世界著名华人美术家代表团俄罗斯之行,是由世界华人美术家环球绘画和平之旅组委会主办,相关国家和地区政府及相关国际机构协办的大型国际文化交流活动,是至今全球华人美术家最大的艺术交流平台,其宗旨是保护人类共同文化遗产,促进国际社会和平发展,加强沟通与理解,增进互助与友谊,奉献爱心与帮助,促进全球华人与国际社会和谐相处。 Five years later I held a solo exhibition in Hong Kong. From more than 60 flower baskets sent to my exhibition on the opening day in celebration, I picked the most beautiful flowers and rearranged them into eight baskets and placed them in front of my mother’s tomb. I slept most soundly that night during my stay in Hong Kong. It was during that stay that I met with UN Refugees Agency officials to make arrangements to move my mother’s ashes to Australia. During my Russian trip, I expressed my wish to the Chinese diplomats and journalists there to find my lost relatives. They briefed me on the general situation about Russia and provided me with helpful clues for further search. The first afternoon we spent in Russia was the only time we had sunshine during the 8-day tour. In the bright sunshine we visited the Red Square and the Kremlin Palace and the Statue of Marshal Zhukov. My heart throbbed when I stepped into Kremlin. I could not help but knelt down and kissed the palace three times. Replying to a question about my three kisses in an interview later, I explained to a Chinese journalist, “In my veins dances the blood of both the great Chinese nation and the great Russian nation. My first kiss was for my mother’s wish; the second was for the everlasting friendship between China and Russia; the third was for myself: at last I saw, touched, and kissed the unfamiliar land that had been haunting me for long.”In Moscow we visited Tretyakov Gallery and met with Russian art masters there. We presented gifts to the gallery. The large collection of masterpieces at the Russian National Art Museum was amazing. Seeing the authentic paintings by Russian masters, I could feel excitement pulsating strongly inside me. I admired and studied their paintings meticulously. Then we visited Surikov Academy of Fine Arts where we were greeted at the gate by the president of Russian Artists Association. We chatted like old friends. The president showed us around on the campus. We admired the academy’s collection of artworks and students’artworks. We also attended a class of figure sketching. After Moscow, we took a train trip to St Petersburg. We visited the State Hermitage Museum which holds the world’s largest collection of artworks. A professor from the Qinghua University described the large collection in these words: It would take one as long as 15 years to view the entire collection at the museum if you spend one minute for one artwork, eight hours a day and seven days a week. The Chinese delegation also visited Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. The Chinese artists and Russian counterparts held an academic seminar at the spacious lecture hall. The attendees traced the art developments in both China and Russia and expressed the best wishes for peaceful development for humanity through art. In the evening, a banquet was held in celebration of the get-together. Learning that I was half Russian, the president of the institute came over and gave me a bear hug. It was worth mentioning that Jiang Shilun, the very first Chinese artist working as an honorary professor at the institute, also attended the banquet. In addition to meeting Russian artists and visiting museums, the delegation did a lot of sightseeing in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. We were deeply impressed by the Russian architecture and scenery. Our 8-day visit was supported and assisted by the Chinese Embassy to Russia. We stayed at the hotel in the embassy. The visiting artists joined hands in creating a painting named A Journey for Peace for the embassy at a good-bye party on the last day of our visit. A crystal artwork of mine was presented as our group’s gift to the embassy. Seeing is believing. The trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg enabled me to experience a fervent art atmosphere in Russia. Even on rainy days, there were many visitors to art museums. They admired exhibits respectfully, moving courteously and never making any unwelcome noise in the museums. When we asked them to give us a hand in taking our group photos, they were most delighted to help. It seemed to me that the nation had bottomed out from a period of hard time and would take off soon. (Translated by David) |