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The Spori Art Gallery at Brigham Young
University-Idaho will feature the exhibit “Art from Mao’s China”
throughout the month of February. The exhibit will provide a
glimpse into the Cultural Revolution period of China and will
officially open to the public on February 3.
The gallery will feature 55 original pieces of art that span
from 1955 to 1983. The art pieces include oils on canvas, oils
on paper, woodblock on paper, and watercolors on paper.
A symposium with Eric Hyer, associate professor in the
Department of Political Science at Brigham Young University, and
Dodge Billingsley, founder of Combat Films and Research, will be
held on Friday, February 3 at 5 p.m. in Room 35 of the Spori
Building.
The symposium will also include a screening of the documentary
film “From the Masses to the Masses: Art from Mao’s China.” The
film details the history of the Cultural Revolution of China
through the experience of artist Jin Zhilin. An opening
reception will follow from 6:30-9 p.m. in the Spori Gallery. The
symposium, film screening, and art exhibit are open to the
public.
The 60-minute film is a biographical account of the artists and
also addresses the political and cultural history of Communist
China. The documentary covers China’s “social realism” and the
development of the artistic style “revolutionary romanticism”
during the Cultural Revolution.
The producer and script writer, Eric Hyer, traveled to Korea in
June 2004 as part of the Asian Studies Curriculum Development
and has also traveled extensively throughout China and Tibet. He
has produced two documentaries filmed in China, including “From
the Masses to the Masses: Art in Mao’s China.” Hyer will lecture
on Chinese art and politics during the symposium.
The director of the film, Dodge Billingsley, is a historian,
filmmaker, and art collector who recently co-founded the
documentary series “Beyond the Border,” covering global events
with an emphasis on culture in conflict. The documentary “From
the Masses to the Masses: Art in Mao’s China,” one film in the
series, focuses on China’s Cultural Revolution. Billingsley will
lecture on the making of the documentary.
The symposium and exhibit are supported in part by a grant from
the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based Program of the
National Endowment for the Humanities. The Utah Humanities
Council provided additional funding for research, Chinese
translations, and the description placards.
The exhibit runs through February 28 and is open to the public
from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tours and special
arrangements can be made by calling the BYU-Idaho Art Department
office at 496-2860. For more information about the exhibit, call
Scott Galer at 496-1521. |