界 JIE (Border): Exhibition of Printmaking by Paul Croft and Professor Lu Yu

界 JIE (Border) Exhibition of Printmaking by Paul Croft and Professor Lu Yu
26 May 2014 - 7 June 2014

This exhibition of printmaking by Paul Croft from the School of Art, Aberystwyth and Professor Lu Yu from The Department of Art and Architecture at Changsha Central South University was held at The Changsha Houhu International Art Park, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.

The exhibition occurred as a direct consequence of the earlier retrospective: Fifty: Fifty 30 Years of Drawings and Prints by Paul Croft RE TMP - which showed at MOMA Wales, Machynlleth (12.11.12 - 12.01.13). Catalogues from this show were sent to contacts in both Shenzhen and in Changsha - and this exhibition plus a number of associated events and projects ensued. 

The exhibition was organised by The Printmaking Committee of The Hunan Arts Association, in collaboration with Central South University and Changsha Normal University. The show gained considerable attention from local press and media and had a considerable impact in Changsha. As a result a series of further projects, exhibitions and exchanges are being planned for 2015-2020.

Comprising of 33 lithographs by Paul Croft and a similar number of woodcuts by Professor Lu Yu, the exhibition 'Jie' or 'Border' provided an opportunity for the comparison of media - lithography and woodcut and a reflection upon work by two quite different artists, from Eastern and Western perspectives. 

The lithographs by Paul Croft featured in the show were completed 2006 – 2011 and included key images from two series: Alphabets and Les Amulets à Musée. The prints demonstrate development of visual language, inspired in part - by Croft's on-going fascination for the object in its many varying manifestations: from humble still life, found object, flotsam and jetsam to the museum artifact; and also by his lifelong interest in the archaeological and etymological origin of letter forms, alphabets and lexicons.

An accompanying 72-page catalogue was published by Oriental Arts Observation, edited by Professor Lu Yu,  Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2014.03 
ISBN978-7-5487-0472-0 

The exhibition coincided with The First International Exhibition of Prints by Young Artists, 2014 an exchange exhibition of prints by international students from China, UK and USA hosted by Changsha Normal University. For this Paul Croft acted as the UK curator and work by 13 students from Aberystwyth was selected for the show.

The students from the School of Art, Aberystwyth included: Stuart Evans, Rosemary Fahimi, Elysia Wommersley, Carly Evans, Sarah Poland, Natasha Wilson, Ruth Jen Evans, Sam Lazkani, Tom Voyce, Amie Haslen, Gwen Bramley, Ben Partridge, Holly Whittaker