ENDLESS MOUNTAINS—An Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road: Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing

What we have before us is a nostalgic remembrance of an event that happened in 2020. It was then that the beauty of Tang poetry scattered across Zhejiang's landscape silently called out to us, when we made the earth our canvas, our feet our brush, and the resonance we achieved with the natural landscape our ink, and recreated the map of Tang poetry in natural landscape that we have today. The question that we had then − "What are we searching for in Tang poetry?" − was eventually answered separately during our dialogues with the ancient Chinese, with nature and without ourselves. Time, space, eternity, fleeting moments... we were thrown into the fighting ring, where we had to confront these mortal enemies that hide in plain sight and lurk behind the trivialities of everyday life. We felt lost! Uncertain! Agonized! And liberated!

Poetry is like the wind. It travels and can reach the furthest corners of the earth. This is the fourth time we are holding the Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road and our first endeavor at a cross-regional dialogue as we venture out of Zhejiang and into Beijing, where the exhibition will be held. We shall travel from the Han Dynasty (206BC-220), Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the present day, from the mountains and rivers to the borderlands, from Zhejiang to Dunhuang, and finally, to Beijing... We shall travel from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to 2024 in Dunhuang, where we explore Tang poetry, the cultural exchanges between the eastern and western regions of China, and historical shared learning between cultures across time and space. Through the spiritual resonance that is achieved through art, "Tang Poetry Road" will push poetics toward greater heights.

The strong wind blows from the east,

Westbound, it streaks across the heavens.

The mountains and waters appear clear, the clouds blush over desertlands,

While I, with my ancient brush, paint their lovely sights!

Exhibition Period

November 4 to 21, 2023

Start Date

2 p.m. on November 4, 2023

Venue

Gallery of Calligraphy and Painting Channel, Beijing

Advisor:

China National Arts Fund Management Center