Double Sense (Origins in China)

Double Sense (Origins in China) explores some of the seminal roles of drawing within an interdisciplinary visual discourse, through the work of the four artists Dai Shihe, Lan Qiaoru, Shi Yu and Wang Huaxiang. The exhibition reflects changes in the teaching of drawing and creativity, during a transitional period of art making, in China today.

These four artists, who teach or have studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, represent a cross-generational group whose vision has effected changes within their local contexts. Each artist has applied a distinctive approach to drawing, revealing a shifting relationship between Chinese and international contemporary art, reflecting the changing philosophies towards drawing.

Internationally known head of CAFA's School of Fine Arts and director of the department of oil painting, Dai Shihe exhibits drawings of dinosaurs that appeal to his desire to impart a sense of prehistoric times, and its distance from humanity and civilisation as we understand it today. Wang Huaxiang?s figure drawings also touch upon the idea of distance; reflecting the artist?s idea of distancing himself from those things he feels are unwise for his soul, such as mundane acts, exterior honour, urbanisation and ?official rank?.

The youngest of the group, Lan Qiaoru, who trained at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne as well as CAFA, employs a more contemporary approach to composition and draws us to into everyday lives, such as the living room where her family listens intently to a pianist in practise. Similarly, Shi Yu represents a generation of artists whose artistic interests shifted to concentrate on individualism rather that communalism, and reflects the informative period of Shi Yu?s youth, when China welcomed the outside world and the collectivist underpinnings of communism were diminishing.

Double Sense (Origins in China) marks the fifth year of the founding of the International Drawing Research Institute (IDRI) by its three consortium members, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, the College of Fine Arts (COFA) University of NSW in Sydney and the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in Scotland. IDRI is an organic and energetic structure set within contrasting cultural contexts, which has allowed for a diverse and exciting range of artistic practices within the realms of drawing, to been seen here in Sydney.

For further information, please contact Ivan Dougherty Gallery.

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