A total of 32 paintings are on display at the Rui Cunha Foundation (FRC) gallery until Saturday for an exhibition entitled “Essence Unbounded”, with each work showcasing the gongbi technique through different themes.
A careful realist technique in Chinese painting, Wikipedia notes that gongbi (工筆), which means “tidy” in Chinese, uses “highly detailed brushstrokes that delimits details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation”.
A recent statement from the gallery added that the technique, which dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and requires great precision, features drawings with very fine lines to show exaggerated likenesses of objects, while washes of ink and colour are added layer by layer on rice paper or silk.
The exhibition kicked off last week, with the works on display created by 32 members of the Macau Gongbi Painting Association and curated by its president, Li Jinxiang, who is also a member of the Chinese Gongbi Painting Association and the Macau Artist Society.
The gallery is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays. Admission is free. Aside from the exhibition, Demonstration Sessions are also slated to be held tomorrow and on Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
This photo shows some of the “gongbi” works currently on display at the Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery (FRC). – Photo taken yesterday by Rui Pastorin
