The Art of China • Traditional Chinese art consists of two main styles. • Gong bi 工筆 which means “fine brush stroke” is shown on the left. • Xie yi 寫意 which means “freehand” or “sketching idea” is shown on the right. How are these styles similar? How are they different? Do they remind you of any art that we have studied this year? Why or why not? Both paintings are of lotus flowers. The same subject was chosen to illustrate the difference in style. Gong bi is pronounced like it is spelled. Xie Yi is pronounced “ch•ee•eh yi”

Traditional Chinese art focuses on nature. The artists use few colors in their work. Can you see the styles mentioned in the last slide? Fine brushstroke or freehand?

Contemporary Chinese Art “Contemporary” means current or of today. The rest of the artists that we will study in this presentation are young Chinese artists that are alive and working today.

Wang Ke (born in 1982) What do you notice about these paintings? How are they similar or different to traditional Chinese art? Do you like these paintings? Why or why not?

Wang Xiaojin (born in 1968) What do you notice about these paintings? How are they more similar or different to traditional Chinese art? Do you like these paintings? Why or why not? X is pronounced ch J is pronounced sh

Li Jin (born in 1958) Are these paintings more modern or traditional? What role does nature play in these paintings? J is pronounced sh If the kids don’t notice -- point out that even though the people are the main subject, great attention (almost more) is paid to the trees, flowers, animals in the paintings?

Feng Dakang (born in 1972) What makes this artist’s work different from what we have seen so far? This artist is very interested in architecture (buildings and other large structures). You can tell the kids that this artist is very concerned about the modernization of Chinese architecture. So the buildings are all shown as falling apart and delicate, yet they haven’t fallen down.

Wu Qing (birthdate unknown) What makes this artist’s work traditional? What are some clues that this is contemporary? Note use of bright and many colors, symbols of American culture -- McDonalds, cheeseburgers on the trees, cars piled up (as in rush hour) to make buildings

Huang Bai (born in 1982) What modern symbols do you see in these paintings? What parts of the pictures make them “traditional” Chinese? McDonalds again, in the painting on right can see skyscrapers, airplane, a snow boarder Even though these paintings are super modern in the bottom right corner on the painting on the right there are humming birds -- elements of nature

Which of these contemporary Chinese artists is your favorite? Why?