Art hubs unite

Visitors view the latest works by artists from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing at the Beijing World Art Museum. Photos Provided to China Daily

Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing all have vibrant artistic communities. A recent forum looked at the best ways to encourage artists to continue their practice and produce works. Lin Qi reports.

Beijing and Shanghai have long been known as artistic hubs, while lesser-known Tianjin and Chongqing also embrace booming art scenes with distinctive local features.

A recent forum in Beijing was aimed at broadening artistic exchanges among the four municipalities. Attendees discussed not only artistic creations but also art popularization and the development of a sustainable art market.

Organized by the Beijing Cultural Development Foundation, the forum on Dec 28 was held on the sidelines of an exhibition at the Beijing World Art Museum that showcased the latest calligraphy and ink-and-water paintings by artists from the four cities.

Boasting rich and dynamic cultural traditions, the municipalities are also where the country's major art colleges are located and have cultivated generations of artists. Liu Mingxiao, from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, for example, has been experimenting with incorporating the concept of Chinese ink art into oil painting. His canvases, which were on show, often feature common motifs in ink-and-water paintings, such as ceramics and lotuses, through layers of vibrant acrylic paints.

Painters, calligraphers and art commentators said at the forum that inter-city art exhibitions and talks should be held periodically to enrich regional art scenes.

Zhang Yugang, vice-chairman of the Chongqing Calligraphers Association, said it was a shame that the inconvenience of long-distance travel meant few Chongqing artists could display their works at the exhibition; and as a result the outlook of Chongqing's modern art was not properly represented.

"An important transportation hub (on the Yangtze River), Chongqing's art also takes on a variety of influences, having borrowed a little from the north and a little from the south. We are open and love to learn from others," Zhang says.