Before the opening of this joint exhibition with fellow artist Geng Xin from Hangzhou we made a quick collaborative painting for the filming of “Beijing Guest” on Beijing TV (BTV). This programme is due to be aired April 14th.
Visitors would come up for a chat in the middle of the painting session very kindly bearing gifts of flowers, tea and other surprises and some wanted to pose for photos. We raced through the work in plenty of time. The work was themed with the cycle of life with nature bursting from the centre. Just before we signed the work the Irish Ambassador Paul Kavanagh and his wife Rosemary arrived at the art museum to view the finishing touches.
Sun shined through the courtyard with the first fine warm day this year. The Ambassador noted the few clouds in the sky and said it was just like a Summers day in Ireland, you never knew what the weather would be like in an hours time.
Curator of Dong Yue Art Museum Yuan QiuLai welcomed the guests and Paul Kavanagh spoke with his usual wit and charm. Both Gengxin and myself had a few words followed by Chaoyang Cultural Committee Director Gao Chunli.
There were plenty of VIP guests including the famous Peking opera singer Mr Yuan Shao Hai, art academicians and various curators.
Please click on the media links below for a look at the artworks. Geng Xin presented oil paintings with his distinctive brushstroke focussing on Russian cities and various locations in China.
‘Sergiev Monastery’ Oil on Canvas ‘St Petersburg in February’
Geng Xin 40x 50cm Oil on Canvas Geng Xin 40x 50cm
My work was contained to monotypes on rice paper with subject matter ranging from abstract cellular landscapes extending to cellular division, a return to an earlier life working in medical science.
‘4.11.15 Monotype’ Niamh Cunningham ‘The Metaphase Check’ Niamh
70×70 cm Cunningham 90x90cm
‘The Feng Huang Walk’ Monotype ‘New Again’ Monotype
Niamh Cunningham 70x70cm Niamh Cunningham 70 x70cm
Many thanks to Prof Jie Na of the Stem Cell Research Centre at Tsinghua University for indulging me with my questions and sharing some of her images of which some artworks were based on . Also included were some plant fauna and landscapes of China such as Guilin, Wuling and Feng Huang .
Media links :
Claire Cuccio’s essay on my work for this exhibition
A big thank you to the Irish Embassy, to Paul and Rosemary Kavanagh for their support over the years, also thank you to my old friend Yuan Qiulai curator of Dong Yue Art Museum with whom have worked on many collaborative exhibitions for the past three years, to all who have worked with me on this project including Sifei Han, Bella Su, Summer Wang and to Zhou Jian on video which I will be posting in a few days time . A special thank you to artist Geng Xin for his flexibility and insight making this project a joy to work on . And also a big thank you to director Che of ‘Beijing Guest ‘ and to presenters Sima and Zhu Yingyi of Beijing TV (BTV).
Exhibition runs till April 9th