ACIAC Opens a New Exhibition for Six Yunnan Artists

Contemporary Chinese art comes to Western Sydney University again! This time it is through a new exhibition hosted by the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture! On 13 November, 2018, the six exhibited artists from Yunnan Province of China came to Sydney and joined us for its opening.

Dubbed “The Yunnan School of Artists”, this intensive exhibition features 18 “heavy colour” artworks by a group of painters and printmakers, namely, Yang Peng(杨鹏), Wang Yuhui（王玉辉）, Xiong Huiming（熊惠明）, Shen Dekun（沈德坤）, Lyu Min (吕敏) and Ye Songqing（叶松青）. ACIAC Director Professor Labao Wang welcomed the artists to the opening reception. ACIAC key researcher Dr David Cubby spoke about what he perceived as some of the key characteristics of the “Yunnan School” of contemporary Chinese art - its commitment to the depiction of rural life and landscape and the presentation of the rich local cultures of multiple ethnic groups. Sydney-based artist and Executive Vice President of the Australian Association of Chinese Artists, Ms Jingmin Ren, introduced her career as an artist also from Yunnan Province, spoke about the work of her Association and invited the artists for future collaboration. Speaking on behalf of all six of the exhibited artists, Mr Yang Peng further elaborated on the central features of the so-called “Yunnan heavy colour paintings” by drawing attention to the group’s emphatic presentation of Yunnan’s regional cultures, their use of brilliant colours not commonly seen in traditional Chinese art and their love for innovation and experimentation.

Also in attendance at the warm opening reception were other local artists and some postgraduate students.