Back from China!

Fiona and her painting (acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 120 x 160 cm)

This time last week I had just attended the Opening Ceremony of the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale, at the National Art Museum of China, and seen my painting on the wall! I was so pleased with the place it had been hung - it had its own wall and perfect lighting that really brought out the many shades of yellow and green. 

As you can see, it is on an end wall and really stands out. There were very few mainly yellow paintings in the show and it needed its own space.

This is me outside the National Art Museum of China, moments before we went in for the Opening Ceremony. I had to be up early that day, at 6.am, in order to get a bus at 8.15 to the Museum. Buses were laid on for us and the traffic in Beijing inevitably holds you up for longer than you can imagine! It was such a hot sunny day, and what you can't see in the photo are the crowds of people arriving and taking photos.

There were so many photographers from the media, and TV cameras, and all day the artists were treated like film stars. Everyone wanted photos of us and with us.

The theme was 'The Silk Road and World Civilisations.' There were artists from 102 countries and roughly 620 artworks ranging from paintings to sculptures, to tapestries, installations, videos and glass. The museum is huge and the exhibition covers 3 floors, each with many rooms. My painting is in floor 5, in room 21.

The photos do not do justice to my painting. There is a lot of detail and many yellows, and different textures. I envisaged my canvas as a piece of yellow silk blowing in the wind with various activities taking place across it. There are traders, camels taking products to different countries, and various ancient buildings including the Great Wall. My colours and shapes also represent human exchange and the travelling of ideas as much as actual physical items. My painting is called, 'The Silk Road and Human Exchange.'

More photos and stories from the trip will follow. I will also write a review of the exhibition with photos of the wide range of work. It was amazing!

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.