Show of woodcuts
When he was young, artist Huang Yongyu made a backpack out of canvas to carry his woodcuts, tools for making prints, books and a heavy whetstone, making him a subject of ridicule among acquaintances. He once recalled that during wartime when he heard gunshots, he grabbed the backpack and ran for his life. "I have never parted with the tools. They are like my bones, documenting part of my history." Carved Into Wood, an exhibition now on at Suzhou Museum until July 24, reviews Huang's woodcuts, through which people can see the artist's rich life journey. Prints on show are dated as early as 1946 and throughout the early 1990s when he started to invest more time and energy on ink paintings. The exhibition also shows the cultural elements of Huang's native Hunan province and the ethnic arts that inspired him. Huang's works display a mix of modernity and "an aroma of the soil", underneath which appears an artist whose intelligence resounds with generations of his audience.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.204 Dongbei Jie, Suzhou, Jiangsu province. 0512-6757-5666.
