Profession Wu Weishan's sculptures

Professor Wu Weishan is a famous Chinese sculpture artist around the world. He is the member of many famous art organizations, and the supervisor of some institutes. He held an exhibition in Nanjing recently. In December 4Th, our class went to visit the Wu Weishan’s sculpture exhibition. It showed us contemporary sculptures, and there are some artworks made by other artists, but most of them were made by Wu Weishan.
There were many different sculptures. Some of the sculptures had tender lines and even surface, but most of them had rough, heavy lines and harsh surface. “The sleeping baby”(睡童), is one of the most famous sculptures of Wu Weishan, and it is the example of the sculptures have tender lines and even surface. Then, “Lao Zi goes out of the gateway” (老子出关；own translation) is the example of other type. My favorite sculpture in this exhibition is called “The highest good is like water-Lao Zi” (上善若水-老子；translation from Internet） and it is included by the second group, which includes “Lao Zi goes out of the gateway”.



The sculpture in the right photo is “The highest good is like water-Lao Zi”. It was made in 2005. The sculpture of Lao Zi has a very sharp but dim shape and thick, rough lines. The colors of this sculpture are mainly green and a little blue and yellow because the material of this one is bronze. Also, it has coarse surface, too. Lao Zi is an ancient saint and scholar in China, and Professor Wu used him as the subject of this artwork. Lao Zi has a long beard and his whole body is little bent. He sat on a chair and makes his thumb on his right hand stand straight. People can not know which expression is on his face because his face is with too many holes.

Lao Zi’s long beard, bent body and old colors make him look aged. This artwork seems to have a profound meaning about the world, lives and morals. The strange thumb of the right hand means that there is only one truth in the world. Maybe the artist wishes people find the reasons which Lao Zi said, such as the title of the artwork, “The highest good is like water”, and make us look back over ourselves. This artwork can relate to the lesson called Idea and Moral (思想品德；own translation) which students in China have when they are in the middle school. Some parts of Idea and Moral are about some thought of ancient scholar including Lao Zi, and the moral of Lao Zi is similar to that in the subject.

I like this sculpture because it looks not only strict, but also calm and quiet, and gives an active feeling to people in the dead image. His arm which was protruded to his front and his slant legs give me this kind of feeling. However, I do not think every one can appreciate this artwork. People might feel uncomfortable because of its rough lines, harsh surface and unclear shape, and it is hard to realize the meaning which an artwork implies deeply.

It was meaningful for me to visit Professor Wu’s exhibition. I touched a new kind of art which I had touched before. People say Wu Weishan’s artworks are contemporary art, but in fact, they are in harmony between contemporary art and traditional art. I felt a great admiration for professor.

Some views in my class

It is my own picture.


They look very busy.

Guest Artist

Professional Zhao Bing is a famous expert on landscape architecture in the Nanjing Forestry University. Last Monday afternoon, Professional Zhao came to our school, and gave the students of GCA a speech about the Su Zhou's Gardens. He started from telling us an analysis of the word "Garden" in Chinese. He also told us the simple history of garden, some kinds of gardens and some characteristics of the Su Zhou's Gardens.
The word "Garden" in Chinese is "园林". In the old Chinese, "园" was written as "園", and this character include 4 parts. "土" means earth and the change of landforms. The small "口" and the bigger one represent water in the garden and wall around there. Finally, another part of "園" means branches of trees. Thus, "园" can describe the garden well . Then, "林" is a word of woods, so "园林" means the garden with many trees, or woods.
Su Zhou's Gardens have many nicknames because of their characteristics. One of Su Zhou's Gardens' characteristics is the contrast between the outside and inside of them. Su Zhou's Gardens are called "Old woods in the city" because it is much more silent inside than outside. There is another nickname called "Fresh history culture", for people can see the past from these gardens in the present. Many gardens in Su Zhou were built in different dynasties in different ages, so we can infer how cultures were then. All of these points are about characteristics in some broad areas, but Professional Zhao also told us some details, such as strange stones and rocks in Su Zhou's Gardens, and the ways to locate and draw water, etc.
In truth, I think the speech was educative but little boring, for maybe I was too busy at that day. I think I could learn many things which I did not know from this speech. The explanation of the Chinese word of garden was interesting. On the other hand, that speech included many important parts of the landscape architecture, but they were introduced in some uninteresting and hackneyed ways, so I could not remember the contents of the speech without my note. I hope I will listen to a more interesting one.