July 6, 2006
Bus number 111 (which apparently is pronounced "yo yo yo" in Chinese and still makes me laugh) lumbers from the busy shop-lined street near our Beijing hostel to the China Art Gallery. With Leah sick, wanting to spend the day in bed and not the biggest fan of modern art, I headed off for a visit. The museum has seven floors, but is surprisingly small and divided into roughly three parts: a special exhibit of paintings, a special exhibit of bronze portraits, and a ceramics collection.
Mexican paintings from the 1950's to the present made up the bulk of the first special exhibit. Consisting of mostly abstract works or paintings designed to shock with an unsettling theme of anguish or anger, I didn't linger for too long. The second special exhibit of bronze portraits by Wu Weishan was wonderful. His portraits of historical and modern figures had an unfinished or rough look, but managed to convey significant movement and expression. The figures all had character, from the dominant, unapproachable first emperor of Qin to the steady, intelligent figure of Yang Zhenning, Nobel Prize winner and physicist. My only regret was that they didn't have more of his work.
Ceramics figures, vases, dishes and unusual objects didn't disappoint. I was particularly impressed by a small rusted-looking tractor that was actually made of ceramic. I worked my way up through the floors and then took the elevator down. On the elevator, descending from floor 7 to floor 1, an elderly woman gestured to the floor selection control panel and I slowly, confidently said, "yo." She didn't even giggle.
-David
