6 July – 30 July 2022
Intercultural Painting brings together three artist-researchers from very different cultures, Shaikha Almehana from Kuwait, Lei Liu from China, and Bogdan Sassu from Romania. All three are reaching the end of their PhD journey, and have throughout used painting to interrogate specific research questions, whilst also striving to create images capable of communicating with audiences who will not necessarily be aware of the ideas that underpin them.
Each of these three bodies of work has an inherent intercultural aspect, in that the artist’s formative culture has been brought into discursive dialogue with the contemporary art scene of the UK, as well as the research culture at the University of Plymouth. The exhibition extends this intercultural aspect by allowing three bodies of work to join a conversation that considers, among other things, the use of painting as a tool of research inquiry.
The paintings of Shaikha Almehama’s re-evaluate the role of the woman in Kuwaiti society by reimagining the domestic realm in terms of Persian miniature painting and Sufi poetry.
Lei Liu’s research considers the ongoing presence of ancient Chinese philosophies in contemporary manifestations of shenshuihua (mountain-water painting), and his work updates this tradition for an era of ecology and environmentalism.
Bogdan Sassu reflects on the art of Communist-era Romania and its relationship to the international postmodernist movement in order to refresh the language of symbolism within contemporary European painting.
Opening times:
Tuesday – Friday 10:00 – 17:00
Saturday and Sunday 12:00 – 17:00
FREE Admission
Tickets HERE.