Chinese Painting to be On Location at the Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam

POTSDAM, NY (02/23/2012)(readMedia)-- The Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam will host an exhibition that brings traditional Chinese landscape art with a twist to the College throughout the month of March.

The exhibition, "Chinese Painting on Location: The Art of Lin Haizhong," will begin with live painting demonstrations with the famed Chinese artist on Wednesday, Feb. 29 and at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 1 held in the Museum's Gibson Gallery, as part of the ArtPartnership program.

A reception with the artist will be held on Thursday, March 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Gibson Gallery. The exhibition opening will include a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. During the reception, Du Rusong will be performing music on the dizi, the classical Chinese flute. The exhibition will be on display from March 1 to March 31 in the Gibson Gallery. Haizhong's assistant Li Kekao will also travel from China for the exhibition opening along with the artist and the musician.

Lin Haizhong is a professor in the traditional Chinese painting department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, China, where he is also the associate director of the research center for calligraphy and painting appreciation. Haizhong's paintings have been gathered by the National Art Museum of China, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Guangdong Museum of Art and the British Museum.

Chinese ink paintings that symbolize or incorporate landscapes are often described as "landscapes of the mind." These paintings emerge from the intimate relationships that a painter forms with his environment, but the paintings do not illustrate particular scenes from reality. They represent imaginary landscapes that emerge from the mind of the painter and reflect a fusion of approaches that combine personal styles with techniques that have been developed for centuries.

Haizhong's contemporary landscape paintings are a unique effort to reimagine the changing modern Chinese landscape through a personal vision. They also appeal to the past by preserving the historic landscape and are said to create a modern Chinese environment with traditional roots.

The exhibition will display the paintings of this innovative and talented artist and present his philosophical approach to Chinese art through photographs, interviews and displays on the contemporary practice of Chinese ink painting.

The guest curator for this exhibition is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Art Dr. Morgan Perkins, who also serves as director of the College's Museum Studies Program and as director of the Weaver Museum.

This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Weaver Museum and the Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam.

SUNY Potsdam's Charles T. Weaver Anthropology Museum was established in 1991 in honor of a former College faculty member who spent many years among the Tetela people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Weaver Museum regularly hosts exhibits created by student curators and serves as a teaching museum for students in the museum studies program.

The Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam serves as the center for visual arts at the College, and encompasses all of the collections found throughout campus, including in the Gibson Gallery. The Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of quality works of art, and its collection includes significant artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries as well as earlier pieces.

The mission of The Art Museum at The State University of New York at Potsdam is to make direct experience of the visual arts accessible to students, faculty, staff and alumni of the College, as well as to residents of Northern New York.

ArtPartnership is a public school outreach program that brings 700 to 1,000 students annually to the Museum from the region. The program is held in the museum's galleries, foyer or in College lecture or art studio facilities.

Admission to the Gibson Gallery, located at Brainerd Hall, is free, and the exhibition space is handicapped-accessible. The Art Museum is open to the public from noon until 5 p.m. on Monday and Friday, from noon until 7 p.m. from Tuesday through Thursday, and from noon until 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

For more information, call (315) 267-3290 or visit www.potsdam.edu/museum.

Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of only three arts campuses in the entire SUNY system. SUNY Potsdam's arts curriculum offers the full palette: music, theatre, dance, fine arts and creative writing. No matter the discipline, people from all backgrounds can find their creative compass at Potsdam, with myriad arts immersion experiences available for both campus and community.

-www.potsdam.edu-

Posted Thursday February 23, 2012 at 04:30 pm by SUNY Potsdam
Last Updated Wednesday February 29, 2012 at 12:53 pm