Guo Zhiming: 风和日丽 The Sun and the Wind is Beautiful

Guo Zhiming: 风和日丽 The Sun and the Wind is Beautiful

Opening Event Saturday 1 October, 2-4pm

This exhibition brings the whimsical landscapes and nature studies of Guo Zhiming to local audiences, including many of his serene watercolours, ink drawings and a metres-long traditional scroll painting. Zhiming’s creations spring forth from many years of experience and a highly intuitive sensibility; each watercolour is made with his signature finger-printing technique, used to build fluid abstractions from which traditional landscape scenes emerge. 

This simultaneous embrace of Chinese painting composition and abandonment of conventional methods has earnt Zhiming respect and recognition as an innovator in China, where he held a 60-year retrospective at Nanhui Museum (Pudong New Area, Shanghai) in 2019. Looking to the abstract painting of the West, particularly the Action Painting genre popularised in mid-century America, Zhiming’s expressive methods include spraying, coating, washing, shaking and dragging to achieve a desired effect. The details of each watercolour escape concrete resemblance to any object, yet there is a clear likeness to water, mountains, fog, the sky, streams and stones. 

Zhiming has poured great efforts into innovating Chinese landscape traditions, leaning into abstraction while still capturing the essence and serenity of nature. His greatest skill lies in the ability to capture a scene’s spirit, temperament, and charm. In the words of Zhiming’s biographer: ‘although the size of Mr.Guo’s landscapes are not large, there is vast territory. The scene is grand and the composition is complex.’

About the Artist:

郭志明一九四二年生于上海，常年从事于油画，国画，版画，水彩画，指墨画等艺术创作，一九六二年起，就有作品常年在上海市美术展览，一九六八年起，就多次在全国画展展出，並得奖，被美术馆，博物馆，出版社收藏，出版，人民日報，文汇报，光明日報，解放報，中央台，上海台，东方台，都有专题報道。

二00三年来到新西兰，从事宏扬中华文化，作现扬示范作画並展览，新西兰电视一台，二台，三台，以及其它台都有报道，二00五年中国中央台同新西兰政府联合拍摄(中国人在新西兰）作为唯一的艺术家入选，许多作品被各界收藏，现是新西兰华人文化艺术中心名誉主席，新西兰中国画研究会副主席，新西兰中华文化艺术学院副院长，教授，中华文化艺术交流协会专职副会长。

Guo Zhiming was born in Shanghai in 1942. He has been engaged in painting for years; his work ranges across Chinese painting, printmaking, watercolour, ink painting and other artistic creations since the 1960’s. 

In 1978, the year of economic reform post-Maoism and opening-up of China to international influence, a Children’s Palace for painting was established in Zhiming’s hometown of Nanhui to promote positive diplomatic relations through folk art. Zhiming taught children who would go on to find success internationally in children’s painting competitions. A firm believer in innovation, he explored a new expression, “cardboard painting” in the 1980’s, which his students bought to exhibitions in different continents. 

There are works by Zhiming on permanent display in Shanghai public collections, and on many occasions he has been invited to take part in the National Art Exhibition. Zhiming has been represented in award-winning art galleries, museums, publishing houses, and collections of note. He has also been featured in special reports on the People’s Daily, Wen Hui pao, Guangming Ribao, Liberation, CCTV, Shanghai and Dongfang channels.

In 2003, Guo Zhiming came to New Zealand and engaged in promoting Chinese culture, demonstrating his unique painting technique and exhibiting, as well as being featured on NZ TV1, TV2 and TV3. In 2005, China Central Television (CCTV) and the then-New Zealand Government jointly filmed people in the Chinese diaspora based in Aotearoa New Zealand—Zhiming was the only artist represented in this documentary. 

Many of his works have been collected by leaders and people of all walks of life. Zhiming is currently the Honorary Chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Culture and Art Centre, the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Painting Research Association, the Vice President of the Chinese Culture and Art Institution, and the Vice President of the Chinese Cultural and Art Exchange Association.