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- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture 5: The Inner World of Chinese Classical Painting by Dr Richard Wu (Catch up Online)
IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture 5: The Inner World of Chinese Classical Painting by Dr Richard Wu (Catch up Online)
This Art Talk was held on Wednesday 31 July 2024.
Abstract
Chinese classical painting, especially the xieyi (writing mind) genre, has for over a millennium provided physical representation of Chinese philosophies and healing. In this richly illustrated webinar, Dr Wu delves into the introspections embedded within this ancient art form, drawing parallels with western psychotherapy. From examples of historical masterpieces, he elucidates xieyi’s evocative principles, such as “following Nature”, “between like and unlike lies true likeness”, and “brush ends, and mind continues”.
The webinar showcases the in-depth narratives of societal and personal traumas many xieyi masters experienced, and their transformative healing achieved through painting, incorporating Nature’s tangible metaphors and energy-tone.
As a practitioner of Chinese classical ink painting, Dr Wu has over the decades endeavoured to find contemporary expression of xieyi movements of the Song dynasty and Zen art. Drawing from his own paintings, Dr Wu also discusses the challenges of disconnection and alienation individuals now face in the 21st Century, and thus the value of continuity with our art and cultural legacies.
About the Speaker
Dr Richard Wu is a practising psychiatrist in Sydney and a Chinese ink painter. His research interests include the commonalities between principles of Chinese xieyi (writing mind) painting, creativity, and western psychotherapy. Dr Wu has published and presented extensively on this topic at psychotherapy forums including World Congress of Psychotherapy, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and International Federation of Psychotherapists.
He has also presented topics on xieyi painting at international and Australian art forums including the Central Academy of Fine Art, (Beijing), the University of Sydney, the National Art School (Sydney), and Art Gallery of NSW.
Dr Wu is himself an artist of contemporary Chinese ink painting, and his work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at venues including the Art Gallery of NSW (Dobell Prize finalist), Art Asia Expo (Beijing), Art Space 204 (Melbourne), and TWT Art Centre (Sydney).
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- IAC Art Talks Series 3 Lecture 2: Vomit Girl Beyond Diasporic Trauma Dr Mai Nguyễn-Long (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 3 Lecture 1: Australian Performing Arts Managers’ Delegation to China by Carrillo Gantner AC (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture 6 - Articulating Trajectories: Connecting with Chinese Heritage Through Drawing & Listening by Dr Cindy Chen (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture 5: The Inner World of Chinese Classical Painting by Dr Richard Wu (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture Four: Storytelling: Chinese Migrants Through Papercutting by Dr Tianli Zu (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talk Series 2 Lecture Three: Life's Journey in Art & Architecture by Simon Chan AM (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture Two : Rethinking the Chinese Art Curator’s Role: A Case Study in Australia by Yin Cao (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Series 2 Lecture One: The Accidental Collector by Dr Geoff Raby AO (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 7: Chinese Art in Australian Public Collections by Jackie Menzies OAM (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 6: Chinese Modernist Artists and the Literati Spirit: the Life and Work of Lin Fengmian and Sanyu by Dapeng Liu (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 5: The Secret History of Chinoiserie by Chris Chun (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 4: New Export China: Reconciling Surface and Depth in Ah Xian’s Porcelain Busts by Dr Alex Burchmore (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 3: Chance Encounters: Untold Tales of Great Journeys made by some Chinese Paintings found in Australia by Yvett Klein (Catch up Online)
- IAC Art Talks Lecture 2: Half the Sky: Women Artists in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art by Dr Luise Guest (Catch up Online)
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