Celebrating Cross-Cultures

Olympic fever has spread from the sports world across to the art world at MoCA. As part of the “Cultural Year of Greece in China,” this exhibition brings together artists from both nations in order to trace the affinities between these two cultures.

At first, the display appears predictable, in the unsubtle grouping of works intended to show similarities between artists. Christine Morali’s Life in Distortion–white ceramic bodies in plexiglass–sits next to Liu Jianhua's lengthy work, Shadow in the Water, a white ceramic featuring the Shanghai skyline as distorted in water. Demetrius Skourogianni's Pentheas Offering features elements of delicate textile overlay, similar to that of Chen Qingqing’s Happiness.

Despite this, there are surprises in store. Certainly, there is the unexpected revelation of who has created which work–what one assumes by its subject matter to be by a local artist turns out to be Greek, such as Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki's Constructions in Shanghai. Asian elements are also apparent in Tina Karageorgi’s swathes of Kimono V, which incorporates handmade Chinese and Japanese paper. Another bonus is the chance to experience the work of contemporary Greek artists, encouraging viewers to move away from perceptions of Greek art gleaned from classicism. Despite this, Miltos Pantelias’ Draperies I and II still feature this iconic aspect of Greek art.

Although the ubiquitous Ding Yi and his crosses are featured, there is also witty social commentary on the Chinese side. Skyscrapers pop up amongst greenery in Ji Wenyu and Zhu Weibing’s New Chinese Bonsai and occur again en masse in Yang Yangliang’s Chinese ink painting, Eclipse.

This show will at least make you see that there are some fringe benefits to the Olympic madness.

Elyse Singleton

DETAILS
When: Through Sunday, Aug. 31
Add: Gate 7, People's Park, 231 Nanjing Xi Lu 南京西路231号人民公园7号门
Tel: 6327-9900