Plains Art Museum will open Melting Lead, Melding Cultures: Recent Paintings by Zhimin Guan on Aug. 9. The museum will host a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Aug. 16 with a gallery talk by the artist, hors d'oeurves, cash bar and music by the Matt Patnode Jazz Quartet. Members and a guest get in free. Nonmember cost is $10. The exhibition was produced by the museum and runs through Oct. 14 in the Jane L. Stern Gallery.
The exhibition features the recent work of local artist and art professor Guan. Guan was born in the town of Bozhou in the Anhui province of China. He was just old enough to experience Chairman Mao's "Cultural Revolution." He was a witness as the Revolution pushed his artist father out of a college teaching position to find work running an art supply store.
Artistic expression was radically curtailed in those years. The young Guan became very interested in Western ideals of aesthetic expression and the freedom to do so. Guan was determined to pursue his artistic vision that would eventually merge Eastern and Western ideals. This exhibition looks at the formative inspirations for Guan's work as well as his approach to abstract and realistic painting.
Plains Art Museum is located at 704 First Ave. N., Fargo. More information is available at (701) 232-3821 or at www.plainsart.org . This exhibition is supported by a grant from The FUNd at the Plains Art Museum Foundation. It is also made possible, in part, by major funding from members of Plains Art Museum, The McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
