Qi Baishi Exhibit

This was an interesting exhibit. It was interesting because I wasn't expecting much from this exhibit. I had no idea who this artist was and visiting this exhibit was just a side quest, because I was mainly here in the museum because of the Moomin exhibit. To my surprise this exhibit was fairly interesting. 

The artist was being advertised as the Picasso of China, and any bold statement like that would perk the fancy of anyone who is interested in art. Being compared to one of the worlds most established contemporary artist automatically puts anyone in the spotlight. To be honest I was not sold with their pitch but I thought to myself 'What the hell, why not!' 

The moment I entered the exhibit there were many Chinese ink drawings/paintings. I am not the biggest fan of traditional art in general so I was starting to regret my decision for paying for this exhibit. There was a certain charm to some of his ink paintings where it had an illustrative quality to it but it wasn't enough to keep my interest level at a good place. However, the exhibit does an excellent job of directing the viewer to the next hall where you are suddenly shoved into a contemporary art space. My senses were kind of confused, but at the same time my interest level and respect towards the artist shot up into outer space. I was immediately able to understand the Picasso comparison and I was genuinely surprised at the sudden shift in the artistic perspective, medium and presentation. 

At the end of the exhibit I had come to realize that Qi Baishi is a great artist. He is a very talented artist that I know very little about, but I wish I had know more about.