Shenzhen artists stand out in national fine arts exhibition

More than 70 works by Shenzhen artists have been selected for the 11th China National Fine Arts Exhibition (CNFAE), an indicator that artists from the city have become an important force on the national art stage.

The 11th CNFAE is part of the cultural activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It is divided into 10 exhibits, with categories such as Chinese painting, oil painting, engraving, sculpture, murals, watercolor and pastel drawing, and artistic design.

Chosen to host different divisions of the exhibits are 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province, Changchun in Jilin Province, Harbin in Heilongjiang Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province.

Shenzhen is the host city for the artistic design exhibit, scheduled to open Oct. 9 at Guan Shanyue Art Museum and OCT Art & Design Gallery.

Among the 468 works selected for the artistic design exhibit, 57 are from Shenzhen designers, roughly 12 percent of the total prize candidates.

The 468 prize candidates were chosen from about 5,000 entries from all over the country, which include four major categories such as graphic design, fashion, industrial design and environmental design. The selections were made by a national panel of 29 jurors, who are from the country’s major fine arts colleges and design circles.

The 57 design works by Shenzhen artists include the 2011 Universiade mascot, dubbed UU, which was designed by Wang Xuefei and four other designers; Zhang Dali’s poster for the 2005 Graphic Design in China; and the comprehensive work for the Sixth International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen by Bi Xuefeng and his Shenzhen-based design company.

One particular fashion design won over the hearts of all jurors, “Summer Night” by Zhang Lichuan, a young teacher from Shenzhen University.

In industrial design, the double-sided slippers designed by young designers Li Cheng and Zhang Xun, which won the international Red Dot design award in design concept, was unanimously nominated as a prize candidate.

Winners in the category of environmental design were Yang Shengbang for the Sheraton Huizhou Beach Resort and Hong Zhongxuan for the Logosun Hotel in Wuhan.

According to Dong Xiaoming, chairman of the Shenzhen Literature and Arts Federation and one of China’s leading painters, a graphic design category was first included in the Ninth CNFAE in 1999. That category was also exhibited in the Guan Shanyue Art Museum.

“The reason why Shenzhen was again designated as the host city of the national artistic design exhibit was because Shenzhen was named a City of Design by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and became the 16th member of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network last year,” Dong said.

Official statistics show Shenzhen now has more than 6,000 design companies and 60,000 designers.

“Shenzhen has been leading the country in the design industry in recent years and this explains why designers from the city have performed so marvelously in the national fine arts exhibition this year,” Dong said.

In addition, works by Shenzhen artists will also appear in other exhibits. Six oil painting works will be exhibited in Wuhan beginning Sept. 26. Three works will appear in the watercolor and pastel drawing exhibit, which will open in Panjin, Liaoning Province, on Sept. 26. Three works for the Chinese painting exhibit will be shown in Shanghai beginning Oct. 23.

“This is a record the city’s artists have made in the total number of works selected for the CNFAE under traditional categories such as oil painting and sculpture, and most of the winners from Shenzhen this year are young or middle-aged artists,” said Luo Wenguan, chairman of the Shenzhen Artists Association (SAA).

The two oil paintings by Liang Yu, vice chairman of the SAA, were chosen from a series of works, titled “Signal Lights,” which the artist began on last year.

Surprisingly, Men Jiancheng, a painter from Dafen Oil Painting Village in Buji, Longgang District, had his original painting “Backpackers” selected for the 11th CNFAE. The painting depicts three backpackers resting under a tree while climbing a mountain.

“When people talk about Dafen Oil Painting Village, they usually think of commercial paintings, or cheap, low-quality imitations of so-called famous European paintings,” Men said.

“This is a kind of misunderstanding. In fact, there are a number of brilliant painters doing original paintings in Dafen Oil Painting Village.”

In the category of watercolor, three painters from the city, including Fang Xiaolong, Zhou Tianya and Jiao Liqiang, had their works entered into the CNFAE.

Fang’s series work, “Fertile Land,” displays the beautiful landscapes of spring and autumn.

The prize candidates in the category of sculpture include works by Shenzhen sculptors Dai Yun, Yang Guang and Yu Peng.

Dai’s work is a Chery QQ car made of red bricks. Yang’s sculpture is a rock garden built with discarded electronic circuit boards for mobile phones.

“Through my work I intended to show the contradiction between the traditional Chinese culture and modern industrial civilization,” Yang said.

“The rock garden, which stands for the ancient Chinese civilization, has been corroded by industrial waste with the rapid development of the economy and modernization in recent years,” he said.

The entries in the category of Chinese painting include works by Fu Zhongqi, Yan Xiaoping and Liang Bing.

Fu’s painting, “A Morning in Shenzhen,” portrays Shenzhen’s skyscrapers through a window of the Dapeng Fortress in Longgang District.

“Through the contrast between the ancient Dapeng Fortress and modern skyscrapers in downtown Shenzhen, I want to show the rapid urbanization Shenzhen has gone through over the past three decades,” Fu said.

As an outstanding example of Shenzhen artists, Pan Xiliang, who teaches at the college of art and design at Shenzhen University, had three works selected for this year’s CNFAE, one each for the mural exhibit, the Chinese painting exhibition and the animation and comprehensive exhibit.

His 28-by-2.5 meter mural, “Chinese Reproduction Culture,” is located in the Yuanshan Scenic Zone in Henggang, Longgang District.

His Chinese painting, “Dameisha Beach Resort,” depicts several young people sitting on Dameisha beach enjoying themselves.