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| Liverpool wins a world first with Chinese cave paintings | Liverpool wins a world first with Chinese cave paintings |
| (6 days later) | |
| Liverpool's View Two gallery looks small but thinks big. Witness the current exhibition by a painter whose daily routine can claim to be one of the strangest in the world of fine art. | Liverpool's View Two gallery looks small but thinks big. Witness the current exhibition by a painter whose daily routine can claim to be one of the strangest in the world of fine art. |
| Xiaodong Yang, whose day job is working as keeper of 1,600-year-old cave paintings in China's Gansu Province, has to climb halfway up a mountain after checking earthquake forecasts to work in caves which are home to poisonous snakes. | Xiaodong Yang, whose day job is working as keeper of 1,600-year-old cave paintings in China's Gansu Province, has to climb halfway up a mountain after checking earthquake forecasts to work in caves which are home to poisonous snakes. |
| You can see the results in the cosier surroundings of View Two which is the first place outside China to show Yang's painstaking replicas of the cave art. His job is record and copy the paintings before they fade irretrievably through time or are destroyed by natural disaster. | You can see the results in the cosier surroundings of View Two which is the first place outside China to show Yang's painstaking replicas of the cave art. His job is record and copy the paintings before they fade irretrievably through time or are destroyed by natural disaster. |
| The caves were carved into Maiji mountain inear modern Tianshu in the late Qin Period (384AD-417AD) by Buddhist monks who had newly arrived from India and felt insecure in their new land. They were rediscovered in the mid-20th century which has been a mixed blessing as excessive visitor interest is another sure way of creating damage; hence the closure of Europe's most famous painted caves in south west France. | The caves were carved into Maiji mountain inear modern Tianshu in the late Qin Period (384AD-417AD) by Buddhist monks who had newly arrived from India and felt insecure in their new land. They were rediscovered in the mid-20th century which has been a mixed blessing as excessive visitor interest is another sure way of creating damage; hence the closure of Europe's most famous painted caves in south west France. |
| Many of the 200 Maiji ones have also been sealed off from the public, but Yang has been allowed to work in them for the past 17 years. The task is slow. One of the paintings at View Two is seven metres long by two metres wide and took a year-and-a-half to finish. | Many of the 200 Maiji ones have also been sealed off from the public, but Yang has been allowed to work in them for the past 17 years. The task is slow. One of the paintings at View Two is seven metres long by two metres wide and took a year-and-a-half to finish. |
| Architect Ken Martin who owns the gallery says: | Architect Ken Martin who owns the gallery says: |
| Yang's work has toured China's main cities but never exhibited outside the country. Luckily in Liverpool we have a Chinese architect and artist, Miss Xia Lu, who has been a friend of Yang since they attended the same school in Gansu Province. When it became apparent Yang was available for a short exhibition of his paintings, at very short notice, View Two was asked to curate the event. Yang was aware of Liverpool's cultural tradition and was most happy to come to our city. | Yang's work has toured China's main cities but never exhibited outside the country. Luckily in Liverpool we have a Chinese architect and artist, Miss Xia Lu, who has been a friend of Yang since they attended the same school in Gansu Province. When it became apparent Yang was available for a short exhibition of his paintings, at very short notice, View Two was asked to curate the event. Yang was aware of Liverpool's cultural tradition and was most happy to come to our city. |
| Liverpool also has a large Chinese community and View Two recently hosted a two month residency by a young painter from China, Zhao Zhu, who unusually specialises in the European Impressionist Style. You can read an earlier Guardian Northerner post about him here. | Liverpool also has a large Chinese community and View Two recently hosted a two month residency by a young painter from China, Zhao Zhu, who unusually specialises in the European Impressionist Style. You can read an earlier Guardian Northerner post about him here. |
| Yang started his work young – he is only 40 – after graduating in art from the Longdong Institute and specialising in traditional Chinese painting until he joined the Art Research Group at the Institute of Maiji Mountain Grotto Art. He says: | Yang started his work young – he is only 40 – after graduating in art from the Longdong Institute and specialising in traditional Chinese painting until he joined the Art Research Group at the Institute of Maiji Mountain Grotto Art. He says: |
| We are trying hard to protect and preserve the original murals but many have faded. I work eight hours a day in the caves because for me the passion for the grottoes makes my work a labour of love. At last we have faithful copies of artworks dating back sixteen centuries. | We are trying hard to protect and preserve the original murals but many have faded. I work eight hours a day in the caves because for me the passion for the grottoes makes my work a labour of love. At last we have faithful copies of artworks dating back sixteen centuries. |
| The exhibition is open today, Thursday 8 November, tomorrow and Saturday from noon to 5pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the same times next week. On Thursday 15 November from 6pm - 9pm there will be a Special Review when people can meet and chat to Artist Yang, and enjoy some Chinese music and dancing. Entrance is free | The exhibition is open today, Thursday 8 November, tomorrow and Saturday from noon to 5pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the same times next week. On Thursday 15 November from 6pm - 9pm there will be a Special Review when people can meet and chat to Artist Yang, and enjoy some Chinese music and dancing. Entrance is free |
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