On December 5, 2016, jointly hosted by the Central Academy of Fine Arts and China-Japan Friendship Hospital, “Medicine and Art are in the Same Boat Series of Exhibition” in the second round “Accompanied by the Beautiful” Watercolor Art Exhibition opened at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital. The exhibition features more than 50 watercolors by the teachers and students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and these works are created around the theme of the “beautiful”, involving landscapes, people, still life, architecture, religion and so on, showcasing the artists’ sentiment of the beautiful in nature, society and life.

Medicine aims at curing disease; art cures the mind, medicine and art belong to different disciplines, and also belong to different social venues, but they are both the exploration of knowledge by the people who are in pursuit of a better life. Therefore, in the summer of 2016, the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the Central Academy of Fine Arts jointly launched the “Medicine and Art are in the Same Boat” cultural and art activities, in order to promote the collision of medicine and art through a series of art exhibitions. On the one hand, medicine is blended with culture, the cross-border exploration of medical humanities andaesthetics, condenses the humanistic feelings of the hospital, on the other hand it also expands the audible field of art.

For the relationship between medicine and art, as well as the significance of holding the exhibition in the hospital, the Director of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital Wang Chen said that, the hospital was a place to guarantee the health of people, while art offered the true, the good and the beautiful, allowing people to be happy, only the combination of the two could achieve the true meaning of health that was “both physically and mentally perfect”, so that the combination of medicine and art is the best choice to explore the health of people. Wang Chen also hoped the exhibition would inspire medical workers, medicine is a science and also a hormonology, and a good hospital not only cared for physical health,but also offered humanistic care. The doctor has three magic weapons, drugs, machines and language, among which language is the most important thing and art is undoubtedly one of the languages.

President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Fan Di’an also mentioned that art and medicine had a close relationship with each other going way back in history. Chinese medicinal materials were the objects depicted by Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, many contemporary artists started their own artistic practice from the perspective of medicine and life. An hospital hosted an art exhibition reflecting the way medical workers pay attention to the creation of an human environment and the spiritual leadership, while improving the medical services, which was consistent with the art, the artist was able to infect people through art works, to inspire people to yearn for a better realm, offering people more possibilities to understand the world, the self and life and art therapy was also a discipline from the school of fine arts. As an art academy, The Central Academy of Fine Arts didn’t only carry forward the professional tradition of teaching, it also plays a social role with humanistic care. He hoped that this exhibition would be a good opportunity to develop a the dialogue between art, medicine and patients to form a deeper thinking beyond art.

It is themed on the “Accompanied by the Beautiful”, and the show at the hospital is more meaningful. In the current social environment, people are struggling to chase various things, so they might be too busy to find beautiful things around them, perhaps only when lying in the ward are people able to think about the real value of life. The watercolor exhibition is a display in the corridor of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, which is a hint to the viewer that the beautiful things are located everywhere, every minute, in every corner of our lives, we should have the eyes and mind to find the beautiful, slowly enjoying the “Accompanied by the Beautiful” of life.

Text and photo by Zhang Wenzhi, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Organizer: China-Japan Friendship Hospital, the Central Academy of Fine Arts

Exhibition Advisors: Wang Chen, Zhou Jun

Project Responsible: Peng Mingqiang, Li Zhaocheng

Exhibition Coordination: Liu Xiao, Wang Yansen, Li Tianqing, Qiu Yuqing, Ren Zaifang, Zhang Yan

Designers: Cai Yingying, Su Yuan

Exhibition Advisors: Gao Hong, Fan Di’an

Project Responsible: Wang Shaojun

Exhibition Coordination: Yue Jieqiong, Pan Chenghui, Qin Jianping, Tang Bin, Huang Keyi

Designer: Leng Jing

Fan Di'an, Wang Shaojun, Liu Liping, Qiu Ting, Zhang Yanzi, Sun Yong, Tan Junjie, Jiang Quan, Wang Xiangjie, Wu Yiting, Cao Yuanhao, Liu Xinyuan, Du Jian, Ma Bo, Li Yang, Meng Jiabao, Mi Jie, Su Tingxue, Sun Zijun, Che Guizhi, Ma Bo, Jin Hena