On 20th December, Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery NZ curator Venerable Abbess Manshin and South Island operator Venerable Jue Xi, led more than 10 Young Adult Division (YAD) member and volunteers from North and South islands to set up the World tour Exhibition in Christchurch art gallery for, After a Thousand Miles – Art creation by Wen Jung Hsu.
After a Thousand Miles – Art creation by Wen Jung Hsu was exhibited in FGY gallery Auckland since August until end of November. To ensure this exhibition is ready for Christchurch art gallery, the Auckland art gallery team have prepack the artworks and ready to transport. Fo Guang Shan (FGS) North Island’s Nick and Hong were assigned to deliver this artworks to Christchurch gallery. They delivery journey took approximately 1,100 kilometres including a 4 hours ferry crossing through Cook Strait between North and South islands. After a straight 26 hours of driving, 40 piece of artworks were arrived safely in Christchurch gallery. The Christchurch art gallery staff were warmly welcomed Nick and Hong, appreciating their perseverance for driving a long journey and complete the delivery mission without fear of arduousness.
All artworks by Wen Jung Hsu are masterpieces, as each artwork’s dimension is huge in size and heavy in weight. The artworks include 9 sculptures, 19 oil paintings and 12 ink paintings. The most challenging piece of artwork is After a Thousand Miles, due to its height in size and detail of construction which needs at least 6 persons to lift and move it to the exhibit position. Other sculptures are made of either stainless steel or bronze and some of their dimension is more than 3 meters height.
While the art gallery’s team are still preparing for the Wen Jung Hsu’s artworks, it had attracted many visitors’ attention in temple. They were amazed at the huge paintings and unique sculpture techniques by the artist. They enquiry about artist’s background and opening date for this exhibition. Among four visitors, Patrick O’Connor, Violet Hogan, Gayel Margaret and Lisa Thomson were pre-tour by Abbess Manshin. They learned that all the artworks had departed from FGY Headquarter in Taiwan and then travelled to different FGY art galleries in Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia and Oceania. They were moved by FGS delivery story and challenges for this world tour exhibition. Abbess urge everyone to cherish this unique art exhibition as it travel half of the world to only arrived in Christchurch gallery.
After a Thousand Miles – Art creation by Wen Jung Hsu World Tour Exhibition will be open to Christchurch public from 9th January to 28th March. The opening ceremony will be commenced on 14th January. This exhibition allow everyone to learn the beauty of oriental art through the Wen Jung Hsu’s unique Artworks. At the same time, it serves to propagate art dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures.