Exhibition View
The opening exhibition of Tao Art Center, “BLOSSOM”, was unveiled in Tianjin on April 11, 2025. It brought together 33 contemporary artists who have made extraordinary achievements in various fields of art spanning painting, sculpture, multimedia video, interactive installation and so on. The exhibition takes the creative practices of these artists as a prism to reflect the amazing energy of contemporary Chinese art in the context interwoven by humanistic contemplation and technological development.
Exhibition View
“Blossom” as the theme of this group exhibition, contains a double metaphor: it does not only refer to the attitude of Tao Art Center embedded in the urban cultural landscape like a bud blooming, but it also symbolizes the breakthrough growth of China’s art ecology through accumulation. The exhibition constructs a multi-symbiotic art ecosystem. Here, the profound cultivation of traditional media by artists and digital natives’ code creations go hand in hand; the ideological nature of easel painting and the interactivity of new media art form stretching force; the local expression of regional culture and the global visual expression achieve a delicate balance. This inclusiveness reflects the academic pursuit of the Tao Art Center: it is committed to building a conversion interface between diversified artistic dimensions.
The Opening Ceremony
Group Photo of Honored Guests
The further ambition of “Blossom” is to build a methodology for art to intervene in urban renewal and to empower industrial development. When visitors step into this art container transformed from an aged villa, they will also feel that this exhibition goes beyond the conventional scope and becomes the kinetic energy to activate the traditional cultural genes of Tianjin.
Traditional Revitalization and Contemporary Translation
In this exhibition, many works are endowed with new cultural connotations and contemporary spirit through contemporary translation of traditional media, materials and culture, while being full of humanistic care and life philosophy.
Liu Qinghe’s contemporary ink painting “Happy Holidays”, Fan Bo’s landscape painting “Forest Road 7”, Qiu Zhijie’s ceramic painting “Energy Series”, Wang Shaojun’s sculpture “A Charming Face Among Peach Blossoms”, Miao Xiaochun’s multimedia video “Starting Over Again”, Tian He’s “Water Series” sculpture, Tan Xun’s colored steel plate sculpture, Yan Ping’s oil paintings “Awakening of Insects” and “Take-off”, Dong Shubing’s sculpture “A Walker’s Exploration”, Chen Wenling’s “Little Red Man” sculpture, young artist Zhang Yudong’s dynamic sculpture “Felt Bronze”, and Nie Shichang’s dynamic sculpture “Steel Lotus” are multi-dimensional experiments in deconstructing and reshaping traditional culture from the perspective of different generations. Traditions are reborn in the flow, continue to evolve in different media and contexts, and form new forms with contemporary vitality.
Liu Qinghe’s contemporary ink painting “Happy Holidays” (left) and Chen Qi's “Cherry Blossoms”
Fan Bo’s landscape painting “Forest Road 7”
Qiu Zhijie’s ceramic painting “Energy Series”
Wang Shaojun’s sculpture “A Charming Face Among Peach Blossoms” (left) and Dong Shubing’s sculpture “A Walker’s Exploration”
Miao Xiaochun’s multimedia video “Starting Over Again”
Tan Xun's “Rainbow 5”
Zhang Yudong’s dynamic sculpture “Felt Bronze”
Huang Keyi's “Mountain Series” and Yan Ping's “Awakening of Insects”
Chen Shuxia’s oil painting “Eastward”
Multiple Images of “Blossom” Theme
Natural elements such as plants, animals, mountains and rivers appear frequently in this exhibition. On the one hand, they echo the ecological and humanistic perspective of the exhibition; on the other hand, they also extend infinite thinking space for this theme. As the first exhibition of Tao Art Center, it goes beyond the simple visual presentation and instead, with the posture of “seeds of the future”, it lays the action gene for the continuous growth of Tao Art Center.
Prof. Deng Guoyuan’s mirror installation “Dragonflies Occupy the Tiger’s Garden”, Prof. Tang Yong’s sculpture “Flowers: Desire of Life”, Prof. Kang Lei’s large triptych “Paradise. The Noise of Existence”, Huang Keyi’s “Mountain Series” paintings, Prof. Chen Shuxia’s oil paintings “Eastward” and “Burning Light”, Jiang Huan’s hyper-realistic painting “Flowers No. 6”, Zhang Jian’s “My Garden” series of oil paintings, Lu Zhengyuan’s hyper-realistic paintings “Sunshine and Shadow” and “Loneliness”, Cai Zhisong’s lead sculpture “Square Rose” and other works all show their multi-dimensional philosophical thinking on natural ecology and living existence.
Prof. Deng Guoyuan’s mirror installation “Dragonflies Occupy the Tiger’s Garden”
Prof. Tang Yong’s sculpture “Flowers Desire of Life”
Prof. Kang Lei’s large triptych “Paradise. The Noise of Existence”
Cai Zhisong’s lead sculpture “Square Rose”
Lu Zhengyuan’s hyper-realistic paintings “Sunshine and Shadow” and “Loneliness”
Specific Creations Inspired by the Space
On the occasion of the opening, artists intervene in this emerging cultural space with site-specific creations, reconstructing the multidimensional dialogue between works, architecture, and the audience. Sui Jianguo connects space and imagination with a white exhibition wall, and he cleverly creates an inter-textual relationship with the local composition of Tao Art Center. Chen Qi’s colored woodblock printing juxtaposes the initial bloom of cherry blossoms with the opening of Tao Art Center; this imagery of temporal-spatial superimposition carries the ephemeral philosophy of Eastern aesthetics while resonating with the ritualistic sense generated by this cultural space. Ma Junsheng’s “If They Were Flowers: Prologue” borrows the forms of flowers, the installations bloom as people approach and retract as they move away, breathing freely like organs, interpreting the rhythms of life in the digital age.
Sui Jianguo's “Untitled” in the middle
Ma Junsheng’s “If They Were Flowers: Prologue”
The Immersive Experience with Sensory and Mind-Body Unification
The interactive installations in this exhibition break the traditional ways of displaying art, where audience participation is the key. This process brings a sense of physical and mental involvement, allowing the audience to connect with art on different levels, leading to an unforgettable two-way communication experience and deeper reflection.
Lu Yingying’s “I Am a Clam” connects her personal life with the universe, engaging the audience’s hearing, sight, and smell. Through the interaction between the body and the installation, visitors can jointly feel the healing energy of art with the artist. Five young artists, Niu Yifei, Chen Hailan, Xu Xinyao, Li Hao, and Wang Shurui, who graduated from the Public Art and Experiential Design Studio of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, along with the young artist collective ShineMore Lab, use digital interactive technology to revive intangible cultural heritages such as kites, Yingge dance, ceramics, as well as national treasures and traditional ink painting. These works make history no longer a distant memory, but something that contemporary spectators can directly experience and perceive.
Exhibition View
Lu Yingying’s “I Am a Clam”
Chen Hailan's “Paper Kite Roaming”
Niu Yifei's “Holding a Candle”
ShineMore Lab‘s “The beauty of nature and planting of feelings”
Linking Resources with Art to Revitalize the City
With the advantage of a superior geographical location, natural cultural strength, and coordinated support from policy activities, the opening of Tao Art Center injects contemporary artistic vitality into this historic district, and it also adds splendid cultural hues to Tianjin.
It is dedicated to building interfaces for transforming various dimensions of art, with a long-term goal of establishing a methodology for artistic intervention in urban renewal and empowering industrial development. This transformed villa will not only become a source of inspiration for art enthusiasts, a resting place for urban wanderers, and a gathering spot for community neighbors, but it will also activate the traditional cultural genes of Tianjin through reorganization of resources and emotional connections, the translation of local contexts into contemporary expressions, content production and promotion.
About the Exhibition
Organizer: Li Xiang
Curator: Lu Zhengyuan
Dates: March 25 - June 20, 2025
Venue: Tao Art Center
Address: No. 275 Hebei Road, Wu Da Dao Street, Heping District, Tianjin
Courtesy of Tao Art Center, edited by CAFA ART INFO.
