The name of the exhibition — Beckoning of the Breeze, is derived from the poem “Summer” by famous poet, Li Shang Ying, of Tang Dynasty. In his poem, he mentioned how the elegant movement of the fan brought on the winds, which inspired us to name our upcoming exhibition – Beckoning of the Breeze. In ancient times, scholars and educated people would treasure and appreciate fan paintings. There were even gatherings (雅集 in Chinese), where friends shared, admired and discussed the fans they had collected.
In this upcoming exhibition, over 40 Siaw-Tao artists will be presenting close to 90 pieces of fan-shaped works. They consist of genres ranging from Birds and Flowers, Animals, Landscape, Abstract, Calligraphy and many others. These paintings are done on fan shaped paper as well as the actual physical fan.
Fan paintings are an important aspect of Chinese ink painting but is not widely recognised in today’s world. Historically, fan painting dates back several millenniums. There was a famous story about renowned Master Calligrapher Wang Xi Zhi with regards to fan painting. Wang was taking a stroll by the market whereby he saw an old lady selling fans. Business was poor, and Wang volunteered his services to help the old lady. He wrote on the fans but the old lady was unhappy as she felt that Wang had damaged her fans by scribbling on them. Wang said: “Old madam, do not worry, for you can sell the scribbled fans at a higher price!” The old lady was puzzled but she tried selling it regardless. Soon after, someone recognized that the fans were written by Wang. When the news spread, the fans were sold out quickly.
Venue: Visual Arts Centre, 10 Penang Road #01-02 Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 238469
When: 4 - 8 May 2018,
By: Visual Arts Centre Exhibition Gallery
