Six established Chinese artists will showcase their impressions of Richmond in an upcoming art exhibition called “Silk Road – An Art Journey From Xi’an to Vancouver” held at Lipont Place.
Oil painting professors from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, including the well-known Beiping Guo, were invited by the Lipont art gallery to Richmond for a 19-day trip to experience life here and practice art.
The name, “Silk Road,” comes from the fact that Xi’an is known as the starting point of an ancient network of trade routes connecting the East with the West.
“Canada has one of the best landscapes for oil painting. We were filled with passion by the beautiful scenery and people here. We created two to three paintings every day, it’s very rare,” said Guo.
“And the Xi’an food here is very authentic,” he laughed.
The artists spent a lot of time enjoying the natural and cultural landscape in B.C., and captured them with their brush.
Guo’s favourite place for painting in Richmond is Steveston. “The fish boats, parks, ocean…they are very beautiful and ideal for oil painting,” he said.
At other times, they are creating portraits of local models in the studio, the experience of which, they said is very different from painting portraits of models in China.
“Oil painting was created in the west and imported to China hundreds of years ago,” said Guo.
“We all feel that, western figures are very suitable for oil painting, in terms of the colour, the shape density, characteristics… So it was a very exciting art creating opportunity for us.”
Every artist has painted more than 10 pictures during their stay in Richmond, and all works will be on public display from March 29-31 for free. After that, they will return to Xi’an and display their work there.
“Thousands of years ago, envoys went to the West to bring products from China. Today, we come to Canada to capture the beautiful scenery and local customs with our brush, so people in China will know more about the country,” said artist Lixian Zhang.
“The best way for artists to express themselves is through their art works. You will see them at the exhibition.”
Guo welcomes Canadian artists to visit Xi’an, a city that’s well known for its long history and the Terracotta Warriors.
“It has 2,000 years of history, and was the capital of 13 dynasties in ancient times. There are a lot of stories, old constructions and tombs. You will have a lot of inspiration for art there.”
The exhibition runs today to Saturday, 9-5 p.m. each day at 4211 No. 3 Road.
