On July 12, the Fourth "Endless Mountains— An Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road: Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing" kicked off at the Dunhuang World Exhibition & Convention Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province. It is hosted by China Academy of Art (CAA).

During the opening ceremony, Jin Yibin, Chairman of the Committee of Academy Affairs of CAA, articulated that "Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing" extends the Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road from China's eastern seaboard to the vast northwestern deserts, connecting the cultural frontiers of the country from east to west. The annual art event was initiated in 2020 and is now in its four editions, with the first three focusing on how landscapes spur sensed externalities and inspire poetic expressions. This year's edition refocuses on the poetry itself. "The Sound of Flourishing Tang" marks the commencement of this exhibition and reflects our endeavors to resonate with the profound emotions of the ancients through contemporary creative expressions. The terms "Dun", meaning magnitude, and "Huang", denoting splendor, encapsulate the rich cultural significance of Dunhuang. In the realm of Chinese cultural history, Dunhuang embodies the essence of frontier poetry—the so-called "Sound of Flourishing Tang"—which emphasizes the pursuit of genuine and heartfelt expressions over intricate subtleties. This element is crucial to this year's Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road. From eastern Zhejiang to Dunhuang, our fervent quest extends beyond the physical world's "mountain passes flying" to the spiritual realm's "Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing"; we are committed not only to fostering artistic creation and social innovation but also to enhancing the vigor, spirit, and ambition of contemporary individuals. This is the life philosophy Tang poetry imparts to us and what the "Tang Poetry Road" exhibition series strives to highlight in the spirit and stature of contemporary Chinese individuals.

Liu Beining, the curator and artist representative for this exhibition, emphasized that the "Tang Poetry Road" project provides a reflective platform for integrating contemporary art creations with the themes of Tang poetry. This is evident in its long duration, broad participant base, and the diverse involvement of numerous academic departments and institutions. Moreover, the leadership team does not perceive the "Tang Poetry Road" merely as one of the many current art exhibitions but rather as a substantive practice. This project supports the educational reforms and the social responsibility of aesthetic education at CAA. It raises questions about how to reinterpret artistic creation and the interaction between communal historical legacies and individual artistic pursuits in the modern era, thereby expanding discussions on culture and cultural tourism.

This exhibition is the fourth iteration of the Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road, which, started in Zhejiang and then moved to Beijing and Dunhuang, opening a new chapter in dialogues beyond geographical distance. Centered around the motif of poetic creation, the exhibition delves into the roles of "warrior", "poet", "monk", and "foreign merchant" found in frontier poetry, weaving a narrative that connects the expansive spiritual themes of "distant mountains—vast earth—broad human hearts." These four roles also epitomize four styles of Dunhuang, and they are manipulated as thematic threads to portray the robust bravery of the warrior, the vast magnificence of the poet, the timeless depth of the monk, and the wide-ranging life experiences of the foreign merchant amid borderland exchanges.

The exhibition showcases more than 180 artworks of around twenty forms including poetry, calligraphy, Chinese painting, murals, video, design, crafts, and environmental art, by utilizing modern digital and new media platforms. Among them, Xu Jiang's oil painting Will the Okra Turn Red? employs the symbol of okra to kindle the spirit and narrate historical songs. Min Xuelin's calligraphy piece The Moon at the Frontier Pass depicts the energetic and free-flowing style of wild cursive script, fully capturing the grandeur and poetic essence of the scene. Liu Haiyong's "Poplar Series" paintings employ a technique of fresh, wet brushing and ink speckling to vividly bring to life the rugged, ancient trunks of poplar trees. Gao Shiqiang's video work Landscape: How to Spend the Night, inspired by Tang Dynasty frontier poetry, juxtaposes the ancient beacon towers of the Han Dynasty with contemporary molten-salt solar thermal power stations, thus opening a new dimension of poetic imagination. Shao Wenhuan, in his photography work Ten Thousand Years, uses long-exposure photography to capture the breathtaking interplay between the Yardang landforms and the resplendent starry sky, showcasing the immense and desolate beauty of the landscape. Shen Linfeng in his video work The Sea of Time inscribes the Inscription of Mount Yanran on the singing sands of Mingsha Mountain, honoring the valor and poetic spirit of ancient frontier soldiers and poets.

In addition to the traditional canvas-based artworks, this exhibition also features a series of installations and sculptures. Zhai Xiaoshi's sculpture creation Opening the East depicts iconic mentors such as Chang Shuhong, Wang Ziyun, Yao Jixun, and Duan Wenjie, who have studied and revived ancient sculptures and traditional arts in Northwest China. The installation work Strategizing Skins, by cross-media artist Zhu Xi, uses thick iron plates and rings to create a tiger skin pattern marked by rust, which symbolizes the division of land in border conflicts and connects the vast world, natural environments, and individual human emotions with the narrative of life. Xu Ge's piece simulates the sound of ocean waves maneuvering the motion of sand and stone to craft an illuminated marine environment within the gallery that fuses the desert with the ocean. It prompts viewers to engage in a poetic conversation with the natural world.

Furthermore, the exhibition features a selection of revered works from the Art Museum of China Academy of Art, including masterpieces traced by past masters at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, alongside expert historical documents and classical literature. These pieces not only represent the beginnings of Zhejiang-style figure painting but also the thousand-year tradition of Chinese figure painting.

The exhibition will run until October 23.