A child artist and her painting. Photo: courtesy of UCCA Kids
An art exhibition that opened in Beijing on Saturday is giving visitors a look into how young children in China see the future of humanity.
With their boundless imaginations, multiple young artists, aged 2 to 9, explore the future promised by scientific research and boldly take adults on a journey into the unknown.
The Cosmic Journey exhibition held by UCCA Kids, part of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art based in Beijing, features 146 selected artworks including paintings and handicrafts from across the country and is divided into four sections: Nature, Animal, Myth and Future City.
Two self-portraits of one of the artists, Youran aged 7, are on display. The paintings were inspired by works of Picasso during his Blue Period and Pink Period.
Youran used a large area of blue and red to express his mood. The paintings are displayed in the Animal section since, as the artist put it, "humans are also animals with variety of emotions. Blue represents sadness and when we are happy, we should turn into other colors."
Six-year-old Diane is taking part in the exhibition for the first time. Her work was inspired by a mythical story about cosmic hunting in Redoubt, a film from Matthew Barney, a US contemporary artist and director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing.
In a tornado-themed work, Li Yuhan, 3 painted a tornado with blood red houses and cars being tossed around and flying through the air.
This is a terrifying disaster in a child's mind. The bold use of red demonstrates the injuries, damage and even deaths that may be caused by a tornado.
The art exhibition also held workshops for children to teach them how to complete an artwork and help them build a connection with the world through art.
"Art education can effectively train children's 'synaesthesia' abilities and improve their imagination and creativity," Jia Liping, an expert on artificial intelligence education said, emphasizing the importance of art education for 2-to-12-year-old children.
The exhibition will end on January 11.
