Art

Mexico's revolutions

More than 50 acclaimed artists from Mexico have been invited to create prints to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. All the artworks in this exhibition intertwine the spirit of this period of turmoil with its artistic accomplishments. The works are exhibited at Duolun MoMA in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Mexican diplomatic relations.

9 am-5 pm, until Feb 28. Shanghai Museum of Modern Art, 27 Duolun Road, Shanghai. 021-5671-9068.

Art can be kids' stuff

The Third Art Show for Children from Across the Taiwan Straits is running at Today Art Museum in downtown Beijing.

On view are more than 100 paintings by children from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, organizers say.

10 am-6 pm, until Feb 26. Today Art Museum, 32 Baizuwan Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5876-9690.

Rural realities

Rustic landscapes, Chinese cabbages, butterflies, bees, dragonflies and angels are the major subjects of works by oil artist Lan Ning from Liaoning province.

"I take inexhaustible inspiration from Mother Nature," says Lan, who is holding his solo show Life and Nature at Wan Fung Art Gallery in Beijing. On display are more than 50 of his latest works.

9 am-5 pm, until March 5. 35-37, 2A, Guanyintang Culture Street, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6523-3319.

Memories relived in oil

Young artist He Min is holding her solo exhibition at Meilidao Art Gallery in Beijing.

On view are more than 30 of the melancholic oil paintings she has created in recent years. They're based on her bitter memories of a childhood spent in rural areas.

9 am-5 pm, until March 1. Meilidao Art Gallery, 22 Art Street, Baiziwan Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5826-3255.

True beauty of Buddhism

The first Taiwan Straits Buddhist Art Exhibition is being held at Songhelou Gallery in Beijing.

On show are about 60 ink paintings by four master painters of Buddhist gods and legendary Buddhists. The works will be auctioned off, and all proceeds will go to charity, organizers say.

9 am-5 pm, until March 4. 2/F, Bingqi Mansion, 69 Zizhuyuan Lu, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-5883-0079.

Art's traditions

The Guangdong Museum of Art is staging an exhibition of Chinese contemporary art. More than 100 works, including paintings, sculptures, photographs and other visual devices, will be on show.

Every piece will feature artists' explanations of their creations.

9 am-5 pm, until March 4, daily except Mondays. Guangdong Museum of Art, 38 Yanyu Lu, Er-sha Island, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou. 020-8735-1468.

Trailblazing cityscapes

The China-based Israeli artist Fortunee Noel is good at portraying the city's concrete jungle with irregularly shaped colored blocks, and lines painted on glass and paper.

Her recent exhibition, Splendid with No Regrets, at Babu Art Space carries on the spirit of her earlier subject, "transparency", and portrays Beijing's cityscape crammed with skyscrapers.

This exhibition is part of the event series celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sino-Israeli diplomatic relations.

10 am-8 pm, until March 5. Babu Art Space, N2-40, North Sanlitun Village, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6415-8616.

A real character

The solo exhibition of renowned artist Xu Bing at Taipei's Eslite Gallery reviews the artist's most successful representative works from previous series, such as Book from the Sky and Book from the Ground.

Xu has been expressing his disappointment in Chinese characters through Book from the Sky since 1987. He invented more than 4,000 unreadable fake Chinese characters to wake audiences from cultural laziness. His Book from the Ground series, contrarily, is formed by pictographic symbols without a single character.

11 am-7 pm, until April 1, daily except Mondays. Eslite Gallery, 5F, 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei, Taiwan. 886-2-8789-3388.

Look back at the past

The art journal Parkett, which was founded in Zurich in 1984, is an industry icon that produces limited-edition works of the most influential artists of the past 30 years.

In this exhibition, Inside a Book a House of Gold, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) shows 213 works by 192 artists throughout the main exhibition halls, which collectively offers a unique portrait of the evolution of art at the turn of the 21st century.

Feb 25. 798 art zone, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6438-6675.

Concert

Techno god vists

With more than 30 years of experience as a DJ, label owner, promoter and one of the most important protagonists of German music culture, Sven Vath, will come to Beijing to play a very special show at Tango Club.

He became a resident in Frankfurt's legendary Dorian Gray nightclub in 1982 at age 18. After a brief and commercially successful stint alongside the Euro dance project OFF, he opened his first club in 1988. Until its closure 10 years later, the Omen became one of the most important techno clubs in Europe, inspiring a whole generation of producers. In addition to the club, Vath also guided Eye Q and Harthouse, two of the most popular labels in Germany, throughout the 1990s.

10 pm, Feb 17. Beijing Tango Club. 79 Hepingli Xijie, Yonghegong, South of Ditan Park, Beijing. 010-8671-6600.

Music on the lawn

Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra will host a concert for audiences to enjoy while sitting under the stars on the lawn of the Xinghua Performing Arts Building on Wednesday night.

The audience can enjoy such classics as My Country and The Red Detachment of Women. Free tickets for the open-air concert can be picked up from 10 am on Feb 19 at Xinghai Concert Hall.

7:30 pm, Feb 22. Xinghai Performing Arts Building, west of Xinghai Concert Hall, 1 Haishanjie, Er-sha Island, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou. 020-8735-2222.

Bavarian strings

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will present Beethoven's Egmont overture, Brahms' Violin Concerto and Schubert's Symphony in C major "The Great".

The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks was founded in 1949 and is ranked among the world's top 10.

7:30 pm, March 8. Shanghai Oriental Art Center-Concert Hall, 425 Dingxiang Road, Shanghai. 021-6854-1234.

Make it up as you go

Utter Improv, a group of artists from various disciplines, will present improvisational music, dance and performances at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA).

As part of his solo exhibition My Personal Universe, artist Zhan Wang has suspended thousands of stainless steel fragments from the ceiling of UCCA's Great Hall. In this setting, musicians Song Zhao, Du Wei and Liang Heping, dancer Gaoyan Jinzi and lighting artist Ah Gao will stage an improvised dialogue. The audience will also be invited to participate.

3 pm, Feb 18. UCCA Great Hall, 798 art zone, 4 Jiuxianqiaolu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5780-0200.

Drama

Love arises from art

Artists Yang Yazhou, Qiu Ye, Zhang Yadong, Luo Kang and Chen Yiming will create a drama entitled Beijing I Love You. Every artist will direct his own love story set in the city's subway. Put together, the works present an outlook on love in Chinese metropolises.

7:30 pm, until March 3 (except Mondays and Tuesdays). CHE Theater, Nine Theaters, 17 Jintai Xili, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-8599-1188.

Shakespeare restaged

A Chinese production of the Shakespearian play Anthony and Cleopatra will be staged, featuring veteran performers Jiao Huang, Lou Jicheng and Du Yeqiu. The cast is the same as in 1984, when the play was first staged in Chinese. Jiao Huang, who will take the leading role of Anthony, is 76.

7:15 pm, until Feb 23. People Grand Theater, 663 Jiujiang Road, Shanghai. 021-6217-2426.

Workshop/Seminar

HK's cultural geography

What's the most popular comic book store in Hong Kong? What are the city's fabulous bars and pubs? What's important? And do you know the history behind it?

Chen Shaohong, a researcher of film, literature and pop culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong will give a lecture on Hong Kong's cultural geography.

Fangsuo Commune, which opened last October, is a cafe and bookstore that hosts lectures on culture, fashion, literature and city life. It has already invited famous writers Feng Tang and Di An to speak on literature.

3-4 pm. Feb 18. Fangsuo Commune, MU35, Taikoo Hui, 383 Tianhe Lu, Tianhe district, Guangzhou. 020-3868-2327.

More than money

What cultural development won't sacrifice the future of our culture? What cultural development won't cause damage to, but rather will boost, diversity?

Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Oscar Ho Hing-Kay will address these questions at his lecture entitled Cultural Management: More Than Just Making Money at Today Art Museum. Reservations are required.

10 am-12 am, Feb 19. Lecture hall of Today Art Museum, 32 Baiziwan Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5876-0600 Ext 100.

Quick pick

The artwork of a versatile artist

Li Hangyu was a novelist in the 1980s, a classic music expert in the 1990s and a documentary and movie director after 2000. He started painting in 2008 and is presenting his creations at an exhibition in Shanghai. His paintings are often about conception, which he portrays as an allegory for the beginning of all life. The 55-year-old says that, as a creative writer, he was naturally intrigued by visual art, and wants to paint more.

9 am-5 pm, Feb 18-28. Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, 580 Ouyang Road, Shanghai. 021-5671-0742.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/17/2012 page20)