Incredibly, the cloth-made hemlines with layers of ruffles make it possible to float the garments of elegant ladies from the Tang Dynasty on canvas-like worn-out door planks.
On the morning of April 12, the "Say Something Meaningful"—Chongqing-Zhejiang Mixed Media Painting Exchange Exhibition (Chongqing) kicked off at Chongqing Art Museum. It was held by Chongqing Artists Association, Zhejiang Province Artists Association, Chongqing Art Museum, and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
On April 12, "Say Something Meaningful" kicked off at Chongqing Art Museum (Photo provided to iChongqing)
The mixed media paintings are distinguished from those created with oil-mixed pigments, propylene pigments, watercolors, and other traditional painting materials. It can be seen from those completed paintings that the paste-up pieces of newspaper, sack, and metal were colored and collaged into final pieces of mixed work. Apparently, despite its infancy, this new form of painting has been accepted by more and more artists and audiences.
After assembling its Comprehensive Material Painting and Artwork Conservation and Restoration Art Committee in 2010, the China Artists Association set up a special exhibition area for the new type of artistic creation at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 2014 and started to organize China Comprehensive Material Painting Biennial in 2015.
A visitor was enjoying the exhibit (Photo provided to iChongqing)
"As Zhejiang and Chongqing are known to all in terms of the development of mixed media painting, the exhibition is a powerful collaboration in the field. At the opening ceremony, we noticed from the exhibits that artists were still paying attention to changes in real life and seeking for inspiring materials to create artistic works in tune with the times, even though the mixed media painting was still new for most people," said Pang Maokun, President of Chongqing Artists Association.
A visitor took a photo of an exhibit (Photo provided to iChongqing)
On the second floor of Chongqing Art Museum, 120 pieces of work by over 50 artists from Zhejiang and Chongqing were displayed in 4 exhibition halls. Naturally, as the mixed media painting was the core of the exhibition, various unusual materials, including cloths, clothes, and door planks, were the biggest highlight.
Exhibits (Photo provided to iChongqing)
For example, a seemly wearable sweater was actually a "lying chair." Compared with other special exhibits, a work named A Chair in Dragon Pattern by artist Wang Lei looked more unique because of its creation materials—superficially, the "chair" was knitted with wool; however, if looking at it carefully, you could discover that there were some Chinese characters on the threads. The secret was that each "thread" on which the characters were printed was made of pieces of old newspaper.
A visitor took a photo of an exhibit (Photo provided to iChongqing)
The exhibition will last until April 24, and it is free of charge if you are interested in fine arts and mixed media painting. Meanwhile, please note that if you had traveled outside Chongqing in the past 14 days, please provide your own proof of a negative COVID-19 test in the preceding 48 hours before entry to the museum.