Autumn Grasses Soothe the Heart: Li Fang's Nomadic Brushwork
Organizer: Guangdong Museum of Art
Chief Curator: Wang Shaoqiang
Academic Host: Pi Daojian
Curator: Liao Shani
Location: Guangdong Museum of Art (Er-sha Island), No. 38 Yanyu Road, Ersha Island, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
Li Fang stands as a compelling case for rediscovery in the 20th-century Chinese art history. Her artistic career is closely intertwined with the modernist enlightenment of the "Fifth Moon Group" the transformative influence of the Parisian abstraction, and the return to nature during her years in Switzerland.
With "Painterly Nomad" as the clue, the exhibition consists of three thematic sections: "Inheritance and Wandering", "Stillness and Dialogue", and "The Poetics of Return". Nearly a hundred oil paintings, watercolors, sketches, and archival documents from different periods of Li's career are on display, providing a comprehensive overview of her artistic exploration and aesthetic integration within cross-cultural contexts.
Along the life journey from Taipei to Paris and then to Switzerland, Li Fang underwent significant artistic transformations, shifting from radical abstract experiments to a deepened contemplation of nature. She integrated her Eastern painting training from the Taipei period with the abstract techniques honed in Paris, forming her personal style. Li created an "inner-image" landscape that harmonizes abstract composition with figurative expression. Through prolonged sketching at the foot of the Alps and by the shores of Lake Thun, she achieved a unique cross-cultural aesthetic synthesis.
The poetic theme "Autumn Grass Nourishes the Heart" derives from a small painting created by the artist in the 1980s, aptly encapsulating the profound value of Li's art: rather than pursuing visual spectacles, it establishes poetic connections between the material and the psychic, tradition and modernity, and East and West with a gentle yet enduring strength.
This exhibition is an important project in the "Overseas Chinese Artists Series" hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art. This exhibition seeks to present to the audience, through Li Fang's serene and profound artistic world, a precious vision of how she maintained artistic ontology amid cultural migration and upheld personal authenticity amid currents of the times.
