Worcester Art Gallery to Display Asian Art Through Western Eyes

Friday, October 26, 2012

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

The traditional Asian artwork of Central Mass' very own Silk Road Art Guild will be exhibited at the Davis Art Gallery in Worcester beginning today (October 26).

The show will continue until January 4. The exhibition, entitled "The Quest for Inner Peace," seeks to show "an exploration of Asian art through Western eyes."

If you choose to take a trip down to the Gallery, you will see the many Asian art forms and styles interpreted and recreated through the perspectives of both Western and Asian artists. One major aspect of the exhibit will be free style and fine line Chinese brush painting, but many multi-media projects showing works of traditional Japanese, Indian, and Chinese culture through Western eyes will also be displayed.

As one can visibly see in the works that will be displayed, Asian Art is very different than the traditional Western Art we are so often exposed to. Often the beauty is in the simplicity of the creation as opposed to the extravagance of it. The title, "The Quest for Inner Peace" is important, as it emphasizes an ideal Asian Art often strives for, to champion the serene over the chaotic.

"I think these artists are trying to introduce Western eyes to the Asian aesthetic that less really is more, " said Karl Cole, the co-curator of the Davis Art Gallery.

He goes on. "I always think that it’s important for Westerners to be exposed to works of art that are apart from the dominant classical western antiquity/Renaissance/Baroque “ideal” that has dominated Western art for so many centuries."

As it says in the Silk Road Art Guild's Mission Statement, the group "has been formed to provide exposure to the art forms of the Middle-eastern and Central, South, and East Asian cultures in the public arena."

"The Art itself is also beautiful in its simplicity and its symbolic nature," says Sharon Smith Viles, the current coordinator of the Silk Road Art Guild. "It emerges out of the human response to the forces of nature and the need to make a response to both its beauty and grandeur."

As their Mission Statement goes on, one of the major ways the group seeks to accomplish their mission of providing exposure to Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Middle Eastern art, is through exhibiting their very own art in the public arena. Their first exhibition was held this past February at the Worcester Public Library.

The 20 artists who make up the young Guild meet monthly to celebrate their love of art, while also producing their very own art and planning on strategies to best accomplish their goals.

The mission and goals of the Guild line up perfectly with those of the Davis Art Gallery, whose mission is also to promote art, and provide awareness and exposure of art in all its forms, especially with the work of artists in the local Worcester Community. Opened in 2006 by Davis Publications, the Gallery offers an outlet and venue for artists to show and promote their artwork.

Both organizations also seek to not only expose, but to educate the public about the art they display.

This unique show is a great way of doing this, and the Gallery is very enthused about it. They hope the exhibit will broaden the Worcester community's artistic horizons.

"I’m excited that such an exhibit has rarely been seen in Worcester and I’m thrilled that people will be able to see works of art in a totally non-western frame-of-reference," said Cole.

"We are presenting this exhibit as an introduction to the public of Central Massachusetts of the art form and it beauty," says Viles
Though, for Viles, there is an internal reward for the artist in addition to the reward received by the viewer. Indeed the artists achieves that same "inner peace" and their quest for that peace is exhibited in the production of their own artistic creations.

"I think all our artists will agree that the process of making this art, which is meditative and relaxing, is a major reason why we do it."
A list of artists on display includes Lynn Andrews, Bayda Asbridge, Gary Andriotakis, Eleanor Beatty, Romina Sarreal Ford, Grace Hoffman, Mary Linda O'Reilly, Richard Ovian, Rashmi Pitre, Helen Seale, Diane Leonard Senge, Sid Solomon, Sharon Smith Viles, and Almut Wirtz.

For information, click here. http://www.davisartgallery.com Or, visit the Silk Road Art Guild Facebook page here. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Silk-Road-Art-Guild/126779154111061