Midsummer in Shanghai, "Back to Nature"—Pearl Art Museum exhibition
Pearl Art Museum
The summer in Shanghai, how can one word 'hot' describe it.
Here's a recommendation for a summer retreat without leaving Shanghai—"Pearl Art Museum".
Experience an art exhibition "Back to Nature".
📍Detailed address: 8th Floor, Aegean Shopping Park, No.1588 Wuzhong Road, Minhang District, Shanghai. Pearl Art Museum
🚉Transportation guide: Get off at Longbai Xincun Station on Line 10, and you can reach Aegean Shopping Park B2 through the passage of Exit 3. The elevator in the mall goes directly to the 8th floor Pearl Art Museum.
✅Exhibition Information
Exhibition Name: Back to Nature
Exhibition Dates: July 1, 2023—October 7, 2023
Visiting Hours: Closed on Mondays; Tuesday to Thursday 10:00-19:00 (entry stops at 18:00); Friday to Sunday 10:00-22:00 (entry stops at 21:00)
Exhibition Introduction
The exhibition invites 26 outstanding artists from 10 countries and regions around the world, displaying over 100 representative and cutting-edge works with the theme of colorful nature, including paintings, installations, sculptures, videos, photography, performance art, and other diverse media.
The exhibition is divided into four chapters: "Humans and Landscape," "Journey," "Narrative Painting," and "Question and Exploration." The presented works include personalized artistic reproductions and creations of the natural motif, profound inquiries and reflections on environmental issues, and unique expressions of a "non-anthropocentric view of nature."
My Reflections
My living environment is far from fine arts, and I vaguely like some works, but I can't explain why This time some exhibits were accompanied by annotations, and the combination of text and exhibits allowed for more understanding and reflection. Images 5 and 6 are the works that touched me, and I recorded the annotations next to them to share with everyone.
Image 5 is the work of Dong Xiaochi. Starting from a fallen leaf in his favorite Qiu Garden, he tells a story of a different world governed by different rules, a life and its dreams not dominated by materialism. Deeply rooted in the style of traditional landscape painting, yet following a contemporary personalized path, he strives to expand the depth of time and the breadth of space through his brush journey, allowing the shapes of trees and mountains to merge with abstraction, to the point where recognizable forms also transform into abstraction, opening up a space for imagination. Here, the effect of space is similar to the 'gentle breath of inhalation and exhalation' (Cheng Baoyi's words), linking the micro and macro worlds together.
Images 6 are two pieces from the 'Come With Me' series by British artist Ellie Davies. She believes that for thousands of years, Britain's forests have been shaped by the progress of human civilization, turned into ancient woodlands, timber forests, wildlife reserves, and outstanding natural beauty areas. Therefore, forests represent the fusion of nature, culture, and human activity. Forests are powerful symbols in folklore, fairy tales, and myths, enchanting and magical places, as well as dangerous and mysterious ones. Against this backdrop, her works explore how identity is shaped by the 'landscape' in which we live and grow. She engages in various temporary and non-invasive interventions in the forest, such as building 'pools of light' on the forest floor and 'dyeing' with paint and wool, creating a space between reality and fantasy, hoping to encourage viewers to reassess how their relationship with the landscape is formed, to what extent it is a product of cultural heritage or personal experience, and how this contributes to the formation of our own identities.
Museum Easter Egg
The Pearl Art Museum is known as 'a museum with a bookstore,' and the stairs from the 8th floor museum exit lead directly to the 7th floor bookstore, which is spacious and bright, eliciting admiration . See image 7.
"Back to Nature" is a call and expectation, inviting everyone to step into nature and pay attention to it.