Guan Shan Yue Museum
Last year Myles and I attempted to seek out local art venues here in Shenzhen. Since the Carnegie Museum of Art is such a big part of our lives in Pittsburgh, I really wanted to find something in Shenzhen that could be like that for us. Okay, there is only one Carnegie. I was hoping for some sort of museum and gallery scene, anything, that we could enjoy.
Googling got me the address and phone number for the Guan Shanyue Museum. We tried to get there by taxi, and that was difficult. The driver had no idea where this address was. Calling the museum got him the directions. Once we go there I was a little disappointed. It seemed so...small. They were in between exhibits on their first floor, but we were able to take in their permanent display of works by Guan Shanyue, the prolific Guangdong artist for whom the museum is named. The permanent exhibit occupies two rooms on the second floor. It is an impressive body of work assembled there. While I realy know nothing about scroll painting or traditional Chinese art or even modern Chinese art, I liked what I saw. Sometimes I really like to develop an uninformed opinion about art, so I can just judge what I see. Biography and process and context force me to appreciate, rather than just enjoy.
Anyway, that was last spring, when I spoke very very little Chinese (as opposed to today I think I can say only one very), had no idea about the urban geography here, and did not know that there was a English language newspaper that would be helpful in knowing when new shows were opening at any of the art venues.
Now I am better aquainted with the city, even carrying an English-language map with me. I have "discovered" the English language Shenzhen Daily which lists events of note around the city, sometimes even accurately.
Recently Myles and I returned to the Guan Shanyue museum. It is across the road from the Children's Palace (like a children's museum) and the large Book City. It is also at the entrance of Lianhua Shan Gong Yuan, that great park with the statue of Deng Xiao Peng. Our recent visit to Guan Shanyue was fantastic. We got to see a special exhibit titled "3+1." This show assembled by the Galleri Kobenhavn in Denmark was of mostly very recent work of four artists, three Danish and one Korean (hence 3+1). These were Bent Holstein, Gitte Winther, Anders Moseholm, and Minjung Kim.
I could go on and on about the art, but without images, it is impossible to share completely our impressions. Between the Great Firewall of China and the newness of much of the work, I can't find many images to post here.
Bent Holstein's canvases were these wonderful layers of color, some intense and some subdued. They seemed to be inspired mostly by islands and bodies of water, with titles like "Burning Key" and "The Great Divide." None of the paintings on this website were included, but those in the show were similar. For Myles it was fun to find small hints of color that would have been otherwise lost in the layers. A sliver of red or bright green in a grey painting, for instance.
Gitte Winther's paintings gave me chills, even though they weren't of anything obviously human, like looking at a St. Sebastian or something like that. The colors were bright, flat, and saturated. Probably that combination is what I found so exciting, oddly. This painting, "Construction," was not in the show, but is similar to those that were.
Myles had the best reaction to her half-dozen or so painted ceramic cushion-looking things she just called "Objects". He laughed, "They look like Giggly Pads." I couldn't find an image online, but this is a picture from the show catalog. They are about two feet in diameter, and the black circle is an opening.
Anders Mosehelm's work were urban landscapes with English words painted over them. I really thought that Myles would get into them more than he did, being these were not abstract AND had lettering, but he wasn't. One that looked similar to this painting except with a lot of red he referred to as "City on Fire!" which made me think of Sweeny Todd.
The fourth artist, the only non-Dane, was Korean Kim Minjung. Her work was just so cool. Many of them I think were collages of paper that had been burnt into shape. The collage here, titled "Pieno di Vuoto" was among my favorites, probably because of the bright colors.
Unfortunately I can't find and image of what was at one point Myles' favorite. Kim had a trio of 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter pictures of soccer balls composed of hundred of strips of burnt paper, one red, one white, and one black. These were really much cooler than I can possibly describe.
I spent 50 RMB a piece on the catalogues for each of the four artists, but they are now available for free download from the Galleri Kobenhavn website.
Googling got me the address and phone number for the Guan Shanyue Museum. We tried to get there by taxi, and that was difficult. The driver had no idea where this address was. Calling the museum got him the directions. Once we go there I was a little disappointed. It seemed so...small. They were in between exhibits on their first floor, but we were able to take in their permanent display of works by Guan Shanyue, the prolific Guangdong artist for whom the museum is named. The permanent exhibit occupies two rooms on the second floor. It is an impressive body of work assembled there. While I realy know nothing about scroll painting or traditional Chinese art or even modern Chinese art, I liked what I saw. Sometimes I really like to develop an uninformed opinion about art, so I can just judge what I see. Biography and process and context force me to appreciate, rather than just enjoy.
Anyway, that was last spring, when I spoke very very little Chinese (as opposed to today I think I can say only one very), had no idea about the urban geography here, and did not know that there was a English language newspaper that would be helpful in knowing when new shows were opening at any of the art venues.
Now I am better aquainted with the city, even carrying an English-language map with me. I have "discovered" the English language Shenzhen Daily which lists events of note around the city, sometimes even accurately.
Recently Myles and I returned to the Guan Shanyue museum. It is across the road from the Children's Palace (like a children's museum) and the large Book City. It is also at the entrance of Lianhua Shan Gong Yuan, that great park with the statue of Deng Xiao Peng. Our recent visit to Guan Shanyue was fantastic. We got to see a special exhibit titled "3+1." This show assembled by the Galleri Kobenhavn in Denmark was of mostly very recent work of four artists, three Danish and one Korean (hence 3+1). These were Bent Holstein, Gitte Winther, Anders Moseholm, and Minjung Kim.
I could go on and on about the art, but without images, it is impossible to share completely our impressions. Between the Great Firewall of China and the newness of much of the work, I can't find many images to post here.
Bent Holstein's canvases were these wonderful layers of color, some intense and some subdued. They seemed to be inspired mostly by islands and bodies of water, with titles like "Burning Key" and "The Great Divide." None of the paintings on this website were included, but those in the show were similar. For Myles it was fun to find small hints of color that would have been otherwise lost in the layers. A sliver of red or bright green in a grey painting, for instance.
Gitte Winther's paintings gave me chills, even though they weren't of anything obviously human, like looking at a St. Sebastian or something like that. The colors were bright, flat, and saturated. Probably that combination is what I found so exciting, oddly. This painting, "Construction," was not in the show, but is similar to those that were.
Myles had the best reaction to her half-dozen or so painted ceramic cushion-looking things she just called "Objects". He laughed, "They look like Giggly Pads." I couldn't find an image online, but this is a picture from the show catalog. They are about two feet in diameter, and the black circle is an opening.
Anders Mosehelm's work were urban landscapes with English words painted over them. I really thought that Myles would get into them more than he did, being these were not abstract AND had lettering, but he wasn't. One that looked similar to this painting except with a lot of red he referred to as "City on Fire!" which made me think of Sweeny Todd.
The fourth artist, the only non-Dane, was Korean Kim Minjung. Her work was just so cool. Many of them I think were collages of paper that had been burnt into shape. The collage here, titled "Pieno di Vuoto" was among my favorites, probably because of the bright colors.
Unfortunately I can't find and image of what was at one point Myles' favorite. Kim had a trio of 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter pictures of soccer balls composed of hundred of strips of burnt paper, one red, one white, and one black. These were really much cooler than I can possibly describe.I spent 50 RMB a piece on the catalogues for each of the four artists, but they are now available for free download from the Galleri Kobenhavn website.
Comments