Belt and Road

1/09/2017 - 15/10/2017

The National Gallery and the Guanlan Printmaking Museum present the printmaking exhibition with the title ‘Belt and Road’. This is the name of one of the largest projects in the modern history of China. It adds new meaning to the ancient Silk Road in the country’s relations with the other states along the route.

Printmaking is the quintessence of Chinese culture, characterised by its unique development and distinctive style. Under the ‘Win-win Cooperation / Belt and Road Initiative’, the Original Printmaking Base in Guanlan, China, invites prominent local artists and creators from the countries along the Belt and Road with the aim of promoting cultural exchange. The Original Printmaking Base is a centre for graphic art creation, printing, exhibiting, collecting, education and research.

The exhibition presents a selection of over 100 artworks created in the past year at the Guanlan Printmaking Base by artists from China, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Russia, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thailand, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Indonesia, India, Bahrain, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Mongolia. The exposition tracks the processes and trends in the sphere of contemporary graphics and the diversity of graphic techniques such as lithography, etching, dry point, aquatint, and serigraphy – each with its peculiarities and specific devices. With a distinct sense of searching for a new plastic style and expressivity, the artists demonstrate the never-ending possibilities of this art, in which various themes and subjects, emotions and states intertwine.

Dr Boryana Valchanova