An artistic autodidact

[Photo/China Daily]

"What's on show is Pan's world of ink art, as well as his world of spirit."

The second part of the exhibition demonstrates Pan's studies of China's modern art history. All the related documentation has been arranged into a 90-meter-long timeline.

Photos: Pan Gongkai's ink paintings on display

"Pan's bold approach in media is what other traditional ink artists can't do. His identity as an educator brings about a great thirst for new knowledge," says Today Art Museum Director Hsieh Su-chen.

The third part of the exhibition displays Pan's two installations. One is a projection featuring a lotus along with English letters falling like snow and was previously exhibited in the Chinese Pavilion of the 54th Venice Biennale, in 2011.

The other is a fancy rocket placed in a dark room that is decorated to simulate the universe.

"I have been a huge fan of technology since I was a child," says Pan, who made his first valve at the age of 9, and a crystal receiver at the age of 11.

His passion and talent for science is reflected in the exhibition's fourth part, which features 16 of his architectural designs.

Pan makes clear he is only an amateur architect and adds that he didn't graduate from secondary school and this makes him the least qualified of higher art educators.

Even so, self-study saw him become director of the China Academy of Art, moving on to his current position as director of Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Pan, however, says life itself is his biggest achievement.

"What you do is somewhat an uncontrollable contingency. But what you can choose is how to do it."

zhangzixuan@chinadaily.com.cn

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