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2022 China (Zhengzhou) Yellow River Culture Month | Appreciate a Splendid Picture Scroll of the Yellow River Culture

The Yellow River gallops ten thousand miles into the East China Sea, just like the broad mind of extraordinary people.

On September 18, with the official opening of China (Zhengzhou) Yellow River Culture Month, “Wang Gang: Story of the Yellow River—Contemporary Art Exhibition on the Theme of Yellow River” kicked off in the new Zhengzhou Art Museum. The exhibition intensively displays the easel paintings, sculptures, behavior art, installation art and earth artworks created by the artist Wang Gang since 2000, presenting from a multi-dimensional perspective the artist’s thinking on the Yellow River, his concern about the fate and livelihood of people on the land nourished by the Yellow River, as well as his reflection on the whole human civilization.

The exhibition is held in the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 exhibition halls of the new Zhengzhou Art Museum, attracting many citizens to immerse themselves in the vast ocean of the Yellow River culture.

A splendid picture scroll of the Yellow River

The exhibition is divided into three chapters: “The Yellow River”, “Man” and “Earth”. It begins with a huge oil painting called “Story of the Yellow River” created by Wang Gang in 2014, to present us with a magnificent picture of the natural Yellow River. From Wang Gang’s artistic creation, many audiences deeply realize that “The Yellow River”, “Man” and “Earth” shape an eternal life landscape through interdependence and complementing each other.

The first chapter “The Yellow River” intensively presents the Yellow River series created by Wang Gang in the past decade. These paintings with the theme of the Yellow River vividly show the profoundness and splendor of the mother river.

Wang Gang told the reporter that his creation, from oil paintings, clay sculptures, images, and installations to earth art, has never been separated from the Yellow River and the earth for decades.

The strong humanistic care conveyed by “Lao Wan” series

The second chapter “Man”, exhibited in No. 2 and 3 exhibition halls of the museum, focuses on the “Lao Wan” series of oil paintings and clay sculptures created by Wang Gang since 2000, which represent Wang Gang’s core artistic concept and image creation.

In Wang Gang’s art narrative, “‘Lao Wan represents farmers, migrant workers and miners in industrialization and modernization. He is a symbol of faded farming civilization eliminated by modernization and industrialization, of Chinese traditional culture ecology represented by clan kinship that is gradually elapsing in the process, and of the turbulent Yellow River that is flowing in the blood of Wang Gang”. According to Liu Jie, Vice Chairman of Henan Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chairman of Henan Artists Association, these works constitute the farming civilization nurtured by the Yellow River for thousands of years and the past of Chinese civilization in the vicissitudes of time.

Eye-catching “Earth” behavior art

The No. 4 exhibition hall of Zhengzhou Art Museum displays the third chapter “Earth”, focusing on Wang Gang’s behavior art, installation art and earth artworks that mainly discuss the relationship between man and the earth. At the exhibition site, the audience all praised the unique central plains’ cultural characteristics of the works and the artist’s pioneering and exemplary artistic exploration and practice.

Wang Gang has been paying close attention to the profound historical and cultural traditions of the Central Plains and the descendants of the Yellow River living here. He tries to trace the cultural roots of this land by means of visual art. From his works, we can feel the interdependence and unity of man and the earth and his reflection on the ultimate value of human life.

As the Yellow River runs ceaselessly, the culture is flourishing forever. This is just the beginning of 2022 China (Zhengzhou) Yellow River Culture Month. The best is yet to come!

Copyright by Zhengzhou Municipal Tourism Administration