Press Release: Brushing the Present

Exhibition of contemporary academic Chinese artworks opens Oct. 16 at Skidmore’s Tang Museum

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—Brushing the Present: Contemporary Academy Painting from China will be on view Oct. 16–Dec. 31, at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Different Chinas, a series of interdisciplinary events on campus this semester, addressing the many identities of contemporary China.

Organized by Doretta Miller, professor of studio art at Skidmore, Brushing the Present will include 35 works by 27 artists affiliated with universities and art academies in North China. Their works illustrate how these artists are responding to changes in Chinese society brought about by globalization and greater opportunity for artistic expression.

Some of the artworks on view at the Tang blend the traditional with the new. Zou Guanping’s Song of Dunhuang No. 4 (2001) combines a Buddhist flying deity, a model-thin woman in a flowing white gown, and an abstract landscape with apple and bough. Other artists continue to use traditionally Chinese techniques and subject matter drawn from Chinese folk art and legends, Buddhism, and nature. Shi Rongqiang’s humorous The Arahat in the Mountains: No. 1 (2001) is a gargoyle-like portrait of an old monk, conversing with an insect while scratching his back with a back-scratcher. Still other artists on view in the exhibition ignore Chinese tradition to create images—including Western-style portraits, nudes, and still lifes—that appeal to a diversity of audiences. Yao Ming’s Music Hall Instruments, for instance, features European perspective and Renaissance-style musicians of Botticellian beauty. Says artist Zou Guanping, “Modern eyes need to re-read Chinese culture.”

In organizing the exhibition, Miller focused not on China’s avant-garde artists but on its academics—faculty artists who “do not necessarily depend on the sale of paintings to support themselves and their families,” she says. “As a consequence, the subjects and themes selected may be influenced less by commercialism and globalism, and more by personal experiences, values, and academic life.”

Brushing the Present is rooted in Skidmore’s long-time academic and cultural exchange with China’s Qufu Teachers University, where Miller taught Western-style oil-painting techniques in 1996. Since then, her own work has featured scenes from Chinese daily life, elaborately bordered with contemporary images that counterpoint a central image.

Brushing the Present will be augmented by an array of free public events:
• An opening reception celebrating Tang fall exhibitions—6-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16.
• Chinese film series —7 p.m. on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, 7, and 9.
• A panel discussion —6 p.m. on Oct. 20, with exhibiting artists Xu Zheng, Liu Lei, Yao Ming, and Yao Xianing; and Skidmore faculty members Doretta Miller, Jack Ling, and Deborah Hutton.
• A Chinese brush painting demonstration and dialogue—3:30-5 p.m. on Oct. 21, with artist Xu Zheng and Skidmore artist and faculty member Jack Ling.
• A gallery talk—noon on Oct. 23, featuring artists from the exhibition.
• A lecture, “Brushing the Present in Oil Painting” —presented by exhibiting artists Liu Lei, Yao Ming, and Yao Xianing, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 23.
• A lecture, “From Mao to Now” —presented by art historian Joan Lebold Cohen at 7 p.m. on Nov. 4.

For more information on exhibitions and events, call 518-580-8080 or go to www.skidmore.edu/tang. For more information about Different Chinas, go to www.skidmore.edu/differentchinas. The catalogue for Brushing the Present, with essays by curator Miller and art-historian Cohen, will be available at the Tang Museum Store.

The Tang Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. Suggested donations are $5 for adults, $3 for children over 12, and $2 for senior citizens; children under 12 are admitted free.

Skidmore College, located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is an independent, liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 men and women. Known for its interdisciplinary curriculum, the college offers majors in both traditional liberal arts disciplines and in such fields as business, the fine and performing arts, and social work. The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery opened on the Skidmore campus in October 2000 as a center to explore all areas of study through the visual arts.

Editors and writers: To receive electronic images on disk or via e-mail, please contact Barbara Melville at 518-580-5740 or bmelvill@skidmore.edu.

PDF: Brushing the Present: Contemporary Academy Painting from China Brushing_the_Present_PR.pdf