On June 6, 2015, hosted by the Postgraduate Division of CAFA, Today Art Museum, “Genesis?– CAFA Excellent Postgraduate Student Residency Program” was unveiled at Today Art Museum, it is curated by Gao Yuan and Shi Guanzhe. This is a new event for CAFA which attempts to promote the artistic development of the graduates during the period of the Graduation Season.

Young Artists Residency Program of CAFA, which was carried out in 2014, is one of major projects of China Central Academy of Fine Arts (abbr. CAFA). This project is aimed at promoting the independent talented young artists, providing support to the talented graduates for their works' continuation, setting up a new platform for artistic talent education in the academy, in order to achieve the combination of creation and social capital. CAFA attaches great importance to the construction and development of the project, Fan Di’an, President of CAFA, Wang Shaojun, Deputy Party Secretary, Chen Qi, Director of Postgraduate Division of CAFA, and Liu Shangying, Deputy Director of Oil Painting Department attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, carefully visited the exhibition, and commented on the creation of the excellent postgraduate students one by one.

At the opening ceremony, President Fan Di’an expressed his congratulation to the artists who successfully held the exhibition on behalf of the school, he said the academy hoped to through CAFA Excellent Postgraduate Student Residency Program to build a bridge between the outstanding graduates, society and art creation and also hoped that artists developed their own clear and definite goal, to become outstanding young artists with a social responsibility and mission. Wang Shaojun participated in the specific selection process of the work of the project, being delighted to see the excellent creations by the graduates and also hoped that the young students could through the “bridge” have a better future. Gao Peng, Director of Today Art Museum, who also graduated from CAFA, also hoped that the graduates were perfectly integrated with society and Today Art Museum would continue to support the project.

The 12 artists taking part in Excellent Postgraduate Residency Program of CAFA are respectively from different schools of CAFA, including Fine Arts, Design, Chinese Painting, Architecture, Experimental arts and so on. As the first collective presenting of the first session of this program, this exhibition is a collective presention of a creating process over nearly one year of the young artists after they graduated from college, and in some ways, this exhibition also reflects the trend and features of Chinese contemporary art creation. At this moment in time, the artworks are classified in three sections including ‘Dissimilation of History’, ‘Naturalization of the Present ’, ‘Design Future’, and they are governed by the theme 'Time Recorder', hoping to embody the flow of thoughts of the exhibition and highlight the idea of initiative. The growth of these outstanding artists and the program itself are the initiative that creates history.

The exhibition continues to June 23.

Text and photo by Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO

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

About the exhibition

Duration: June 6 – June 23, 2015

Venue: 2/F Exhibition Hall of Building3, Today Art Museum (Building 4, Pingod Community, No.32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing)

Hosts: Postgraduate Division of CAFA, Today Art Museum

Artists: Fan Mo, Geng Xue, Ji Xin, Ma Zhiyong, Shen Bo, Dang Xiaoyu, He Zhijian, Liu Guannan, Ma Jiawei, Zhou Dong, Song Xiaowei, Wang Xu

Courtesy of the artists and Postgraduate Division of CAFA