Russian-Chinese art exhibition Colors of Friendship opens in Hainan

HAIKOU /China/, August 22. /TASS/. A Russian-Chinese art exhibition, titled Colors of Friendship, opened in south China’s province of Hainan on Saturday. This is one of the largest joint art events between China and Russia in the island’s history, the Hainan International Media Center (HIMC) said. According to it, the exhibition, being hosted by the Asian Watercolor Art Museum in Haikou, the region’s capital city, runs through August 28. The project was organized by the Hainan International Cultural Exchange Center with the aim of promoting cultural-humanitarian cooperation between China and Russia in line with the Belt and Road Initiative. The exhibition marks the 30th anniversary of the Chinese-Russian strategic partnership alongside the 25th anniversary of the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between China and Russia as it also reflects the agenda of the official cross years of education (2026-2027) between the two countries, the HIMC said. The exhibition gives a “unique insight” into modern art of Russia and China, the HIMC added. The project that brings together 16 artists highlights the authentic materiality of painting, the art of visual narration and the phenomenology of light. In it, the academic tradition “adapts to acquire a new meaning in realities of the 21st century.” The Russian segment of the exposition represents “a curator-led, well-thought journey across the vast scope of today’s oil painting,” the HIMC noted. The exposition opens with works by Yury Krotov who follows the tradition of Russian impressionists. It also showcases paintings by Igor Semenikhin and Albert Tsamaladze whose high relief painting technique “molds into form, bringing the paintings out into the space of the exhibition.” And works by Viktor Zinovkin introduce visitors to a blend of a stringent academic tradition and bold decorative innovation. Paintings by Dmitry Lyovin depict the harmony of landscape painting, creating an intellectual counterbalance to intimate works by Alexander Dudin. Works by Ivan Skorobogatov, whose impressionist skills “give the exhibition space a powerful kinetic impulse, drawing a logical line under the curator-led journey from light to texture and back,” “play a closing major accord.” The Chinese segment of the exhibition presents nine famous artists from Hainan, including Zhou Shaoling, Zhang Jianxiu, Lin Guohua, Zhang Zhigang, Wang Xinqi, Wang Yongping, Fu Qiang, Lin Xiangdong, and Zhang Wenbi. Their art is deeply intertwined with the China’s southernmost province, picturing coconut palms, seascapes, cliffs, and the cultural heritage of old villages. Given realities of the Hainan Free Trade Port, these artists, the HIMC noted, are in pursuit of “a new artistic language to convey the spirit of the island.” In their paintings, the peculiarities of the region blend with the spirit of the times as they demonstrate the special artistic energy of the Hainan school of painting. According to the organizers, the Colors of Friendship exhibition not only represents a venue for intercultural dialogue but also provides a rare opportunity to come in contact with the skill of Chinese and Russian art of oil painting. They invite everybody to “maintain a slow and meaningful conversation with art which gives a bold glimpse of the future while staying true to tradition.”