BRIDGE TO ITALY
Anew exhibition featuring a number of oil paintings by Chinese artist Shu Yong kicked off on Wednesday at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, Italy. Titled Global Tour of Golden Bridge on Silk Road, the highlight of the exhibition is a painting of Shu’s famous installation work Golden Bridge on the Silk Road.
Making its debut at the Milan Expo in 2015, the huge installation work is made from more than 20,000 bricks, each of which features the national flower of the many countries through which the ancient Silk Road once ran. The artwork has been seen as an artistic answer to China’s Belt and Road initiative.
According to a press release sent to the Global Times on Thursday, the exhibition marks a new collaboration in cultural exchanges between China and Italy.
Shu is an artist who eyes the continuity and expansion of his artworks. The painted version of the Golden Bridge is an excellent example of how the artist explores ways to develop culture message his work represents.
According to Shu, the exhibition is a chance to showcase China through artistic language. The artist’s Chinese
Mythology series of paintings is meant to act as an entry way for foreign audiences to learn more about China’s unique wisdom.
“More and more people are trying to learn about the meaning behind contemporary artworks and forming their own opinions toward avant-garde art. Although avant-garde can be visually shocking to many, the world today still needs artworks that can be understood universally,” the Hunan-born artist said in the press release.
The exhibition ends on September 5.