Traditional and Avant-garde--The Exhibition of Xiao Feng's Family at Singapore Ngee Ann Foundation Art Museum

TEXT:Sue Wang    DATE: 2012.3.16

Xiao's Family

This is a party for an art home, which is also the microcosm of the development of Chinese art. Here, you can find not only art works but also an inter-generational dialogue and tacit agreement.

China Academy of Art, the predecessor of the National Academy of Art was founded by Mr. Cai Yuanpei and Mr. Lin Fengmian in Hangzhou in 1928. From 1983 to 1996, Mr. Xiaofeng was the tenth president China Academy of Art. During his tenure of thirteen years, which coincided with the period of China’s reform and opening-up policy, he made great achievements in the development of art education in China. Mr. Xiaofeng has now retired, this 80-year-old man gazed with a deep feeling at his wife Song Ren who has accompanied him through his life with their “restless” daughters—Xiao Lu and Xiao Ge who will jointly present their exhibition in Singapore for the first time in the name of “home”.

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Xiao Feng and Song Ren have celebrated their golden wedding to honour their long union. They were born in the same year during wartime when the country was defeated and their home was lost and they bravely embarked on the battlefield of national liberation. Since then their fate and their art have been closely related to the destiny of the Chinese revolution. Xiao Lu, their eldest daughter has quite a different experience in art from their parents. She witnessed an era of vision and passion when she studied at the Art School of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Fine Arts). Though she was young, as she was only 26 years old and had just graduated, she had the honor to participate the China Modern Art Exhibition in 1989 at the China National Art Museum, Beijing with her work “Dialogue”, which became a prophecy of that particular historical period.

Xiao Ge, their second daughter is an intelligent and clever girl. At a young age, she became attached to fashion. As was her wish, she went to the capital of fashion and studied atécole nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris. Now she prefers to combine art with fashion and she loves the life pace of metropolises, Beijing and Paris are her favorite cities.

Thanks to the Ngee Ann Cultural Committee and the China Academy of Fine Arts, a special family exhibition will be presented for them. Funded by Lin Fengmian Art Park, a catalogue will be published along with this exhibition by the Publishing House of China Academy of Fine Arts. “Traditional and avant-garde” which literally seem opposed but in essence this is a development of the word combination. Each generation has its mission, which perhaps is the significance of this exhibition.

Traditional and Avant-garde

Chief Curator: XIAO Ge

Executive Curator: YING Xiangyun, Li Guohua

Historical and Critic Support: Shao Dazhen, Xi Jingzhi

Artist: XIAO Feng , SONG Ren , XIAO Lu , XIAO Ge

Works: paintings, prints, form images, photographs, device, behavior

Exhibition Dates: March 16, 2012 - April 1st

Host: Ngee Ann Cultural Centre - Singapore

Organizer: China Academy of Fine Arts

Supervised by: Chinese Artists Association

Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

Co-organizers: Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Cultural Relics Lin Feng Mian Art Industry Park

Media Relation: Ding Hui

Graphic Design: Wu Weihe

Duration: March 16, 2012 - April 1st

Opening Hours: 9am – 5pm (Monday to Friday)

9am to 12 noon (Saturday)

Closed (Sunday & Public Holiday)

Address: Ngee Ann Cultural Centre – Art Museum

97 Tank Road Teochew Building

Singapore 238066