Achievements of Experimental Contemporary Art Education-Shanghai Début of Top Three Art Academies (CAFA, CAA and SFAI) in China July 21, 2007

Organized by: Art Bank of Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art
Artistic Director: Shen Qibin
Academic Director: Wang Nanming
Project Managers: Echo Lv, Chen Yun
Time: July 22 – Aug 5, 2007
Recommenders: Sui Jianguo (CAFA), Qiu Zhijie (CAA) Zhang Peili(CAA), Zhang Qikai(SFAI)

Museums no longer serve only renowned artists.
From July 22 to August 5, Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art unite the top three Chinese art academies, China Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA), China Academy of Art (CAA) and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI), to present an exhibition of works by graduate students for the first time. Graduate works recommended by professors from the Sculpture Department of CAFA, Oil Painting Department of CAA, as well as New Media Department and Integrated Art Department of China Academy of Art are selected and exhibited in Shanghai Zendai MoMA.

The sculpture works from CAFA reveal a taste of academic solemnity. Among their graduate works, we can see their solid skills of modeling and their understanding of art history. The modeling styles of orthodox academic school steadfastly construct the narrative space. The boundary between sculpture and installation is gradually blurred, which makes the forms of presentations broader. Thus, we can see some installation works made by graduates from the sculpture department.

The newly established Integrated Art Department injects fresh new blood of contemporary art into CAA. The graduate installations and video works exhibited this time show the fruits of contemporary art education at CAA. Students seem to concern more about their daily lives. Leaves, fish and insects, daily goods and materials have all been used in their art works, through which they expressed their concept of “merging art into life”.

The free and active creative atmosphere at the SFAI has been well known to the contemporary art circle. We can feel their youthful and energy through the oil paintings of the graduates. They do not totally abandon traditional techniques of modeling, but properly exaggerate the images in pursuit of the visual ease and brightness of colors. The cartoon images have become the mainstream creative element, which makes oil painting very ‘contemporary’ and close to the taste of young people.

This collaborative exhibition of the top three art academies at Zendai MoMA push students to a broader platform of communication. Beneath the image of fruitful Chinese art education lie series of problems that needsour concern. Traditional academic teaching still play an important role in art academies, while contemporary art education seems rather weak in the whole education system, or even remain blank in many art colleges. As critic and professor of SFAI Wang Nanming puts it, ‘the art college education lags behind in the field of contemporary art’.

Contemporary art education has been a heated topic in art education field.
Faced with the status quo today, what are the possibilities for Chinese contemporary art education? What is contemporary art education？How do teachers teach? How shall students learn and how to evaluate the academic achievements? And how to reform our art education outlines?

Official Website: http://www.zendaiart.com