On Nov. 1, WE"ART100 Suzhou Launch and “WE, Better Off” Art Box Premier Theme Exhibition grandly opened at DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu. Suzhou Municipal Government’s Deputy Secretary General Lu Junxiu, Suzhou Municipal Tourism Administration’s Deputy Director General Xu Weirong, Suzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Film, TV, Press Administration’s Industry Division’s Deputy Head Wang Bin, Gusu District Party Committee’s Deputy Secretary and District Head Xu Gang, Gusu District Standing Committee Member and Publicity Department’s Head Zhu Jianchun, Gusu District Deputy Head Zhou Jianhui, curators of art museums, museums and art galleries in Suzhou, Dutch paper artist Peter Gentenaar, Australian artist Tiger Shen, French contemporary artist Romain Langlois attended the event.
At the unveiling ceremony, Gusu District Party Committee’s Deputy Secretary and District Head Xu Gang, Youyi (Suzhou) Culture & Art Co., Ltd. Board Chairman Zhang Siwei, DoBe Group’s Vice President Li Yanling and artist representatives unveiled WE"ART100 Art Box together.
At the event, DoBe Group and Youyi signed a strategic cooperation agreement and formally formed an art alliance. In future cooperation, Youyi will gather domestic and overseas top artists and artworks, plan more excellent art exhibitions at WE"ART100 Art Box and express WE”, the concept of "WE”in various art forms. The aim of WE"ART100 is to bring together 100 artists in the future to interpret WE” 100% in 100 art forms and 100 art activities. At the beginning of this year, the first "WE"ART100 unveiling ceremony at DoBe WE” International Hub @ Temple of Heaven in Beijing presented the concept of "WE" through the artistic expression of Chinese paintings.
Moreover, Youyi is the only art institution that has the copyright on the surrealist painting master Dali’s works in China. We believe Youyi’s participation will provide DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu, the new cultural and creative landmark in Suzhou, with an endless supply of new artistic vitality. Youyi has ingeniously opened Qu Art Museum in DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu. In the future, it will deliver and display the most cutting-edge cultural and art exhibition information with the international vision as “Suzhou’s Back Garden of Art”.
The entire event was a great try to collide and blend Western art with the ancient city of Suzhou. Apart from the artworks by Chinese, Dutch, Irish, French artists exhibited at the Art Box, Chinese zither performers and disc jockeys were invited to give a live performance. This kind of combination of Chinese and Western art forms perfectly interpreted the classic and the modern, Western and Eastern eclecticism, conveyed the core idea of DoBe Group’s new office park brand WE”that integrates the West & East – international, leading and love.
Talking about the aim of bringing about these artworks from all over the world to Suzhou, Youyi Board Chairman Zhang Siwei said: "the exhibition is designed to introduce outstanding foreign artists and artworks to China, and let domestic art lovers have access to the latest trends in contemporary art. First of all, the reason why we choose this city is that our company is based in Suzhou. It is our principle to provide resources to Suzhou people as a matter of priority. In addition, the artworks in this exhibition also fit Suzhou’s perfect combination of classism and modernism.”
This WE"ART100 Suzhou Launch and “WE, Better Off” Art Box Premier Theme Exhibition introduced he artworks of many domestic and overseas artists of different styles to WE"ART100. Dutch paper artist Peter Gentenaar exhibited 3 works at Art Box Pavilion 2, including the Red Dragons. His artworks use the most common material paper, turn plain paper into organic forms with life, and lead people to feel his design expressions that cross materials and concepts from a new perspective. In his interview, Peter said his works used the natural curls of common paper to express the idea that “man is inseparable from nature”. This is consistent with the idea that “man is an integral part of nature" emphasized by WE"ART100 all the time. Eastern and Western, ancient and modern civilizations crossed time and met here. At the same time, the Irish artist Linda Brunker, with her exploration of nature and the spiritual world, exhibited her work "Messenger". Her works usually express the most primitive nature through natural shapes and textures, such as leaves, bark, feathers, shells, seaweed, butterflies, flying birds, starfish and so on. In addition, there were Bulgarian genius artist Jivko Sedlarski’s art simplification and deconstruction. He integrated iron, steel, stone and such elements irrelevant to top fashion, engraved skirts on rigid materials, making his works have a kind of direct but un-sharp penetration.
△ Some exhibits
Decorated by these international top artworks, DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu with a garden structure got some stylish creative elements. DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu has brought a new style of culture and creation to Suzhou. DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu, this cultural and creative industry park next to the Humble Administrator's Garden, will be oriented to cultural and creative industries and bring together the most powerful and energetic cultural and creative companies in Suzhou. From the master plan to every detail, the cultural deposits of this ancient city are fully integrated and reflected. DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu combines the new office ecology with the Suzhou garden structure, which perfectly interprets "WE”. From just arriving in the Suzhou market to gathering artists from all over the world to voice ideas by art, DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu and Youyi co-created another new WE, brought about an art realm from Suzhou’s profound history, spread culture and art in Suzhou, a garden city well-known for “Up in heaven there is a paradise. Down on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.”
△ One corner of DoBe WE”International Hub @ Gusu