Mosaic China (Beijing) Mosaic Art Seminar

▲ Seminar Scene

 

In the afternoon of October 17, the Mosaic China (Beijing) Mosaic Art Seminar was held in the Academic Lecture Hall of the Art Museum in Central Academy of Fine Arts. The first half of the seminar was hosted by Sun Tao, and the second half was presided over by Qi Zhe.

 

In the first half of the seminar, there was a panel discussion of famous experts, and the guests explored the mosaic art together in an informal way.

 

 

▲ Liu Bingjiang, the deputy director of the 3^rd-term Mural Art Committee of China Artists Association, made his speech.

 

Liu Bingjiang first shared his creation experience and feelings about his work “Creation · Harvest · Joy”. He also pointed out that “mosaic painting” was originally borrowed from abroad. With the efforts of his colleagues in the Mural Art Committee, the “Mosaic China” tour exhibition has opened up a brand-new expression style and aesthetic appreciation. In the future, the “mosaic painting” can develop into a painting, category which is equivalent to oil paintings, Chinese paintings and wood blocks. At the same time, he also expressed some feelings about viewing this exhibition. He believed that not all works made into mosaics could display the unique beauty of the materials of mosaic paintings.

 

 

▲ Speech by Zhang Shiyan, professor of Central Academy of Fine Arts

 

Zhang Shiyan first briefly introduced the historical development of mosaic murals in China, among which he reviewed the creation process of the important works of Chinese mosaic murals such as “Landscapes of the River Lijiang”, “Big Banyan”, etc. He believes that mosaic painting, as a category of craft materials, has its own characteristics, and the “gaps” in mosaic paintings can play its role. Today, how to deal with the gaps when we use highly-adhesive glue is also a research subject.

 

 

▲ Hu Wei, Director of the Preservation and Restoration Committee of Comprehensive Materials Painting and Fine Art Works of Chinese Artists Association,

Wang Zan, Deputy Director of the Academic Committee of China Academy of Art,

Tang Hui, Director of the Mural Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts, made their speeches.

 

Hu Wei talked about his feelings and experiences when viewing mosaics restored by the Mosaic Research Institute in Russia, and he argued about whether Chinese mosaic paintings can take gold and silver inlaying and turquoise inlays as a source and start, bringing back classical crafts to today’s techniques. At the same time, he also put forward issue of how to position the “mosaic murals” and “mosaics”, as well as the definition of mosaic.

 

Wang Zan thought that this exhibition has brought many academic concerns, for example, how to distinguish and position “mosaic painting” or “mosaic mural” or “mosaic” and how mosaic art becomes an independent category of painting are very critical issues. The application and reflection of humanistic spirit are shown in mosaic art, and “mosaic” has been accompanying human beings, human civilization and human artistic development for thousands of years. At the same time, it gives us a development idea for the future.

 

Tang Hui proposed that the current understanding of new technologies and new materials is an opportunity for the future development of mosaic art. He analyzed his own practice and cultural phenomena of in his mosaic teaching, allowing students to develop in the learning and creative practice of mosaic art.

 

 

▲ Xi Haifei, Professor of Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University,

He Hongzhou, Dean of the School of Painting, China Academy of Art,

Hou Liming, Former Director of Fine Arts Research Institute of Dunhuang Academy, made their speeches.

 

Xi Haifei interpreted the relationship between mosaic and inlaying, and at the same time proposed that the feature of “fragmentation” is an entry point for the generation and development of future culture. He believed that inlaying itself is a category, and there will be more theoretical works in the future, which can explain it more clearly, and hopefully in the future there will be some experts conduct special research in the teaching system and theoretical system.

 

He Hongzhou proposed that there are many possibilities for mosaic or mosaic art. In basic teaching, we should pay attention to how to cultivate language, materials and modelling ability and how to find a good opportunity to grasp the themes of materials, paintings or murals, but not merely focus on “materials”. In the basic teaching, if we can emphasize that the creation of mosaic painting should start with its limitations, it can reflect its own advantages of language, and at the same time strengthen its own understanding and awareness.

 

Hou Liming talked about the Chinese people’s lack of understanding of Western colors and the cognition of Eastern color systems. Taking the colors of Dunhuang frescoes as an example, he discussed the characteristics and aesthetic level of the ancients in their use of colors. From the mosaic works displayed in this exhibition, we can see the new hope for the development of mosaic art in China, and the presentation of good works is inseparable from the excellent works themselves and the superb skills and aesthetic qualities of the technical workers.

 

 

▲ Tang Mingyue, Professor of School of Fine Arts, Shandong College of Arts,

Huang Shan, Professor of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute,

Zhang Jing, Professor of Nanjing University of the Arts, made their speeches

 

In his speech, Tang Mingyue first thanked Mr. Tang Xiaohe for his precise support on mosaics over the years, which enables mosaics to gradually develop from processing according to buyers’ samples to artistic creation. At the same time, he highly praised the work pattern of the combination of production and research in Victory Mosaic Plant. Taking the works of Professor Xi Haifei as an example, he mobilized more muralists and artists to directly pay attention to the works on the scene and to the factory, establishing closer collaborative relationship with the factories.

 

Huang Shan said that this ending exhibition is richer than the previous six exhibitions, adding more works, especially the European classic mosaic collections and Chinese ancient mosaic collections. The works in this exhibition expand the dimensions of the artistic vocabulary of the mosaic itself and open up a new world. Mosaic art presents a colorful world based on the cooperation of artists and workshops. This is a great promotion to China’s mosaic art, and he firmly believed that the “Mosaic China” today is the beginning of a new Long March.

 

In his speech, Zhang Jing mentioned that while Chinese mosaic painting is developing, the academic theory should be further improved, and more research is still needed. At the same time, he recommended the book of “Mosaic Painting”, which has a more comprehensive definition of mosaic painting from its origin and is of great benefit to the research of mosaic art.

 

 

▲ Wang Yingsheng, Director of the Mural Art Committee of Chinese Artists Association and Dean of Restoration Research Institute, Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts, delivered his speech.

 

In his speech, Wang Yingsheng expressed his wonderful expectations for the future of mosaic art, that is, with the continuous participation of numerous oil painters, traditional Chinese painters and even more artists of different painting categories and styles, more masterpieces will be created. Although this exhibition is the ending exhibition, it is another new beginning. Wang Yingsheng showed his thanks to President Fan Di’an for his strong support for the exhibition. Without the strong backing of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, without the participation of many artists, there is no current status of the exhibition. We will achieve further improvement and promotion to lead the “Mosaic China · China Mosaic” to its further glory.

 

 

▲ Qi Zhe, the conference host and professor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts,

Sun Tao, the director of the Academic Affairs Office of Central Academy of Fine Arts, delivered their speeches.

 

The second half of the seminar was the keynote speech, and Qi Zhe was the host of the meeting.

 

Qi Zhe said that this exhibition was in the hope to promote the creation, research and teaching of Chinese mosaic art. A lot of questions were raised in the seminar. So far, even in the major of mural painting in various colleges, mosaic or inlaying is nothing but a course. Therefore, there is a great room for us to explore the depth of its research and teaching.

 

Sun Tao took “Talking from the Russian Mosaic Art” as the topic, combined with his past experiences of studying in Russia and described the mosaic art of Russia in different periods and different regions from the Byzantine period. He also listed a series of mosaic art works and mural works, and deeply explored the development of mosaic art and the contemporary status quo of mosaic creation in China through his personal experiences in mural creation. 

 

 

▲ Wen Qiqi, Bizen Art and Culture Communication Co., Ltd,

Li Chen, Professor of Central Academy of Fine Arts,

Li Yingjie, Yingjie Hard Stone Art Museum, delivered their speeches.

 

Wen Qiqi shared the growth experience of Bizen Art and Culture Co. Ltd. over the past six years with the topic of “Six-year Polishing · Bizen Mosaic”. The six years since the establishment of “Bizen” have also been the same as the six years of the simultaneous development of the “Mosaic China” tour exhibitions. From their works, we can see that the artists have made great efforts and numerous attempts to actively explore and communicate with overseas artists and expand the art from the plane to the three-dimensional space.

 

Li Chen shared his experiences in mosaic art creation with the theme of “Mosaic—Environmental Application Materials or a Kind of Personal Expression”, and proposed the existence of mosaic as an independent art, expressing an artist’s own concept, thought or visual, iconic and experiencing interpretation that should not be limited to works of public environment art.

 

Li Yingjie delivered his speech on the topic of “Italian Hard Stone Mosaic Art”. Starting from the origin of hard stone art, combined with his own research and experiences of hard stone art over the years, he described the historical evolution and development of hard stone mosaic art over the past 400 years and showed the beauty of Italian hard stone mosaic art.

 

Li Dan shared the process of his participating in the practice of the newly-added works of “Mosaic China” Beijing Site, which showed the unique charm reflected by different materials and different styles in the newly-added works in this exhibition. Understanding the details of the material production behind the exhibits and feeling the connotation of the beauty as well as the craftsmanship of the workers, he expressed the hope that more artists, who like mosaic art, including teachers and students of the mural painting department, can devote themselves to such artistic practice.

 

 

▲ Liang Yi, Director of the Mural Painting Department, China Academy of Art,

Li Lukui, Professor of Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, delivered their speeches.

 

Liang Yi believed that the various possibilities of mosaic art could be seen from the exhibition. Under the new college background, the Mural Painting Department of China Academy of Art has the hope to actively establish and develop a material studio and to apply mosaic inlay and other material arts to the teaching practice.

 

Li Lukui said that mosaic, as an inlaying art, from the perspective of its long-term, innovative to extensible qualities, thus it is suitable to be used in the public space of current urban development. In addition, he hoped that artists, associations and enterprises can formulate the industrial standards for mosaic inlays with their joint efforts to make this cause better.

 

At the end of this seminar, the host conveyed Mr. Tang Xiaohe’s congratulations on that the “Mosaic China-Mosaic Art Invitation Exhibition · Beijing” was held as scheduled. He believed that the 4^th-term Mural Art Committee headed by Director Wang Yingsheng can continue to promote this mosaic exhibition with elaborate improvement, which will improve and develop the content and level of the exhibition on its original basis. The original intention of “Mosaic China” is to show the possibilities of mosaic art, to improve the overall level of Chinese mosaic art and make mosaic art play a greater role in the construction of Chinese urban public culture. In these three aspects, we can see that such exhibitions played a powerful boosting role. However, we should be soberly aware that there is still enormous room for the development of mosaic art in China. He hoped that the Mural Art Committee can continue to promote the special research, creation, and teaching of various materials and techniques including the mosaic art, ensuring the cause of Chinese murals to continue to further steadily develop step by step.

 

 

▲ Seminar scene

 

▲ Group photo with the guests

 

▲ Site of the special-invitation exhibition zone

 

 

 

※ JNJ mosaic is a customized mosaic brand of Guangdong VICTORY ART GLASS CO., LTD.

©This text is reprinted from the Mural Art Committee of Chinese Artists Association