Revival of artist village in Chongqing debuts

A new artist village made its debut in the Yuzhong district in Chongqing municipality on Thursday.

The art village in Hualongqiao opened with an art exhibition for young artists at the Jiaxianganshan Art Gallery.

With the theme of "Today to Tomorrow", the exhibition "is a new start for the artist village", said artist Yan Xin, who is the curator of the exhibition.

"We are hoping that the new artist village can be as thriving as the former one."

Hualongqiao is the birthplace of Sichuan printmaking and was a famous artist village back in the 1950s.

"It is a pity that the former artist village did not last long," said Yan. "So we decided to revive the historical site here and make it a gathering place for artists to make art, to communicate with each other and to bring more works to the public."

The exhibition includes over 80 works from 15 "villagers", all young artists between the ages of 25 to 35.

The 31-year-old painter Li Binbin, who is also a Jiaxianganshan Art Gallery staff member, said the exhibition helped her better understand the concept of "artist village".

"The gallery will hold more art activities, such as lectures, salons, even charity activities, in the near future," Li said.

He Jian, a 33-year-old painter whose works are on display at the exhibition, said the artist village is helping a lot of young artists.

"Most of the artists in the village are just graduate students, for whom a good platform to display their works matters a lot."

Yan added that the exhibition meant much more than the works on display.

"It is the village's first public appearance and I do hope the artist village can attract more and more attention from both citizens and artists from around the world," Yan said.