NanHai Art Celebrates New Gallery Opening in 2014 with Seminar Series

NanHai Art Celebrates New Gallery Opening in 2014 with Seminar Series Millbrae, CA  -- NanHai Art is pleased to announce a new seminar series for the month of November featuring prominent scholars on the topic of Chinese art. The seminar series celebrates the evolution of the cultural center into a newly renovated commercial gallery, planned to open in February 2014 as a center for patronage and promotion of contemporary Chinese artists. A branch of NanHai Co., Inc., NanHai Art will focus on introducing major works by contemporary Chinese artists that both reflect the unique aesthetics of traditional Chinese art, while also transcending boundaries between Eastern and Western art. The three part series will host noted academics on topics pertinent to the evolution of Chinese art, and the transformation of Eastern and Western culture through the exchange of artistic practice and aesthetics. Previous lectures held as community events have reiterated NanHai’s core Mission to “preserve and promote the Chinese heritage, share the unique value, ethics and aesthetic of Chinese arts and culture with the American public, and bridge east and west.” The academic focus of this series underscores NanHai Art’s aim to educate artists, collectors and curators about contemporary Chinese art and artists. About the Speakers Kuiyi Shen is a Professor of Art History and Director of the Program in Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego. His lecture “Ink as Cultural Identity” draws on his current research in the area of Modern and Contemporary Chinese art and examines the concept of guohua, a term imbued with cultural nationalism, and an important component to Chinese modernization. “Ink as Cultural Identity” examines how the medium has evolved in response to challenges posed by China’s opening to the world in the early 20th century, the subsequent closing and “re-opening” of the country in the 1980s, and its contemporary use as affirmation of cultural identity amongst artists working today. Zaixin Hong is a Professor of Chinese Art History at the University of Puget Sound, where he is an authority on Modern Chinese painting and the global market for Chinese art, and currently completing a book on the subject, “Shaking Hands with the Future: The Transformation of Chinese Painting Through Overseas Collecting.” His lecture, by the same title, focuses on the important, but little studied, half-century long dialogue between Master Painter Huang Binhong (1865-1955) and Western art historians, dealers and collectors. “The Transformation of Chinese Painting Through Overseas Collecting” addresses the role of the global art market in establishing a Modernist Chinese aesthetic, while also developing new markets of international Chinese art collectors.   Arthur Mu-sen Kao is an artist and Professor of Art retired from San Jose State University. His lecture “East Meets West in Brush and Ink” marries his own art practice, for which he is well known to blend traditional and modern styles, with his academic research, where he has taught internationally in the United States, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Concentrating on three areas: the impact of Western realism on Chinese painting, Chinese brushwork and rhythm in Western painting, and ink painting in the current globalized era; “East Meets West in Brush and Ink” examines the mutually shaping influences of Eastern and Western painting. About NanHai Art NanHai Art (est.1986) is a cultural organization and gallery opening in February 2014 that focuses on introducing new audiences to Contemporary masterpieces that reflect the unique aesthetic and cultural values of Chinese art, and which transcend traditional boundaries of East and West. As a division of NanHai Co., Inc., NanHai Art facilitates the tenet of the company’s Mission to share the unique ethics and aesthetics of Chinese art, as a center for the patronage and promotion of Contemporary Chinese artists. Seminar Schedule Ink as Cultural Identity  with Professor Kuiyi Shen November 2, 2013: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM The Transformation of Chinese Painting Through Overseas Collecting  with Professor Zaixin Hong November 9, 2013: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM East Meets West in Brush and Ink  with Professor Arthur Mu-sen Kao November 16, 2013: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM Free registration required here. Location NanHai Art 510 Broadway Suite 301 Millbrae, CA 94030 NanHai Art is a 5 min. walk from the Millbrae BART and Caltrain stations, for drivers take the Millbrae Ave. exit on US-101. Contact Alice Zhang, NanHai Art art@nanhai.com p. 650-259-2100 Media Contact Kathryn McKinney, A&O PR kathryn@aopublic.com p. (415) 734.1323 #fineartmagazine