The Pure Heart of Art, The Nostalgia in Ink -- Exhibition of Su Gaoyu's Works kicked off in Hunan Museum

On the morning of August 17th, the opening ceremony of “The Pure Heart of Art, The Nostalgia in Ink -- Exhibition of Su Gaoyu's Works” was held in the Art Hall on the first floor of Hunan Museum. The exhibition was jointly hosted by the Hunan Museum, the Hunan Artists Association, the Hunan Provincial Painting Academy, and co-organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Xiangxi Prefecture Committee. Supporters include Shanghai Duoyunxuan Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Hongxing Limited by Share Ltd, Hunan Railway Transportation Holding Group and Lewoju Holding Group Co., Ltd.

The opening ceremony was hosted by He Juan, news anchor in the Hunan Broadcasting System, Secretary General of Hunan Broadcasting and Hosting Research Association and Executive Vice President of Hunan Association of Language and Literature Workers.

At the ceremony, Chen Xuliang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Hunan Museum , Shi Gang, vice chairman of the Hunan Provincial Artists Association and president of the Hunan Provincial Painting Academy, Kuang Xiaojin, vice chairman of the Hunan Literature and Art Association and chairman of the Hunan Artists Association, Guo Shifu, the famous painter, and Zhao Chengxin, vice minister of the Publicity Department of Hunan Provincial Party Committee and director of the Provincial Office of Civilization, successively delivered speeches.

Su Gaoyu delivered a thank-you speech.

At the opening ceremony, six pieces(sets) of representative works were donated to the Hunan Museum by the artist. Shang Bin, member of the leading party group and Deputy Director-General of Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, accepted donations with collection certifications given to the artist.

Lai Mingyong, Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC), Standing Committee Member of the Central Committee of China Democratic National Construction Association(CDNCA) and Chief Committee Member of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CDNCA, announced the opening of the exhibition. Numerous leaders and guests from various fields attended the opening ceremony.

Su Gaoyu

Su Gaoyu, of Tujia ethnic group, was born in Xiangxi in 1966. He is a contemporary painter of freehand bird-and-flower, arts critic and writer. He is currently a member of the Hunan Provincial Political Consultative Conference, a researcher of the Li Keran Painting Academy, a director of the Hunan Artists Association, and a vice-chairman of the Hunan Bird-and-Flower Painters Association.

This exhibition exercises his inventive mind across 40 years. A hundred or more masterpieces demonstrated in the exhibition not only looks back fondly to his personal art tour, but also wonderfully manifests contemporary heritage and innovation of Chinese traditional drawing of flowers and birds.

Like a time scroll, from the youth and enthusiasm of the copy work Galloping Horse in 1982 to the elegance and free-vulgarity of the latest works Spare Chinese Wistaria and Chinese Plum and Stone, the exhibition leads us to see the marks of Su Gaoyu’s art exploration. Recently, his creation focuses on painting of freehand flowers and birds, including traditional subjects like plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, lotus and pine. There is no lack of novel elements like strawberry, yam bean, urchin and coptis. They all showcase the Su’s sharp insight and limitless creation for the natural world.

The unique exhibition design abandons the traditional layout of time clues and instead focuses on the works themselves, allowing each painting to speak directly to the viewer's mind. Inside the exhibition hall, there are no complicated explanatory texts, only the interplay of paintings and inscriptions, and the harmonious symbiosis of calligraphy and painting, which together weave a picture of far-reaching artistic landscape. When the audience walks in the hall, it is as if they have traveled through time and space, experiencing every metamorphosis and sublimation of Su Gaoyu's art world.

Su Gaoyu's paintings are drenched in ink and brushwork, and contain a deep cultural heritage and the spirit of the times. He understands the way of “the Unity of Calligraphy and Painting Origins”, and integrates poetry and calligraphy into his paintings, which makes his works full of literati flavor and a sense of bookishness. On the basis of inheriting the tradition, he has the courage to innovate, blending his personal feelings with the pulse of the times, giving new vitality and a sense of the times to traditional subjects.

This exhibition is not only an affirmation of Su Gaoyu's personal artistic achievement, but also a kind of expectation and exploration of the future development of Chinese contemporary freehand flower-and-bird painting. In the renaissance of Gongbi painting, how to break through and regain the splendor of the bird-and-flower painting has become a question worth pondering. The practice of Su Gaoyu undoubtedly provides us with a valuable revelation: only through innovation in inheritance and development in innovation can traditional Chinese art shine more brightly in the new era.

Let's go into this calligraphy and painting feast together to feel Su Gaoyu's ink flow, experience the broad world between the freehand paintings and witness the beauty of traditional Chinese cultural inheritance and innovation.

Explore the Exhibition

The exhibition is open to the public free of charge from now until September 10th at the No.3 Special Exhibition Hall on the third floor of the Hunan Museum. Visitors can visit the Hunan Museum official WeChat public account and Alipay mini program to reserve tickets.