The Zhou Brothers will celebrate a new show this Friday evening, September 28, at the Zhou B Art Center, and they'll be opening it with typical great fanfare.  To help them with the festivity, the Chicago Sinfonietta will also be taking part.

Li - The River of Souls is an entirely new series of paintings inspired by the Li River in China, where the brothers were born. The brothers describe the river and the area as peaceful and serene - considered as the soul of Guilin. It's been an inspiration to artists for thousands of years.  The brothers have found inspriation in

many sources over the decades of collaborating and working together, but this muse is particularly personal. The abstract landscape paintings that will be on display are smybolic of the river Li and the journey that Shan Zuo and DaHuang have taken together: "The river winds like a green silk ribbon, while the hills are like jade hairpins" - by HanYu (768-824), a famous Chinese poet of Tang Dynasty (618-907)

Special VIP Opening

The exhibition opened last Friday, Septebmer 21, but this weekend visitors are invited to come to the Center for a special reception to witness the Zhou Brothers creating one-of-a-kind art inspired by a live ensemble performance of the Chicago Sinfonietta under the baton of Maestro Mei-Ann Chen. The reception will include delicious food and drinks, and a collaborative live performance of painting inspired by the Sinfonietta's innovative sounds. The genre-bending PROJECT Trio and young percussionists Shuya Gong and Eric Goldberg will join the Sinfonietta on stage for the main performance. This event will raise much-needed support for the Sinfonietta's 25th Anniversary season and education outreach programs.

VIP guests will receive an exclusive gift bag, a certificate for a complimentary Sinfonietta performance, and a signed copy of Maestro Chen's first CD with the orchestra.

Click this link to see the Zhou Brothers' Divergent Minds live painting performance at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, Illinois with Rick Nielsen and Donald Fraser from 2008.

ZHOU BROTHERS

Li - The River of Souls

September 21-October 6

Zhou B Art Center, 1029 W. 35th St. (60609)
Tel 773-523-0200
M-F 10-5; Sa 12-5
zbcenter.org

I visited the Zhou Brothers, DaHuang and Shan Zuo in their massive studio on a Friday morning right after the new year.  The place was buzzing, and people were going to and fro for a reason I did not yet know.  Quietly off on the sidelines were Shan Zuo's son Michael and his wife and new baby daughter, all watching the artist duo calmly while apologizing for the chaos.  I was only too happy to watch the action: photographers were trying manage the mid-morning light while trying out a variety of poses and angles, and the two brothers were trying to put the final touches on a very important commission.  Michael Zhou was about to tell me just who ordered the painting and for whom, but I had to keep the news under wraps until after January 18.  A very special figure had requested a painting from the Zhou Brothers to present to a visiting international leader. President Barack Obama planned to give the art work to the President of China, Hu Jintao, for his upcoming visit to Washington.  The date of my visit was January 7, barely 10 days before the painting was to be presented, and the artists had just received a green light and managed to wrap up a major painting that would be a part of history.

The painting, "Eight U.S. Presidents and the Great Wall" is an original, multi-textural oil painting on canvas, measuring 86” wide x 68” high. On January 18, 2011 the artists unveiled at the White House their most historical painting to President Obama, as a national gift to His Excellency Hu Jintao, the President of China, on the occasion of the state visit to the White House. This painting was the first time in their artistic career where recognizable figures appeared in their art. These figures are a stylistic representation of the eight American presidents who have governed since the opening of China’s relationship with the U.S. by President Nixon in 1972. This rare honor instigated a refocusing of creative interest in their own personal history which triggered the shift in direction in their latest series. The Zhou Brothers were on hand on January 18, 2011 for the gift exchange between the two Presidents. With White House & State Department staff huddled around, the Zhou brothers explained the significance of the painting, what the gift symbolizes, & their passion for & love of America.

These two brothers have worked together for decades, collaborating on monumental works so large they needed a warehouse space to house them.  Their collaborative process is unique, and their artistic range is broad: they create sculptures, paintings, prints, even performances.  They've even created the mega art center at 1029 W. 35th street that we've all been getting to know as Chicago's newest art destination.  The Zhou Brothers have carried both the United States and their native China with them in their work, and the latest show takes cues from the Presidential commission and continues to expand on history.

TIME: Portrait of History
Through June 12, 2011

Zhou B Art Center, 1029 W. 35th St, Chicago

Some photos from the opening on April 22:

Groundbreaking Buddhist Cave Temple Exhibition at The Smart Museum of Art

Deep in the mountains of northern China, the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtang-shan existed as a major cultural achievement of the 6th century Northern Qi dynasty until the early 19th century, when the site was stripped of its sculptures for sale on the international art market. Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago examines the religious and artistic significance of these caves through their ancient objects; it also imagines the site as it once was, using innovative digital reconstructions.

A monumental bodhisattva begins the exhibit on a traditional note; style, iconography, religious context, and the removal of the sculptures from the caves is desc-ribed. Because Xiangtangshan was damaged so extensively, it has been all but impossible to understand the rich and complex artistic achievement of the caves and visualize their original appearance.

The most unique element to the exhibit, is its basis: a multi-year research project involving scanning and digital simulations. In 2004, the University's Center for the Art of East Asia launched "The Xiangtangshan Caves Project: Reconstruction and Recontextualization," an ongoing project to identify, locate, and document dispersed cave carvings. Using sophisticated 3-D equiptment, the project's imaging team photographed and scanned nearly 100 objects from museums and private collections believed to be from Xiangtangshan.

Organized by the Smart Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Echoes of the Past is on view September 30-January 16, 2011, before embarking on a tour to Washington DC, Dallas, and San Diego.

Celebrate the exhibition opening Thursday, September 30, with a performance by members of Kansas City's Spoonbender Orchestra. Free, 5:30pm.