My Participation in the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale 2019

Speaking at the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale symposium

I returned from Beijing just under a week ago. It was an amazing trip, my third participation in the Beijing International Art Biennale (this was the 8th BIAB) and I met old friends and made many new friends. It has been such a refreshing experience in many ways, for my artwork, for the many conversations with artists, and as a learning experience. Seeing all the many great and diverse artworks is always going to extend your ideas about art and allow you to enjoy new visions.

At this point in time I'm planning to write a series of articles about the BIAB. Part One will include my personal experiences and Parts 2 and 3 will include articles about the exhibition. These will focus on showcasing some of the artwork by particular artists to give an idea of the breadth of this huge Biennale which this year included artworks from 113 countries.

For this post I'm attaching a photo of my speech at the international symposium on August 31st, and also a short video of my speech. The video was filmed by my friend the artist Rebecca Vincenzi. I will write more about my speech in Part One of my articles on the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale.

Finally, a photo of my painting in the National Art Museum of China and also one of me painting a Chinese landscape view with my ink on paper.

To be continued.

Standing by my painting 'Walking Towards a Shared Future.'

Painting with ink on paper from a high point overlooking Chinese landscape

You need to have a prolific output!

'The Silk Road and Human Exchange,' spray paint and acrylic on canvas, 120 x 160 cm

As artists we have to be prolific in our output because so many paintings either get lost or damaged during our lifetime.  I try to keep key paintings either tracked or hold on to them myself as sometimes you need to be able to show your most important pieces again, especially at prestigious exhibitions. There are pieces I will never part with, and I know other artists feel the same about some of their work because either it is a favourite painting or it was pivotal to a new direction. I learned to hold on to pieces because some of my key paintings were damaged or lost in the past and I regret that!  A favourite piece was destroyed during a fight between the owner and his wife. Yet another large and very beautiful painting was put out to the rubbish collectors after a close friend received it and her then husband did not like it and secretly threw it out. She told me that he did not like the fact it contained nudes! I only found this out years later! My thought was; WHY did you not give me the option to take it back?  My hope is that someone decided to hang it in their home.

'China Revisited,' acrylic on canvas, 22 x 30 cm

Not all artists can be prolific, if their process is a lengthy one, (and depending on the hours they have to paint) but even so, I am guessing that either they hold on to some of their work or they keep track of customers so they can borrow work back if necessary.

'Fragile Landscape,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

My good news is that I had a large painting accepted for the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale!  The painting is posted at the top of this article and it is a translation of the Biennale theme, which was 'The Silk Road and World Civilisations.'  I painted my landscape as being like a piece of yellow silk - especially I imagined the sky as pieces of yellow silk blowing in the wind - and various traders are seen along the lower edge of my painting. I loved painting this!  Mostly my work verges towards abstraction but I have always at times painted figures and animals.

Exhibiting at the Great Wall

I have just had my first solo exhibition in China and right next to the source of my inspiration! I am so proud that in just over 11 days studio time and quite a few nights in my room, I made something like 55 paintings and then set up a show in two hours with the help of my hosts. 

 

This photo shows me with one of the pivotal pieces I exhibited which is called 'Mosaic Mountain,' and which is based on my walk up to the Great Wall. While others took the chair lifts I wanted to walk. It took me about 45 minutes and I thought about all the people across the centuries who walked up that mountain and their lives and footsteps became patches and shapes of colour. This painting also extended an approach I had begun on raw canvas a day earlier and with both of these pieces I mixed different mediums: acrylic, ink, collage, pen and marker pen. They are both 54 by 40 inches and I hung them from nails by string in my show.

 

 In this photo you can see that I laid my large paintings on rice paper on tables. It was not the best way to see their shapes and colours but I had limited time. In the background you can see several of my works on watercolour paper hung by clips from string! Right behind them through the window you can see the Great Wall strung like a garland along the mountains - as this next photo will show.

 

My canvases were along two walls; the larger ones together and two smaller ones by some Windows. I also had some more watercolours hung from two black bamboo screens.

 

I had spent the previous night thinking how I could hang these pictures as it is not easy when work is on raw canvas and stuff is unframed.

 

It is always positive to make a show because it gives you an overview of the various strands of thought - though I don't like to be too cerebral about something that rests on a lot of mystery - and I could see where elements had gone forward and which ideas I will develop in the UK. 

 

OFF TO CHINA WITH MUCH EXCITEMENT!

'Excursion,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45 cm

As I mentioned back in June, I had a painting accepted for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, which opens at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on September 24th - this week! The exhibition has work by artists from 100 countries and I feel very honoured to be included. I am one of five artists representing the UK. As far as I know, none of the others are going.

I received an invitation to go to Beijing from 23rd to 27th September, to be present at the Opening ceremony and also to be present during their symposium. Just today I collected my visa from the Chinese Visa Application Centre and tomorrow I will be flying to Beijing in the afternoon. I still can't believe it. Nerves for the flight - I hate flying - are mingled with excitement at seeing Beijing and seeing the marvellous artworks that will be on show. I also hope to meet up with some of the other artists, and the symposium should be very interesting. Possibly this will influence my painting in a very big way. Certainly it is going to widen my ideas about art in general. I'm taking a small book to make some quick paintings of my impressions, in case anything resonates with me for future paintings. Though I may not have time to do this!

My next entry will be on my return next week.

Mark Rothko Plein Air Residency Exhibition

We set up our exhibition at the Daugavpils Museum of Regional Studies and Art (Daugavpils, Latvia) on Tuesday, 25th September (in commemoration of Mark Rothko's birthday). 15 artists took part. I painted 4 canvases but 3 were hung due to a lack of space. I was very pleased that they hung my largest canvas, (pictured with me here). Entitled 'Flying into Riga Airport,' it was all about my excitement as the aircraft tilted on its approach to the airport, and I was suspended above dark forested areas, estuaries, a wide river (the Dauga) and various colourful houses. The swing of the dark shapes interested me, and I worked hard to get that green exactly right. It had to be a very particular green, as I had been impressed by the green painted houses, and the same shade of green was on the Latvian money notes!  One of the Directors came into the studio and found I had a 5 Lat note next to my palette, which made him smile.
Shortly before the end of our studio time, I tried to enliven this green curve by adding another shade that was entirely wrong (too dense), and spent the next day wiping it off with rags soaked in turpentine! My hands were green for some days afterwards, but eventually I was able to re-work the green and it ended up better than it had been. A huge sigh of relief - it was, of the 4 paintings, the one that was a new direction for me, and I was determined to be able to show it! It was also the one chosen for the catalogue.
Unlike most of my fellow artists, who came equipped with laptops, I was unable to update my blog day by day. I will over the next week describe the experience of being on a painting residency, and what I gained from it. For now, I'm including a few photos of this largest painting.

All 4 paintings extended my vision.  I worked on 3 over a course of 4 days, as studio time was very intensive and I was pulled into multi-layered, unfolding arenas. Then on day 5 I had an idea for a 4th painting, about flying over Latvia, and to my surprise I was able to finish this one on our last day of studio time. We had 7 days altogether.

('Flying into Riga Airport,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 140cm)
It was an amazing experience, and I wish it had been longer. It is the first time, since college, that I have had such a large studio space, and it allowed me to expand and reassess my ideas.
More tomorrow!