Culture Beat: Exhibition of water art reflects memories of Spanish artist Corbella

Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, Domènec Corbella, a Spanish artist and lifelong honorary professor at the University of Barcelona, is holding a large-scale solo exhibition The Way of Water at the Art Museum of the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication.  

The 1,000-square-meter exhibition hall displays a total of 71 works by the artist themed on the sea.

In the exhibition, Corbella uses the diverse oceans as a prototype to reproduce the different shapes and states of seawater. 

His paintings do not come from sketching, but from an artist's perception of Eastern philosophy, and his precise and intentional combination experiments involving water, ink and pigments.

Ancient people from both the East and the West regarded water as a constituent element of the world and as-signed it cultural significance. 

Corbella's understanding of water is reflected in his paintings. He has set foot on the coast of the Mediterranean, floated on the surface of the Dead Sea, observed the microwaves of the West Lake in Hangzhou and looked at the huge waves of the Atlantic Ocean. 

In his exhibition, audiences can find traces of these bodies of water and his memories of them.