Master Watercolorist Guan Weixing And SECCA's "Alternative Modernisms" On Triad Arts Weekend

Guan Weixing

This week, world class Chinese master watercolorist Guan Weixing returns to the U.S. for the Friday opening of his exhibit of new works at Ambleside Gallery in Greensboro where he's exclusively represented in this country.

Guan was born in Jilin Province in 1940. He entered the Luxum Fine Arts Academy in 1960, and just two years later, he was graduated a master. The level of detail Guan achieves in the watercolor portraits he paints is truly breathtaking, and his work has been favorably compared to that of the legendary American realist painter Andrew Wyeth. Today, as the leading watercolorist in China, Guan's paintings are in the permanent collection of the National Art Museum, Beijing. His most famous painting, “Peasants Viewing the Opera”, 8 years in the making, will be included in the Ambleside exhibition. In it, the rapt facial expressions of dozens of audience members are expertly wrought, the artist inviting you into the amazement of each individual peasant from toddlers to village elders vicariously experiencing the action on stage. Guan is joined by his translator Wang Xiaohang.

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David Ford also spoke to Ambleside Gallery owner Jackson Mayshark who says the association between his Gallery and Guan Weixing began, as so many do, by a chance meeting.

This is just the third time Guan has visited the U.S., so it's a rare opportunity to see an exhibition of works by a living world class master watercolorist. Guan's work will be exhibited at Ambleside in Greensboro from Friday, July 17 through August 22nd.

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SECCA's Alternative Modernisms

The work of Mexico City native and North Carolina-based artist Pedro Lasch has been described as intersecting the international immigrant's movement, and the philosophies of critical pedagogy, radical democracy, and the coloniality of power. Tennessee native and North Carolina-based artist Jeff Whetstone uses photography and video to explore connections between man, nature, and masculinity. The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art brings them both together with contemporary artists Harun Farocki, Leslie Hewitt, and Jumana Manna for the exhibit Alternative Modernisms, exploring history, the South, and historical traditions of painting through the lens of photography and film. Jeff spoke by phone from his home in Tennessee, and he was joined in the studio by Pedro and SECCA curator Cora Fischer.

The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art exhibition Alternative Modernisms continues through August 16^th. It, like all of the amazing exhibits going on at SECCA is free and open to the public.

Morning Edition Host Neal Charnoff joins David Ford and Bethany Chafin on this week's Triad To Do. Neal recommends checking out Bat Boy: The Musical at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro. Bethany reminds you that WFDD's Radio 101 stories begin airing this weekend (Saturday at 8:35am), and David talks jazz and Camel City Jazz Orchestra "Neighborhood Suites."