On the morning of August 16, 2016, the press conference of “The First Exhibition of Young Artists at the National Art Museum of China” was held in the lecture hall on the 7th floor, National Art Museum of China, Deputy Director of National Art Museum of China attended the press conference and gave a speech as the representative.

2016 “The First Exhibition of Young Artists at the National Art Museum of China” is a large-scale exhibition of young artists independently planned by the National Art Museum of China. The exhibition brings together nearly 300 works by outstanding young artists from across the country, covering traditional Chinese painting, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture and so on, which includes both over 90 works collected by National Art Museum of China in recent years, and a number of latest creations selected by experts after recommendations and reviews.

The National Art Museum of China organized and planned the exhibition of the young artists in order to inherit and develop Chinese young cultural tradition, to guide and build the cultural identity and characteristics of contemporary young Chinese art. The Director of the National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan wrote a preface stating that, “The young artists are the future of Chinese art.” As the national top palace of art, the National Art Museum of China chose and presents the works by successful artists in the past, while the exhibition of young artists is intended to introduce the works by young artists into the national top art palace, so that the top art palace can witness the development and achievement of contemporary young art.

The 2016 exhibition of young artists makes use of an expert recommendation system and the National Art Museum of China issued a solicitation letter to more than 200 experts across the country, each expert recommended two young artists, who respectively submitted three works. The National Art Museum of China had two rounds of selection and the final selected works are on display at the exhibition.

The exhibited works systematically showcases the characteristics and achievements of present Chinese art development, “specifically displayed in the following three aspects,” An Yuanyuan pointed out that, “Firstly, the young artists are based on local situations, rooted in the Chinese social reality, facing the masses, created a number of works reflecting the new look of contemporary Chinese social development and people’s spirituality. It is the most typical manifestation of the spirit of the times, and also the contemporary performance of the path of Chinese contemporary realistic art creation and even the embodiment of young artists who actively practice their own cultural responsibility and cultural mission; secondly, young artists inherit the traditional, carrying forward the traditional spirit, rooted in the historical origin of Chinese culture which develops the language characteristic of contemporary Chinese art. Thirdly, the young artists who do not forget the early heart of innovation, target the international art platform, bravely practicing, to constitute a diverse artistic form and artistic pattern, which is also an important feature of this exhibition by youths.”

Director Wu Weishan said that, “the participating young artists are aged under 50, and the majority of them have a professional background in the structure of knowledge and educational background, with a succession of teachings from a master to his disciples, they have a firm foundation of skill and are the new generation of artists who have grown up since the reform and opening up, so that, they widely absorbed a variety of cultural and artistic traditions. After the older generation of artists’ discussions on the nationalization of oil painting, form and content, they calmly think of the modernism and contemporary art, to have a more in-depth exploration of the spiritual value of traditional culture and the contemporary transition, while focusing on the balance of a variety of factors including realism, freehand brushstrokes and abstract art in the aspect of learning and promoting of the Chinese aesthetic spirit. They have a special in-depth research on traditional values, aesthetic qualities and a manifestation of the modes of ‘freehand’, in addition to playing a cultural role in the international context, observing, feeling, grasping and portraying the various phenomena caused by the interweaving of tradition and modernity in life.

It is reported that the exhibition continues to August 30, 2016. Moreover, the Museum will organize a relevant special discussion during the exhibition.

Photo and text by Lin Jiabin/CAFA ART INFO

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