On the afternoon of July 1, 2016, “Street Art – A Global View” was unveiled at Gallery 3 of CAFA Art Museum. This exhibition is sponsored by CAFA, organized by the School of Plastic Arts at CAFA and CAFA Art Museum, in cooperation with Magda Danysz Gallery.
The opening ceremony was hosted by Tang Hui, the curator of the exhibition and Director of the Department of Mural Painting at CAFA, Party Secretary of CAFA Gao Hong, Deputy Party Secretary Wang Shaojun, Dean of the Academic Affairs Office Wang Xiaolin, Dean of the School of Plastic Arts at CAFA Ma Lu, Director of CAFA Art Museum Wang Huangsheng, exhibition curator Magda Danysz, as well as the street artists at home and abroad were present at the opening ceremony.
“Why does the Department of Mural Painting in CAFA hold an international street art exhibition?” Tang Hui said that the mural painting was a specialty that enabled the study of public art and wall decoration, so it was natural that the Department of Mural Painting paid close attention to the form of street art. Along with the accelerated pace of China’s reform and opening up, the growth of the youth is increasingly closely linked with the construction of the city, they need to liberate the mind, to express themselves, they need to constantly dialogue with the cities where they live. Tang Hui believed that people needed to have an attitude of tolerance, openness and understanding to study their art, accepting that it was an artistic phenomenon, and also demonstrated their appreciation of excellent street paintings, to encourage young people to expand into a vast art space, just like the outstanding international street painters that are participating in the exhibition.
Magda Danysz, professor of Culture Policy of Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris - Sciences Po, and one of the curators of the exhibition of street art said that this exhibition traced the history of street art from the 1970s to today, and she hoped that the audience would have a comprehensive understanding of the 40 years of street art movement.
It involves two clues: on the one hand, it is as the first show of street art in the art museum of mainland China, the exhibition reviews and presents the historical literature of the development of worldwide street art since the 1960s, reducing the development process, so that spectators can seize the general context; at the same time, the exhibition specifically invites the artists from the United States, Britain, France, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Senegal and China, to present together the present the real ecology of worldwide street art, they have a different nationality and skin color, have a variety of cultural backgrounds of growth and social environments, including the Post-60s, who have lived through many changes, as well as the earthshaking Post-90s, and we expected sparks from their collision.
In addition, the exhibition will hold related professional academic lectures and relaxed exchange Salons as well as graffiti art experience activities specially created for children. The exhibition continues to August 24.
Text by Lin Jiabin, Photo by Yang Yanyuan/CAFA ART INFO
Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO