BEIJING, Jan. 18 -- A week ago, the climatic exhibition of awarded works for the 10th National Arts Contest drew its curtains in Beijing. The exhibition had drawn great attention from the public not only because of the disputed sculpture of the "Kneeling Chinese," and not just because of the visit paid by famous Nobel Prize winner and newly wed Yang Chen Ning, who was accompanied by his young wife.

    No, for most, the art was the main reason for attending, with this event serving as a review of the achievements made by Chinese artists during the past five years.

    Artistic Design is a relatively new category to the National Arts Contest, having been added at the last exhibition five years ago. At its second showing, it proved to be one of the hottest sections of the show, and a good indication of the growing attention being paid to China's domestic design industry.

    "Seeking Phoenix, Performing Phoenix and Following Phoenix" took gold prize for fashion design, with creator Qiu Haisuo having produced a series of clothes made in the batik style, using the materials of flax, cotton, gauze and silk. She explains the meaning behind the name of her design.

    "Ever since ancient times, people have been pursuing a beautiful life or ideal. The phoenix is a symbol of something that doesn't exist in the real world, but people have attached the most beautiful concepts to it. My design manner, however, is very simple and all the elements in my work are conventional, so conversely they have created a brand new image with a unique style," said Qiu.

    Launched in 1949 and subsequently held every four years since, the National Arts Contest is a cultural event devoted to the exhibition of works from China's highest artistic echelons, and especially works found in the fine arts. From August to November last year, the 10th National Arts Contest was held in ten major cities across the country, with more than 3,000 pieces of works on show.

   The best were given awards, and a month ago these six hundred prizewinners were displayed in Beijing, where they drew a great number of art lovers from all over the country. Indeed, during the exhibition's first two days, more than 3,000 people walked in the presence of these prize works. For the public, it was not only a good opportunity to appreciate the best of Chinese art from the last five years, but also a chance to communicate with some celebrated artists. China's Vice Minister of Culture, Chen Xiaoguang, speaks highly of the event.

    "As a significant activity in the circles of fine art, the national arts exhibition has become an event to promote artistic creation and to discover artistic talent. It is a comprehensive arts exhibition with the most participants, the widest range of genres and the most authoritative judgment in China," said Chen.     

    In a breakaway from previous incarnations, this exhibition championed a number of alternative and avant-garde works not yet critically recognized by the majority of the Chinese art world. Even in the traditional Chinese painting category, the gold winner, Treasure of Nature, was quite daring in its approach.

    Using drawing materials more often found in western paintings, such as propylene, the work physically brushed aside Chinese painting's tradition reliance on ink and mineral paints.

    Moreover, with a distinctly modern keynote of light green and silvery grey, this painting has seriously subverted the conservative "dots and lines" technique of traditional Chinese painting.

    But despite being controversial, the painting still provides a dreamlike portrayal of the landscape around the south part of the Yangtze River, a portrayal which well expresses the essence and artistic pursuit of traditional Chinese painting.

    Unlike Treasure of Nature, another gold prize winner, the oil painting "Nanjing, September 9, 1945", won unanimous praise from audience and critics. Taking realism as its mantra, the painting depicts the moment when the Chinese government accepted the Japan's surrender in 1945.

    As five meters wide and two meters high, the picture boasts a grand panorama but still maintains a great delicacy. All of the historical figures are vividly portrayed, while the whole scene conveys a sense of solemnity and stateliness. It took the artist Chen Jian a decade to complete this painting, but his reward was its reception as one of the best historical works by a Chinese artist in many decades.

    Despite the radically difference approach of works such as Treasure of Nature and Nanjing 1945, An Yuanyuan, of the Arts Department of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, lumps all this creativity and innovation together as representing the future of China's fine arts.

    "These works represent the achievements made in recent years by various genres. We can tell from these award-winning works that the artistic psychology of contemporary Chinese artists is becoming progressively peaceful and calm. They are paying more attention to the expression of the essence of Chinese arts and culture, with more mature experiments in the fields of artistic skill and manner," said An. 

    For art lovers, the National Exhibition is an infrequent, highlighted day in their calendars, but for Chinese artists there is much to regret, and much progress still to be made. Han Meilin is a senior Chinese painter, as well as the designer of Beijing's emblem during its bid for the Olympic Games. 

    He said that he had felt so moved upon seeing that the younger artists could do better work than the old artists. They felt being pushed forward by their efforts, but he still felt some remaining regret. He thought the works in several genres hadn't attain the high level of which they are capable, and among all of the sculptures, he didn't find a single top quality work."

     Yang Hailin is an art lover originally from Shenzhen, a city once located in the forefront of China's economic reforms, and now found in the vanguard of Chinese art. Compared with exhibitions held in Shenzhen, Yang Hailin thinks that this Beijing display is still a bit behind the times.

    To this end, the organizational committee of this Beijing event promises to display even more modern and contemporary works next time round. Five years is a long time in art, and when 2009 arrives, it will be interesting to see at the next exhibition which artistic styles are still considered cutting edge, and which have been blunted by age.

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)