Tu

Zhiwei Art Museum

Shaoguan,

Guangdong Province, China

On

March 2, 2006, the city of Shaoguan, China, formally dedicated the Tu

Zhiwei Art Museum to its 'favorite son' Tu Zhiwei. A gorgeous 6-page heavy-guage slick paper brochure commemorating the event was distributed to all. Inside was a 3-page

fold-out that reproduces one of Tu Zhiwei's magnificent 32-feet

murals depicting an ancient Chinese historical event.

Tu Zhiwei Art Museum - Shaoguan, Guangdong, China

(Named after artist Tu Zhiwei, who grew up in nearby Liu-Li Township)

Inside cover of the Dedication Day Brochure

The Tu

Zhiwei Art Museum occupies two large adjoining galleries off an

interior courtyard inside the new Shaoguan Municipal Arts Museum

building. On dedication day, the entire building was decorated with

colorful bunting, flowers, placards, and two reproductions of

Tu Zhiwei masterpieces. Outside the entrance, dragon dancers

entertained the early morning crowd of several hundred as they gathered

beneath nearby tents set up to shelter the public from a gentle rain

fall.

The Tu Zhiwei Art Museum is located along one side

of the large Cultural Center. The entrance faces a beautiful interior

courtyard. Inside, celebrants can wander the two elegant

galleries,

viewing nearly a hundred Tu paintings and prints from an oeuvre that

stretches over more than four decades of Mr. Tu's creative artistry in

China,

Tibet, and the United States.

Without a doubt, two recently completed large "Body Laguage" murals are the star

features of the museum. Each is stunning. One mural depicts the

well known tragic tale of an entire army betrayed, and buried alive, by

its own cunning but paranoid emperor. The other is based on an

historical tale from China's distant past about a raft capsizing in a

Yellow River flood. Other murals in

the same series depict such

events as the building of the Great Wall, artist Tu's conception of the

tragic death of the concubine Yu, an imagined scene of delight in the

music and dancing known to have been enjoyed by the Buddhists who

occupied the caves at the Silk Road crossroads of Dunhuang, and the

treacherous moment a paranoid emperor turned an army against itself

burried the whole, alive, in the earth.

At first glance, the museum's murals

manifestly are

rendered in a

realistic style with rounded, muscular figures of action reminiscent of

a style favored by American Regionalists like Thomas Hart Benton or the

great

Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. But Tu Zhiwei brings to the task a

unqiue

intelligence and compositional vision. He has rendered

these ancient Chinese tales with such emotion, imagination, and

peerless

technique that the overall composition of the pieces is as

complex and provocative as the best of the abstract

expressionsists.

Seen up close, they are undeniably

powerful realistic creations that vibrate with human emotion the

deepest of feelings. Viewed at

a considerable distance -- which the spacious gallery rooms of the Tu

Zhiwei Art Museum comfortably permit -- the murals take on almost an

abstract quality that underscores the commonality of his human subjects

with the earthly elements around them -- the land, the river, the steep

gorge at the foot of the Great Wall -- as if to underscore the intimate

relationship each has with the other.

Mr. Tu has said he initially set out to create a

series of nine such murals, each depicting a signal event in ancient

Chinese lore. More recently, he has been heard

to muse that he isn't sure he can stop at nine. At least one and

possibly two of the murals may now be in private collections. If,

somehow, all should be reunited one day in a single exhibition surely

it would be a phenomenal event for both the art world and for those who

value Chinese history, mythology, and culture. Perhaps, some day such

an event can be held right here, in the Tu Zhiwei Art Museum in

Shaoguan, China.

Among those attending the museum dedication were

many notables, including government officials, Party Leaders,

educators, and many of China's leading painters, sculptors, writers,

and musicians. Some came from as far away as France, Canada, and the

U.S. Later that day, nearly a hundred of them attended a

sumptous banquet honoring Tu Zhiwei and those who helped make the Tu

Zhiwei Art Museum a reality.

While Mr. Tu felt greatly honored by the city's dedication of an entire art museum to his works, he is not resting on his laurels. In addition to continuing his prolific output of oil paintings and murals, he's also working assiduously toward realizing a lifelong dream of building an independent art institute and school for young people in northern Guangdong Province. The site has been acquired and architectural models of the institute have been constructed. Already, Tu has taken the initiative in organizing touring 'schools' of art for young people, conducted by visiting American artists. Less well known is the considerable effort he continues to devote to the other direction of that international exchange by sponsoring Chinese artists, among them the photographer Wenan Tu, who are eager to share their knowledge and skills with American students and working artists.

Almost single-handedly, Tu Zhiwei ha become an unofficial 'International Cultural Exchange Ambassador' for China and the United States. His wife, Dani, explains,"Mr. Tu has had much personal success. He is very thankful. But for him it is not important to buy fancy cars or a bigger house. He wants to help the poor people, especially the young, to learn about art and maybe they can become good painters or muscians some day. To help make that happen is a better way to live."