| Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco |
415-986-1822 |
CHINESE CULTURE CENTER HOSTS RENOWN ARTIST SAN FRANCISCO, California, September 19, 2003 The Chinese Culture Center, located on the 3rd floor of the Chinatown Holiday Inn at 750 Kearny Street, in San Francisco, is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition: "Calling for the Ancients: Recent Painting, Poetry and Calligraphy by Lo Ch'ing." Professor Lo Ch'ing will give a lecture about art, life and work entitled "Ways of Eating Watermelon: New Approaches to Chinese Ink-Color Paintings" at a reception co-hosted by the Chinese Culture Center and Society of Asian Art on September 23, 2003 from 6-8 pm. The exhibition of paintings will run until December 13, 2003. Lo Ch'ing is a painter, poet, calligrapher, art writer and scholar of art and literature who is admired throughout the world. Born in China in 1948, he was taught by Pu Ju (1896-1964), a member of the former imperial household and first cousin to the last emperor Pu Yi. With this intensive training, Lo Ch'ing's work is steeped in the great Chinese painting tradition, yet he expands and explores the limits of Chinese art. High-rises, freeways, and even science fiction elements populate his paintings. His calligraphy utilizes new and ancient forms, modern subject matter and even color. "Lo Ch'ing is a living example of how China is able to retain its cultural traditions and still modernize," says Wylie Wong, curator of the Chinese Culture Center. "He uses modern elements that are not seen in Chinese paintings such as palm trees to represent the new Chinese spirit. The palm tree, unlike the pine trees that are customary in Chinese art, can grow anywhere - in the median of roads, on spits of sand in the ocean. And they are resilient. They can grow in difficult, sandy and salty environments and they bend - but not break - when exposed to bad weather. This is the modern Chinese and it is beautifully represented in Lo Ch'ing's masterful works."
"When Lo Ch'ing lectured in Germany, we scheduled a two hour presentation that was open to the general public. At first we thought perhaps this would be too long for lay people, but Lo Ch'ing so engaged this crowd that we had to kick the people out after four hours," said Stefan Hyner, publisher of the international poetry journal Gate and professor of the University of Bo in Norway. "He knows his subject so thoroughly and presents it so dynamically that he is able to draw people from all cultures and backgrounds into the conversation." Lo Ch'ing will be present at the September 23rd reception beginning at 6 pm at the Chinese Culture Center. The formal lecture commences at 7 pm. For more information about the Society for Asian Art, please visit their web site at http://www.societyforasianart.org/. For more information about the Chinese Culture Center, please visit our web site at http://www.c-c-c.org. Color images available on request. For personal interviews, contact: Beth Rogozinski at 415-203-6008 Calling for the Ancients: Recent Painting, Poetry and Calligraphy
by Lo Ch'ing.
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