On March 23, the “Transformation of Life” art exhibition commenced in Shanghai.
At the opening ceremony, Ms. Nancy Lee, the producer of this exhibition and the director of Nancy's Gallery, gave an opening remark, stating that this exhibition was more than just an art exhibition; it also depicted the transformation of artists' lives across periods. She expected the audience would find inner serenity, joy, and comfort in the show.
The term of this four-artist collective exhibition (Jia Jing, Liu Jin, Shi Gaoqing, and Wang Rui) spans from March 23 to May 5.
Subsequently, Dr. Zha Changping, the curator of the show, a well-known art critic and a biblical scholar currently serving as a professor at the Christian Research Center in the Institutes for Studies of Taoism & Religious Culture of Sichuan University in Chengdu City, expressed that, fundamentally, art embodied the transformation of individual human life. He commented that the works of the four artists in this exhibition, in one aspect, reflected the efforts of contemporary Chinese artists to pursue this transformation of life.
Professor Zha mentioned that an important characteristic of humans was constant self-renewal, and spiritual art could improve the openness of people’s consciousness. In other words, viewers could sense the renewal of the artist's self in their paintings, even if religious symbols and expressions weren’t used or emphasized directly. In his opinion, the works on display were witnesses to the artist's lives transforming into the ultimate reality. The significance of such a transformation was just like what was revealed in Jesus’s Transfiguration on the mountain.
He said, "Fundamentally, art embodied the transformation of individual human life. In contemporary art, this transformation takes the forms of defamiliarization and figurative language, which distinguishes art’s role in shaping people's cultural psychological structure compared with the function of philosophy in the symbolic language and the function of religions in the instructive language. All three are of irreplaceable value for individuals, urging them to transcend themselves and strive towards the ideal existence, the superego, ultimately leading to the ultimate reality. This journey facilitates the sublimation of individual humanity, enriching it to a fuller one."
Zha remarked, "What makes one great is not the topic nor the material of the painting, while the yearning for a great soul is the key. Such a great soul is what we desire deeply in our lives. My interest in art stems from its ability to reveal to me another state of existence in the dead of night. Just as I have observed the strength and fragility of life under the brushes of Shi Gaoqing, the chaos and order of life in Jia Jing’s and Liu Jin’s works, as well as the theme of death and resurrection in Wang Rui’s paintings."
"These themes are part of our daily encounters. Thus, we must not only focus on earthly matters but also on those of heaven, not only on the heavens above but also on the realms beyond the Milky Way, the divine realms. It is only in the divine realms that we can lift our heads from keeping our noses to the grindstone each day to gaze upon the stars and to peer behind the haze even further," he added.
The four artists from Sichuan Province aspire for their artworks to generate warmth and resonance in each viewer.
- Translated by Poppy Chan
3月23日,“生命变像”（Transformation of Life) 画展在上海举行开幕式。
开幕式上，此次展览的出品人、南希画廊主理人Nancy Lee女士发表了开幕致辞，表示此次画展不只是艺术展览，也呈现出了艺术家们在不同时期的生命的转变，希望通过此次画展可以带给观赏者内心的喜悦、平静与安慰。
此次四人联展(贾靖、刘瑾、石高青、王睿)的展期为3月23日—5月5日。
随后，此次的策展人查常平博士进行了分享。查常平是著名的艺术批评家，同时也是一位圣经学者，现供职于成都四川大学道教与宗教文化研究所基督教研究中心教授。他认为，从根本上来讲，艺术乃是人的个体生命的变像，而本次展览中的四位艺术家的作品，从一个侧面表达出中国当代艺术家寻求这种生命变像的努力。
查常平教授谈到，人的重要特征在于自我不断地更新，而灵性艺术可以提升人们意识生命的开放度；即使创作者不直接使用或强调宗教符号和表达，但也能让观者感受到艺术家更新的自我。在他看来，这次展出的作品更是艺术家个体的生命转向终极实在的见证，这种变像的意义就像耶稣在登山变像事件中所启示的那样。
他说：“在根本上，艺术乃是人的个体生命的变像。这种变像，在当代艺术中更多采取陌生化的、象征性语言的形式。这种形式，使艺术在塑造人的文化心理结构中区别于哲学之符号性语言的观念、区别于宗教之指使性语言的信仰之功能。三者对于个人都有不可替代的价值。驱使个人超越自我、奔向理想的应然存在之超我，最后触及终极实在，升华个人的人性、使之更为丰满。 ”
他说：“无论画的主题和材料不能使一个人伟大，真正伟大的东西是对伟大心灵的向往，这伟大的心灵是我们生命深处所渴望的……我对艺术感兴趣是因为艺术能在夜深人静的时候（让我）看到生命的另一种状态。就像从石高青的作品里我看到了生命的刚强与脆弱，从贾靖和刘瑾的作品里看到了生命的混乱与秩序，从王睿的作品里看到了死亡和复活的主题。”
“这些主题是我们每天要面对的。所以我们不仅要关注地上的事，也要关注天上的事；不仅要关注天上的事，也要关注银河之外的世界，就是那神圣的世界，因为只有神圣的世界才能把我们每天低头工作投入的，抬起头仰望星空，仰望雾霾背后的背后的背后。”
四位艺术家均来自四川，盼望他们的作品可以给大家带来温暖与感动。
“生命变像”四人联展上海开幕：艺术家们生命转变与更新的见证
On March 23, the “Transformation of Life” art exhibition commenced in Shanghai.
At the opening ceremony, Ms. Nancy Lee, the producer of this exhibition and the director of Nancy's Gallery, gave an opening remark, stating that this exhibition was more than just an art exhibition; it also depicted the transformation of artists' lives across periods. She expected the audience would find inner serenity, joy, and comfort in the show.
The term of this four-artist collective exhibition (Jia Jing, Liu Jin, Shi Gaoqing, and Wang Rui) spans from March 23 to May 5.
Subsequently, Dr. Zha Changping, the curator of the show, a well-known art critic and a biblical scholar currently serving as a professor at the Christian Research Center in the Institutes for Studies of Taoism & Religious Culture of Sichuan University in Chengdu City, expressed that, fundamentally, art embodied the transformation of individual human life. He commented that the works of the four artists in this exhibition, in one aspect, reflected the efforts of contemporary Chinese artists to pursue this transformation of life.
Professor Zha mentioned that an important characteristic of humans was constant self-renewal, and spiritual art could improve the openness of people’s consciousness. In other words, viewers could sense the renewal of the artist's self in their paintings, even if religious symbols and expressions weren’t used or emphasized directly. In his opinion, the works on display were witnesses to the artist's lives transforming into the ultimate reality. The significance of such a transformation was just like what was revealed in Jesus’s Transfiguration on the mountain.
He said, "Fundamentally, art embodied the transformation of individual human life. In contemporary art, this transformation takes the forms of defamiliarization and figurative language, which distinguishes art’s role in shaping people's cultural psychological structure compared with the function of philosophy in the symbolic language and the function of religions in the instructive language. All three are of irreplaceable value for individuals, urging them to transcend themselves and strive towards the ideal existence, the superego, ultimately leading to the ultimate reality. This journey facilitates the sublimation of individual humanity, enriching it to a fuller one."
Zha remarked, "What makes one great is not the topic nor the material of the painting, while the yearning for a great soul is the key. Such a great soul is what we desire deeply in our lives. My interest in art stems from its ability to reveal to me another state of existence in the dead of night. Just as I have observed the strength and fragility of life under the brushes of Shi Gaoqing, the chaos and order of life in Jia Jing’s and Liu Jin’s works, as well as the theme of death and resurrection in Wang Rui’s paintings."
"These themes are part of our daily encounters. Thus, we must not only focus on earthly matters but also on those of heaven, not only on the heavens above but also on the realms beyond the Milky Way, the divine realms. It is only in the divine realms that we can lift our heads from keeping our noses to the grindstone each day to gaze upon the stars and to peer behind the haze even further," he added.
The four artists from Sichuan Province aspire for their artworks to generate warmth and resonance in each viewer.
- Translated by Poppy Chan
Shanghai Joint Exhibition Witnesses 'Transformation of Life'
