The Trace and Presence Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition recently opened at the Yuelai Art Museum, featuring more than 160 art pieces from 10 artists, including oil paintings and installations. The exhibition, which runs until September 4, reflects issues currently faced by Chinese artists and their thoughts on art.

The Trace and Presence Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition at the Yuelai Art Museum in Liangjiang New Area. [Photo by Guo Shuyu/For english.liangjiang.gov.cn]

The concept of trace shows that contemporary art should follow its natural development path and that artists should defend their views on art. It also links to the continuous evolution of art pieces in terms of languages, styles, and schemas and the issues of artistic views and cultural identity.

The idea of presence suggests that artists should always conduct dialogues with realistic, contemporary, and local culture, and provide artistic insight and visual wisdom to respond to the cultural reality and spiritual pursuits of the time.

An installation piece by Yang Qian. [Photo by Guo Shuyu/For english.liangjiang.gov.cn]

He Guiyan, curator of the exhibition, said the different languages and ideas of artists featured in the exhibition reveal some fundamental characteristics of Chinese contemporary art creations in recent years, which include the changing directions from the grand narrative to the micro-narrative, from elite art to art consumption, from cultural critique to critique of language, from international perspectives to local logic.

The exhibition features pieces created by artists over the years. It is a way to reveal an artist’s logic of creation, and helps the audience understand the growth path and current mindset of an artist, according to Guo Jin, a local artist who teaches at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Guo’s signature oil paintings, including Gifts on the Tree from 2009 and three sets of children portraits, are being displayed at the exhibition. His recent installation piece The Other World is also on display there.

Oil painting Friday by Guo Jin. [Photo by Guo Shuyu/For english.liangjiang.gov.cn]

The concepts of idealism and time are important in Guo’s work. “Children are innocent subjects, which I take as the embodiment of my pursuit of idealism,” he explains, saying that the flow of time creates the distance between us and our childhood, which mirrors the unattainable idealism and makes it possible for aesthetic value to grow.