Granary Art Exhibition, Shandong

Granary Art Centre , Sishui, Shandong

It is not often contemporary art is brought into the countryside of Shandong. The exhibition title ‘Seeking Spring by the Riverside on a fine day ‘ is taken from Song dynasty poet Zhu Xi. Shandong is home to centuries of tradition and learning, the birthplace of Confucius is only 40mins drive away from the Granary art museum. At the foot of rolling hills this special contemporary exhibition curated by Tie Xin opened on May 25th. In the exhibition essay by poet Liu Xi, he writes that the search for ‘the good” is sincere and necessary and is a way of integrating nature and humanity…’.

Participating artists with Granary Art Centre people

 A huge thank you to the group of interesting artists who set up this unusual art and library refuge four years ago and to Tian Bing  and to exhibition director Yue ShenFeng for hosting and facilitating this exhibition and to all the staff such as Chen ling and Dong Ying , teacher Zhao Yue Feng and other teachers . Special thanks also to the impressive participating artists whose company made for a truly great weekend.

I seek Spring by the riverside on a fine day ,

The boundless scenery is a refreshing sight.

I feel a touch of the east wind here and there

Spring blossoms in a blaze of colour.

Zhu Xi (1130-1200)

The participating artists include:

周伟华Zhou Weihua (Jinan), 郭振宇Guo Zhenyu (Jinan), 邢小震Xing Xiaozhen (Jinan), 苏梓寒Su Zihan (Beijing), 严支胜Yan Zhisheng (Shanghai), 刘   园Liu Yuan (Weifang), 铁心Tie Xin (Jinan), 瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham (Beijing/Ireland )

Tie Xin speaks at the exhibition opening

周伟华Zhou Weihua

周伟华Zhou Weihua

Zhou Weihua was active in the contemporary art circles of Beijing and Shanghai in the 1990s. Using solid oil painting skills in Pop Art and Surrealism the series “Easy Travel” and “Play Together” were pioneering back in the day and remain steadfast. Then there was a turn. The “Let’s Ask” series focuses on the splicing and reorganization of objects, focusing on metaphors and symbols, reflecting the leading philosophies of the era. His installation work negotiates spaces in the world of planners and designers

周伟华Zhou Weihua

What the artist says:

My original intention was to express words from the heart more clearly. For this I explored several different paths. These are two such paths each expressing their own ideas. Everyone is different from each other. Yet there is also a sameness. Everyone is good but alongside evil also exists. We are all free but we also contain an involuntary capacity. Everyone is screaming and but sometimes doing so in silence. Each of us is dancing like a donkey daily. Everyone has to confront themselves daily even when they don’t want to. I always think that everyone is good at being themselves, the world is fine, but they can’t do it as solitary individuals .

周伟华Zhou Weihua

More on this artist

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郭振宇Guo Zhenyu

郭振宇Guo Zhenyu

Guo Zhenyu, whose works are deeply influenced by German new expressionism, with rich knowledge, broad vision and premonition, strong physical strength, combined with impressive ambition, skillfully using modern and post-modern art techniques to create an imagination full of mystery. It is also a meeting of east and west at the metaphysical level, it is a world of art.

郭振宇Guo Zhenyu

What the artist says :

“Cornfield -Starry Sky” is when wheat is ripened and a full moon is aligned. The universe has its intrinsic energy and is synchronized with space and time. The seed is the planet earth and the planet is the seed of the sky with uniform rules and temperament. The fragmentation of the information in Twilight, the deconstruction of the human subject and the digitization of civilization itself show the constant virtual reality. ‘Young reed shoot’ (蒹葭) considers the natural state of life, which is synergistic with the four seasons, compatible with yin and yang and has the contingency essence of emptiness. This is a search for the spiritual world of the ancient literati who are lonely, faint, solitary, cold, lofty, constant, and guarded.

郭振宇Guo Zhenyu (with thread)

More on this artist

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邢小震Xing Xiaozhen

邢小震Xing Xiaozhen

With a Sino- French training background Xing Xiaozhen is committed to the integration of Chinese and Western art. Drawing on the traditional Chinese green landscape, exotic palace gardens and folk art are all incorporated into the process. Simultaneously Western avant-garde gaudy art and pop language are boldly absorbed to make their works more comprehensive and contemporary. Diverse Chinese and Western skills are interwoven as a “Chinese story” of contemporary color patterns.

邢小震Xing Xiaozhen

What the artist says:

The aim is to give the work an indescribable potential meaning, convey an unconventional emotional narrative and critical state and explore the possibility of an alternative freer language of painting.

邢小震Xing Xiaozhen

More on this artist

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苏梓寒Su Zihan

苏梓寒Su Zihan
苏梓寒Su Zihan

Su Zihan avails of a flat, super-realistic technique that combines artistic styles including photography, stitching, surrealist settings, combined to present a contemporary person. His “Horse” series has clear symbols and strong metaphors. The horse is a running animal. In a world of mechanics, strange and static pieces, there is no way to do it. There is nothing to do. People are meant to be wrought as horses, yet people are alienated into objects.

 苏梓寒Su Zihan
苏梓寒Su Zihan

What the artist says:

My work aims to relate existential reading and present existence by means of painting.

 苏梓寒Su Zihan
苏梓寒Su Zihan

More on this artist

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严支胜Yan Zhisheng (Jason Yan)

严支胜Yan Zhisheng
严支胜Yan Zhisheng

Yan Zhisheng is an artist with a strong sense of the times. Using a realistic approach he presents a fictional picture. The “Gust” series is fixated with clothes, architecture, clouds and wind. This triggers the viewer’s feelings and heartbeat. It opens a social setting with simple personal items. Metaphors express the present and transcendend ordinary objects. The current unspeakable state of life.

严支胜Yan Zhisheng
严支胜Yan Zhisheng

What the artist says

In the process of urbanization can we escape fate which is blowing in the wind? The amount of time spent on youth ….in the arrow of time….. can we deny life without roots?

严支胜Yan Zhisheng
严支胜Yan Zhisheng

More on this artist

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刘园Liu Yuan

刘 园Liu Yuan
刘 园 Liu Yuan

Liu Yuan, the youngest artist in this exhibition chose to take the initiative in painting. People may well be reminded of Monet’s later years. Liu focusses on the ‘written’ line, emphasizing rhythm and beat. In order to achieve subjective metaphysical realm there appears to be a choice of the visual plain and molten clay frame. This is the purpose of the East way. The technique is between performance and abstraction. The style is juxtaposed and graceful, and both wild and elegant.

刘 园 Liu Yuan
刘 园 Liu Yuan

What the artist says :

The “Quiet” series depicts flowers in night light, removing details of daytime vision we search for the light in the black. The frame is transformed by the extended material and space to reflect ever-changing laws of nature, peeling off the surface of everything and deepening into it. It positions this abstract natural gas into a rhythmic and musical expression.

刘 园 Liu Yuan
刘 园 Liu Yuan

More on this artist

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铁心Tie Xin

  铁心Tie Xin
铁心Tie Xin

Tie Xin is a painter, a poet and a conceptual artist. His works have both classic aesthetic consciousness and contemporary performance skills. In the artistic pursuit of self-consciousness they carry metaphorical ideological motives, concrete symbolic guidance and clear creative intentions. They are a combination of tradition and contemporary, abstract and concrete. The painting’s textural expressions and process reflect a comprehensive and versatile contemporary artist.

  铁心Tie Xin
铁心Tie Xin

What the artist says:

My paintings are aimed for social attention, exhibited here on rough stone granary walls, and they have the effect of time telling narratives.

  铁心Tie Xin
铁心Tie Xin

More on this artist

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瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham

Niamh Cunningham 瑞莲

瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham

Niamh Cunningham is an Irish artist. Inspired by the literary narrative of Ulysses, the “Wandering Rocks” portrait series uses a unique approach to combine reality and virtual elements to create a phantom water-wave language that allows images and memories to interact and perceive. A new painting narrative. Ruilian has been engaged in artistic creation and activities in China for a long time. She has explored the fusion of Chinese and Western paintings.

瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham
瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham

What the artist says:

There are times we recognize many different people in the same person. Recasting people I know personally as characters in the famous book Ulysses allows each portrait become more universal and timeless. In searching for the other we find ourselves. Digital distortions and face recognition both by artificial intelligence and human reading of faces is intriguing to me.

瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham
瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham

More on this artist

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A big thank you to all the people at the Art Granary in SiShui county, especially to artist/curator Tie Xin. Poet Liu Xi you were very patient to explain things to me , thank you for sharing your ideas. And poet Xing Fu Hui thank you for telling me about your fondness for Seamus Heaney and his poetry.

Acknowledgments:

Individual artist profiles have been borrowed from the exhibition essay by Liu Xi with his kind permission.

Media Link 1

Media Link 2

Artworks by Tie Xin 铁心 & Niamh Cunningham 瑞莲
Granary Art Museum
Niamh Cunningham- Bio 。。。个人简介-倪芙瑞莲
'The Pattern that Connects' is part of the Common Threads project showing at EPIC Museum Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin Feb 1- 14th


Currently Showing Oct 2022: The Sasse Museum of Art , Pomona, CA, in the US opened a photography exhibition last weekend showing a process print (23.01.2018) from my mixed media Sucrose Series "Ginkgo Palace", Niamh Cunningham 2018
The original physical sucrose plate and accompanying print on aluminium was collected at Art Beijing 2021
Promoting Connectivity through Creative Industries Sept 2022 at Yindi Art Museum, hosted by Opportunity Lab
Hair Skull recently exhibited (Oct 1st-7th 2022) at Art Plus Shanghai , the group exhibition"Linear" is curated by Chang Feng

For more information on the Hair Skull and working with DNA as an art material click HERE

Ann Derwin, Ambassador to Ireland in China with gallerist 庞春慧Peng Chun Hui at For 觅 gallery , August 2022
Currently showing - Moon Covenant
证在展出-月亮之约

Artist talk on gathering peoples tree stories before Spitoon Book Club discussion on Pulitzer prize winning novel " The Overstory" by Richard Powers
Online Catalogue launched Jan 2022 , showing Sucrose Series alongside Microbe Art
Recently exhibited in Xishuangbanna State Art Museum Dec 2021
Canal Bank Walk , Yuan Dadu Culural Relics Park Beijing
Grand Canal artist Residency and Exhibition

Her Name Penninsula Art Museum Weihai, Shandong 16 July- 22 Oct 2021

Linear….. showing at LangKong Art Museum (朗空美术馆) 07.7-30.7.21
Suzhou Couples Retreat Gardens
The Second Step – mini solo of 18 portraits in HouHai from 6.6 tp 8.8 2021
Astro World Exit Tourism – Group exhibition June 2021
Recently ART Beijing 2021 Booth B28 Irish Contemporary Art
Early stage – Sculpture project HongFangzi ShaWan Sichuan
Current Events 正在展出

即将展出:

2022 9月   谷山村中国农民丰收节暨大地艺术节

正在展出:

2022 9月   传粉者:北京西山鼓山乡村公园的再生材料雕塑

最新动态:

 

2022 6-8“月亮之约” For觅画廊,通州,北京

2022 1 来自爱尔兰的艺术家 ,线上展览 在线链接

2022 1 清华大学精准医学研究院, EBM 中心

202112“生命之律动”,西双版纳州美术馆,景洪

202112“线性”,竞衡艺术空间,上海

202110-11“中国抽象艺术”,江苏泰州

202110“相遇大运河”,通州新光大中心

20217 “线性”,798朗空美术馆,北京

20217“她的名字——存在”,半岛美术馆,威海

20216“润物细无声·艺术与遗产新解构”,苏州耦园 

2021610“万物有灵——多样之美” 艺术展与企业社会责任国际论坛,北京

20216“第二步”(小型个人展),龙头井胡同JoyBeans Space,北京

20216“天体世界:出逃旅行” 蓝色港湾KUN美术馆,北京

2021年3月4月 ART Beijing 2021

202012 艺术推动可持续未来” 中国企业社会责任国际学术研讨会, 北京泰富酒店

20209月“同生·由此及彼”,山东济宁市泗水等闲谷艺术粮仓美术馆 

20207  “沉默的爆破”,无锡外滩美术馆,江苏无锡, 7月11日至31日

2019年11月”中国 爱尔兰  MUSEu&m , 上海

*2019年11月装置中国—红房子首届国际户外装置创作营在乐山沙湾红房子开营 …开始阶段

*2019年8月*Gobi Heaven- August 戈壁。天堂-八月

*2019年7月”1919″ 爱尔兰  Sligo -Hamilton Gallery  

*2019年5月“胜日寻芳“ 山东济宁市泗水等闲谷艺术粮仓美术馆

2019年5月-16 爱尔兰大使馆布卢姆日的展览

20195-6  《一张棉花纸》   在宋庄东区玖层美术馆展出

*2019年4月-5月在匈牙利首都布达佩斯

*2019年4月”奥德赛——回归”群展2019年4月13日在东岳美术馆开幕。

*2018年11月-12月“地图与疆域”国际艺术邀请展 北京吉利学院

*2018年11月-12月“纸上·至上”展览,韩国光州市立美术馆北京创作中心

*2018, 10月中欧国当代艺术全球巡展·上海

2018, 9月-10月“纸上·至上”展览,沈阳市拓•空间,

2018, 6月-11月诗人叶芝日,爱尔兰,斯莱戈(SLIGO),汉密尔顿艺术画廊

*2018年8月 淮阴艺术馆提名展,淮安市

*2018, 8月 “纸上·至上”展览, 鄂尔多斯,

*2018 , 6月30日 济南“国际抽象艺术展”

*2018 , 6月17 日 纸上•至上2018 在青岛,

*2018 , 5月20 日存在-国际女性艺术展,湖南长沙,

*2018 , 4月21 日延缓的时间,4月21日-29日,红门画廊,798艺术区

*2018 , 4月20 日 挖掘,,和画廊,来鹏高尔夫俱乐部

*2018年4月-12日 挖掘, , 展览,悦美术馆,北京798艺术区

*2018年2月-3月深圳观澜版画艺术区,5个星期驻地项目

*2018年1月28日-3月3日,《红&果》,流浪美术馆融空间,新年主题艺术展,北京中关村融科资讯中心

*2017年12月,中外视觉艺术湖南展,湖南长沙梅溪新天地梅溪书院.

*2017年12月末至2018年1月末, 《时间之外》主题艺术展, 北京中关村融科资讯中心

*2017年12月, 形质与叙事, 形质与叙事, 东岳美术馆

 *2017年12月,广州新造当代艺术中心,纸上·至上 纸艺作品群展.

Upcoming Exhibitions:

* Gushan Rural Village Park Harvest  Autumn 2022

Current Exhibition

 

Recent  exhibitions:

2022 Moon Covenant Forgallery , Grasse Town , Beijing June- August

2022 Artists from Ireland (online) Sasse Museum of Art Pomona, CA, USA (catalogue link)

2022 Peoples’ Portraits EBM Centre, Tsinghua Uni Intelligent HealthCare, BJ

2021 Rhythm of Life Xishuangbanna Art Museum, Jinghong, Dec

2021 Linear Jingheng Art centre, Jinshan, Shanghai Dec

2021 Abstract China, Taizhou, Jiangsu Oct-Nov

2021 Meet the Grand Canal Xinguanda Centre Tongzhou, Oct

2021 Linear Langkong Art Museum 798, Beijing July

2021 Her Name – Existence Peninsula Art Museum, Weihai, July

2021 Silent and Soft -New Interpretations Suzhou classical Gardens June

2021 All things Bright CSR symposium Shangrila Hotel, Beijing June 10th

2021 The Second Step (mini solo) Joy Beans Space, Jiu Longtou hutong, June

* AstroWorld Kun Art Museum June 5 2021

*Portraits (solo) Joybeans  Hou  Hai 6.6-8.8

*River things  Suzhou Zhenyuan garden UNESCO world Heritage Training and Research centre June 12 th

*Art Beijing  2021 Booth B28  Garden of Friendship

*“Art promotes a Sustainable Future” China CSR international symposium Dec 2020.

*Silent Explosion, Wuxi Bund Art Centre, Jiangsu,  July 11-31 2020

* Sculpture project in HongFangzu , Shawan, Sichuan , begining phase Nov 2019

Current Exhibition

*China Ireland exhibition at MUSEU&m, near the Bund , Shanghai, Nov 29th 2019

* Sculpture project in HongFangzu , Shawan, Sichuan , begining phase Nov 2019

*1919 – Group Exhibition (Hamilton Gallery) in New York, Irish Consulate

*1919 – Group Exhibition Hamilton Gallery , Sligo , Ireland July – September

*Gobi Heaven Art Festival , Inner Mongolia , August 2019

*A piece of Cotton Paper  9th floor gallery Songzhuang June 15th

*”Winning the Day ‘ Granary Art Centre,  SiShui , Shandong, May – June 2019

*Beyond the form of Art , Wick Art Centre , Budapest, Hungary may 2019

*Odyssey The Return ; group exhibition at Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing  in April

Map and Territory Art IRRCA at Beijing Geely College Nov 20- Dec 20 2018

*Thousands of Sprouts, an experimental online exhibition – by Elizabeth Ross  Nov 2018

* On Paper Supreme, Gwangju Art Museum Beijing Creative Centre Songzhuang Nov- Dec 2018

*China Europe Internaitional Contemporary Art Global Tour Shanghai Oct 2018

*An Irish Airman foresees his Death – Hamilton Gallery Sligo, Ireland June – Nov 2018

*On Paper Supreme, Extension Space, Shenyang, Liaoning,  Sept 16th – Oct 21st  2018

*Artist Nomination Exhibition, Huaiyin art gallery, Huai ‘an shi, Jiangsu, July-Aug 2018

*On Paper Supreme, Ordos Culture and Art Centre , Inner Mongolia , Aug 17th – Sept 10th  2018

*International Abstract Art , ChungChuen College, Jinan, July 2018

* On Paper Supreme, QingDao , Tiantai Art Centre, June 2018

* Existence , International Feminist Art Exhibition,  Mezzi Bookstore Art Space , Changsha

* Excavations 20 April-4th June  He Gallery, Golf Club.

*’Mortgaged Time’ 21st- 29th April at Red Gate Gallery , 798 Beijing  April 21st

*’Excavations’ 12-18th Enjoy Museum 798,  Beijing   preview 5 pm 12th April

* 5 week residency at Guanlan Printmaking base , Shenzhen (Feb-March 2018)

*Lunar New Year theme exhibition “Red Fruit” showing at Raycom IT centre, Zhongguancun,  28th Jan continues to March 3rd, organised by RoveArt , supporting the Female Protection Fund.

*Chinese & Foreign Visual Arts Hunan,  at the Meixi Academy Book Complex, Changsha Dec 26th to Jan 26th 2018.

* ‘Beyond Time’  Raycom IT Centre, Zhongguangcun, Beijing Dec – Jan 27th  2018

*”Qualitative Phase and The Narrative” Beijing Film Academy Triennial Exhibition at Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing, curated by Li Zhen till Dec 18th 2017…………………………………………….

 

由此及彼——中(国)爱(尔兰)女艺术家邀请展 The Pattern That Connects Sept 2020
Wuxi Bund Art Centre “Silent Explosion”
My interview with Today Art Museum and Today Art Media on the COVID era

Recent Interview , click on above image April 2020

Link to newspaper coverage -Carlow Nationalist (click on image)

In Her Eyes, F&E 100x100cm acrylic on canvas, 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham 2019

Silent Explosion
‘China-Ireland’ exhibition Shanghai Nov 29th 2019

China Ireland exhibition at MUSEu&m, Shanghai , opening Nov 29th

‘Whirls in the Old’ in New York at the exhibition ‘1919’

1919-Whirls in the Old Terezin acrylic on canvas 30x30cm Niamh Cunningham 2019

Gobi Heaven Art Festival August 2019

Participating in the International Artists program for this exciting event in the Gobi Dessert

Jul.Aug 2019 Group Exhibition , Hamilton Gallery , Sligo, Ireland and also Sept 2019 at the Irish Consulate Offices , Park Ave NYC
Granary Art exhibition SiShui Shandong June 2019

Granary Art Exhibition SiSHui , Shangdong June 2019 click on image

Swim Duck Video …30 sec clip of original work recently shown at Bloomsday event at Embassy of Ireland Niamh Cunningham 2019
clip from Swim Duck video Niamh Cunningham 2019

Clip from 'Swim Duck' Video by Niamh Cunningham 2019

Group exhibition in Sishui, Shangdong 正在展出

Granary Art Museum , Sishui, Jining , Shandong

April /May 2019 in Budapest 近期展出匈牙利

Currently showing in Budapest Aprli- May 2019

Wandering Rocks series of portraits 游岩系列
Web Of Fabulous Grass – Sucrose Series Click on image for Artist Profile English &简体中文
Talk on James Joyce at Bookworm with prof Fu Hao 乔伊斯座谈会
Aritst Talk on James Joyce at Beijing Bookworm

Talk on James Joyce at Bookwork Beijing April 2019

Map and Territory project Nov -Dec 2018 at Beijing Geely University
Map and Territory

Map and Territory

Artist talk at Beijing Geely College Dec 11th 2018
-.On Paper Supreme made its final exhibition for 2018 in Beijing Songzhuang opening Nov 16th
Group exhibition Hamilton Gallery, Sligo
Hamilton Gallery Sligo - Lonely Impulse 2

A response to WB Yeats poem 'An Irish Airman Foresees his Death'

Group show Oct 27th Shanghai Bund 27 The House of Roosevelt House , the Bund Shanghai
With curator Guo Zhen at the opening of Existence in Changsha , exhibition continues till end of July 2018

和策展人郭桢在开幕式《存在》

Recent ‘At your Leisure’ Summer exhibition Jiangsu “悠游“——淮阴艺术馆
exhibited in Jinan curated by Ma Yi Ying
简体中文Artist Interview & Profile for the Art Project ‘Existence’
Group exhibition at Red Gate in April 2018 focussing on antiwar poet Ingeborg Bachmann
Niamh Cunningham 'Bachmann Girl' 2017

Artwork for poster is 'Bachmann Girl' 100x100cm Acrylic on Canvas by Niamh Cunningham 2017

Recent Posts
Excavations showing at Enjoy Museum 798 April 2018

Excavations , a cross collaborative exhibition showing contemporary art by Chinese and Irish artists , showing in Enjoy Museum, 798 , 2018.4.12

Very honoured to have Irish Ambassador Eoin O’ Leary visit Chinese New Year exhibition “Red & Fruit”

Irish Ambassador Eoin O'Leary with subway paintings at Raycom Centre exhibition Feb 2018

The Grand Canal (Hangzhou to Beijing) artist residency(August 2021) and exhibition (Oct 2021)

RTE interview on preparing for upcoming group exhibition 2 min clip

Currently showing as part of the Common Threads project, at EPIC Irish Emigration Museum , Dublin

Feb 1 -14th , 2023