Jie 界 Borders
Exhibition of Prints by Paul Croft and Professor Lu Yu
26 May 2014 – 7 June 2014
Changsha Houhu International Art Park
The opening ceremony for Jie 界(Borders) – the joint exhibition between Professor Lu Yu (Changsha Central South University) and Paul Croft occurred on Thursday 29 May at Changsha Houhu International Art Park. This art centre, located on an island in the middle of Houhu Lake in Changsha, is a privately run enterprise financed by a local business partnership. The gallery is substantial and is part of a larger complex that will - when complete, house approximately 100 studios for artists to work in. Some of these studios are already occupied – others are still being built. Eventually some of these spaces will become available for international artists to work in.
The exhibition, comprising of 33 lithographs by Croft and a similar number of woodcuts and screenprints by Professor Lu Yu was organised and sponsored by The Printmaking Committee of The Hunan Artists Association, Changsha South Central University and Changsha Normal University. All works had been framed by CCSU and a 70-page catalogue was published by Hunan Fine Art Publishing. (ISBN 978-7-5487-0472-2)
The opening ceremony was well attended and speeches were made by: The President of Changsha Central South University, The International Foreign Affairs Officer for CCSU, The Communist Party Secretary for CCSU, The President of The Hunan Artists Association, The President of the Printmaking Committee, Jin Baoping from Shenzhen Academy, Professor Lu Yu and last but not least - Paul Croft.
The exhibition opening was followed by a seminar attended by many of the leading printmakers and students from CCSU and CNU. Discussion focused on the status of printmaking in both China and in the West – with specific interest on how artists in the West manage to make, promote and sell their work to make a living.
The exhibition was reviewed by local press and TV and was front page news on the CCSU website:
http://engnews.csu.edu.cn/csuen/html/2014-06-04/c0cc10bca5294d67bb0cd4130ab68c71.shtml
A review of the exhibition appeared later on Artron - one of China's leading art websites:
http://en.artron.net/news/news.php?newid=640490&site_id=1&channel_id=21&column_id=62
