China's presence in Malaga strengthens with new exhibition at Jorge Rando Museum

A few years ago, the slogan 'Be water, my friend' – popularised by Bruce Lee in an advertising campaign – became well-known. The iconic actor adapted the Taoist culture of adapting to change, as water shapes itself to the path it follows. This same Eastern philosophy is at the heart of the new exhibition at the Jorge Rando Museum, Fluyendo Naturalmente (flowing naturally), a collective show featuring 18 Chinese artists. It explores the encounter between East and West as a space for mutual understanding through art. This exhibition also reinforces the arrival of Chinese art in Malaga, where works by Chen Chunmu can also be seen at the Casa Natal and the Russian Museum.

"This exhibition brings Taoist philosophy into the present, in such a way that the artists remove boundaries to reveal the contemporary art of China," said Vanesa Diez, Director of the Rando Museum, at the exhibition's inauguration.

This exhibition delves into the exploration of art from the East, a mission that the museum has pioneered in Malaga over recent years. This artistic bridge was also highlighted by Yang Changing, Director of the Chinese Culture Centre in Madrid, which co-organised this exhibition. Previously shown in the Spanish capital, it draws inspiration from "one of the great legacies of Chinese thought, Taoism," through a "multidisciplinary exhibition that begins with ancestral traditions and reaches avant-garde expressions of the evolving Chinese soul."

Fluyendo Naturalmente reflects on Eastern philosophical traditions that, at their core, are universal themes, transcending geographic and cultural boundaries. These distances have also seemingly narrowed thanks to the digital world and the internet, although this has sometimes resulted in a diminished quality of contact. "Human beings yearn for true communication, and the language of art allows the heart to open and create new cultures through integration. This flowing nature, which the exhibition references, is something we can share together," advocated Zeng Wei, professor at the School of Art and Media at Beijing Normal University and one of the artists featured in the Jorge Rando Museum galleries.

Wei's work, in particular, starts from recognisable Chinese calligraphy on rice paper and evolves into large format, where the characters begin to merge with anthropomorphic shapes resembling human beings. "I wanted to reflect this tradition, where calligraphy and painting are one. But as a contemporary artist, it is not just a homage to our tradition – it also includes my own questions about today's society and the challenges we face in the digital age, where distances seem closer but also divide us," the artist explained.

Abstract, conceptual, landscape, and boldly avant-garde art come together in this group exhibition, which includes over twenty works including paintings, drawings and sculpture themed around nature.

Zahn Congyun uses Western landscape painting forms to express Eastern philosophical ideas, Sally Huang Wong integrates the flora and fauna of China and Latin America with her Rain Songs, while Zhou Song explores the threats of the age of artificial intelligence from a compelling visual perspective that recalls European surrealism, particularly Dalí. These works, as the organisers explained, speak to our present, opening pathways from one side of the world to the other.

The show will run until 7 January 2025.