Fuzhou art

Thanks to our relocator Rose, I have had the chance to get into contact with the Fuzhou art scene. Already during the first trip Shiqi and I took to Fuzhou together, we visited the studio of a well-known Fuzhou artist. It was interesting, especially because we were able to see the paintings in the surroundings in which they were created.
Later, during the first weekend in Fuzhou after leaving Germany, I visited a few very interesting art exhibitions. The first two were in the Fujian museum, a modern building complex which is located across the Fuzhou West Lake, right opposite of my hotel. In fact, it is the building complex that I have already looked at so often through the windows of my hotel room, during several business trips, but of which I never knew what it was. So, now I know.
Anyway, the first exhibition was about Chinese shadow doll theater. Before, I only new shadow dolls from Indonesia (the “Wayang” dolls). The museum displayed an interesting collection of dolls, including some very old pieces, from different regions around China. In the main hall of the building, there was even a show held every so many minutes. As a souvenir, I took a short video clip with my mobile phone camera. You can check it out here.





It was really that noisy. Even Rose, who is a Chinese, could not understand the story that was told, because the “music” was just too loud.

The second exhibition was housed in another building. Upon entering, I was wondering how this exhibition could be interesting. On display were rocks from a mountain close to Fuzhou, that were made into faces with a few cuts here and there. Each rock had been fixed on a stick. The rock faces even looked a bit scary at first. But then, the exhibition became more interesting the longer we were inside. There were hundreds of faces and it was really stunning to see how every face was different. In each room there was a list on which people were invited to write down if they saw a face the resembled someone. So after looking on those lists we were looking for Elvis, Deng XiaoPing, Bruce Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Einstein, etc. We did not really find them, but we did get fascinated by those rocks; unexpectedly.

After a good lunch in restaurant serving food from the north of China (remember the silk worms?), we headed for another exhibition. This one was housed in the Fuzhou institute of arts, and displayed oil paintings by an artist from Fuzhou, with the theme “subway”. The exhibition hall was almost empty when I entered. There was only one man, indeed, the artist. He came up to me immediately after seeing me. He knew some English and told me that I was the second foreigner that had come to visit his exhibition. He was a very kind man, and during our visit he accompanied us to explain his thoughts and emotions behind the paintings. This was a wonderful experience! How often do you have the chance to be accompanied by the artist when you are visiting a gallery or museum? And doesn’t it happen often that you ask yourself “Now, what on earth was the idea behind this painting?”. This time, we found out all about it.

It is my impression that in a "small" city like Fuzhou, it is much easier for a foreigner like me to get into contact with Chinese culture and its people than it would be in cities like Beijing or Shanghai, in which you are bound to be shielded from it by a typical expat life. In my eyes this is a big plus for Fuzhou.