As an idea originated several years ago in examining Chinese artists' involvement in American art schools, the first exhibition of Across the Divide met the public in California in 2003. Since then, more artists throughout the country have chosen to connect to this continuing exhibition, which has not only given a shape to a burgeoning community, but also intrigued a curiosity in who these artists are and what they embrace in their artworks that forms a shared core value. To prepare for this exhibition, a rigorous selecting process of artworks seems to make our experience concrete and perception palpable, providing a platform for open dialogs and an exchange of different viewpoints.
This exhibition introduces 18 Chinese artists who have been teaching art in colleges in 13 states throughout the United States. Prior to their graduate studies in America, most of these artists had acquired an initial studio experience in undergraduate schools from their native lands, in which they later found that certain values held in their previous education, more or less, had been much influenced by ideological disputes that bred distrust, prejudice, and antipathy as a consequence of the Cold War politics. It was in American graduate schools, where they began to gain an open perspective in comprehending the value of a culturally more inclusive and tolerant society. Within an academic environment that encourages individual endeavor, they matured with an understanding of art, previously under the guidance of their American teachers, and now through an interaction with their colleagues and students from their teaching posts.
In this exhibition, all artists have presented their recent artwork to offer us a wide-angle perspective, asserting an aspiration in bringing their cross-cultural experiences into effective communications. Whether using mixed materials to break disciplinary limits or returning a medium to its sheer presence, they have experimented with a great variety of studio interests, creating an aesthetic landscape ranging from conceptual representation of imagery to allegorical referencing of cultural memories. Some of these artworks discover in figurative expressions a spatial arrangement to establish a direct link to immediate visual observations; others appeal for abstract painterly approaches to surface qualities in seeking a representation of spiritual quests. Although the artistic styles presented in each individual work differ, all pieces joined together convey a core value that these artists share in studio practice - drawing inspirations from the Chinese cultural tradition while creating new works interwoven with their American experiences.
The timing of this exhibition appears to correspond to a cultural trend that has enticed the overseas Chinese community to reevaluate its cultural tie to China's recent development. During the past twenty years, a persistent effort in upholding the open door policy has enabled China to emerge out of the shadow of Mao's Cultural Revolution; its new economic achievement has been testified not only by the return of Hong Kong and Macao, but also by an increasing economic and cultural exchange for the people from both sides of the Taiwan Straight. A more open dialog calling for a cultural identity beyond various political convictions under the frame of Chinese culture has become a core value shared in the overseas Chinese community. This exhibition has brought a group of Chinese artists together, regardless of their birthplaces, as a new way to celebrate a multicultural society that America advocates.
Yu Ji
Curator of Exhibition
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