Spori Art Gallery to feature art from Mao’s China (view
original)
January 24, 2006
REXBURG, Idaho –
Writer: Alicia Morrell
The Spori Art Gallery at Brigham Young University-Idaho will feature the exhibit “Art
from Mao’s China” throughout the month of February. The exhibit
will provide a glimpse into the Cultural Revolution period of China and will
officially open to the public on February 3.
The gallery will feature 55 original pieces of art that span from 1955 to
1983. The art pieces include oils on canvas, oils on paper, woodblock on paper,
and watercolors on paper.
A symposium with Eric Hyer, associate professor in the Department of Political
Science at Brigham Young University, and Dodge Billingsley, founder of Combat
Films and Research, will be held on Friday, February 3 at 5 p.m. in Room 35
of the Spori Building.
The symposium will also include a screening of the documentary film “From
the Masses to the Masses: Art from Mao’s China.” The film details
the history of the Cultural Revolution of China through the experience of artist
Jin Zhilin. An opening reception will follow from 6:30-9 p.m. in the Spori
Gallery. The symposium, film screening, and art exhibit are open to the public.
The 60-minute film is a biographical account of the artists and also addresses
the political and cultural history of Communist China. The documentary covers
China’s “social realism” and the development of the artistic
style “revolutionary romanticism” during the Cultural Revolution.
The producer and script writer, Eric Hyer, traveled to Korea in June 2004
as part of the Asian Studies Curriculum Development and has also traveled extensively
throughout China and Tibet. He has produced two documentaries filmed in China,
including “From the Masses to the Masses: Art in Mao’s China.” Hyer
will lecture on Chinese art and politics during the symposium.
The director of the film, Dodge Billingsley, is a historian, filmmaker, and
art collector who recently co-founded the documentary series “Beyond
the Border,” covering global events with an emphasis on culture in conflict.
The documentary “From the Masses to the Masses: Art in Mao’s China,” one
film in the series, focuses on China’s Cultural Revolution. Billingsley
will lecture on the making of the documentary.
The symposium and exhibit are supported in part by a grant from the Idaho
Humanities Council, a State-based Program of the National Endowment for the
Humanities. The Utah Humanities Council provided additional funding for research,
Chinese translations, and the description placards.
The exhibit runs through February 28 and is open to the public from 9 a.m. – 5
p.m. Monday through Friday. Tours and special arrangements can be made by calling
the BYU-Idaho Art Department office at 496-2860. For more information about
the exhibit, call Scott Galer at 496-1521.