Creative Bonuses in Florence International Biennale. He had taught printmaking in Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti and Florence National Academy of Fine Arts for 40 years. Currently he is the principal of Florence Bisonte Print School of International Print Foundation. He won the Gold Prize of Leonardo Sciascia Print in 2001.

Celestino Ferrarese was born in Rome in 1949. He graduated from the Department of Painting of Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in 1972, and became an assistant to the painter Alberto Ziverita in 1973. He served as the official representative of the Department of Painting and Design of Accademia di belle arti di Venezia in a national competition in 1989, and successive five years. From 1995 to 2002, he taught design in the Florence National Academy of Fine Arts, and was appointed as a professor in the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in 2003. At the same time he serves as an initiator of the protection of national history and artistic heritage.

About the exhibition

Duration: September 3 - September 19, 2014

Venue: Art Museum of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting Affiliated to the China National Academy of Arts.

Courtesy of the artists and Art Museum of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting Affiliated to the China National Academy of Arts, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.