EXHIBITION DETAILS
Date: 14 October 2019 – 21 February 2020
Venue: Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture Gallery, Building EA.G.03, Parramatta South Campus, Western Sydney University. Corner of James Ruse Drive and Victoria Road, Rydalmere.
Gallery Opening Hours: Monday – Thursday 10.00 am – 3.00 pm, Friday 11:00am – 3pm
Contact: Lindsay Liu, (02) 9685 9943
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“The artworks for this exhibition were chosen by Guan Wei from his own personal collection. Guan Wei named the exhibition Essence, Energy, Spirit, which aptly captures the recurring themes of his art’s practice. Guan Wei is renowned for creating works that interlace imagery from his Chinese heritage, his life experience in Australia and his personal iconography, working across painting, sculpture and installation.
The exhibition is comprised of three distinct series of work. The series, Return to the Origin contextualises our human journey within the Universe. Images of the human figure are juxtaposed with symbols of the cosmos, deliberately drawn upon ceramics – a material that has been used by humans for thousands of years – to remind the viewer of their relatively brief time in history. Humans are portrayed as being part of nature, but a mere speck within it, when one considers how vast and old the Universe is.
The series, Longevity for Beginners explores themes of spiritual and physical balance via imagery of both external and internal views of the human body, drawn from traditional Chinese medicine and qi-gong, as well as his own personal symbolism. The underlying narrative of these paintings suggests the importance of the connection between the mind/spirit and body, and that being in balance with nature is essential for good health and general well-being.”
(https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/aciac/exhibitions2/essence,_energy,_spirit)