Chinese art up for grabs at BRAG

Art enthusiasts will have a chance to get their hands on unique Chinese folk paintings as Bunbury Regional Art Galleries honours the city’s friendship city relationship through an exhibition.

The Modern Folk Paintings of Xiuzhou, China exhibition will highlight the fruitful relationship between Bunbury and Jiaxing.

The Chinese Consul General in Perth will open the exhibition tomorrow ahead of the Chinese New Year Festival on Saturday.

The artworks have been donated to the gallery from Xiuzhou – a district located in Jiaxing, China – and they will be available to buy.

Proceeds of the sale of the artworks will be used to send a reciprocal exhibition to Xiuzhou.

International relations senior officer Carol McDowell said Xiuzhou residents had been creating colourful folk art for thousands of years and the artistic aesthetic had been passed down from generation to generation.

The district has a rich culture of agriculture and relationship with the waterways and out of this culture grew the folk art of the Xiuzhou Modern Folk Paintings.

“Xiuzhou Folk Paintings show the vibrant life of the rural areas south of the Yangtze River with exaggerated structures, bright colours and dynamic composition,” Ms McDowell said.

“These works exude a strong sense of place and provide an insight into the lives and work of the people who live there and we are honoured to be able to share these works with visitors to BRAG.”

The exhibition will run until February 24.