The third part of the exhibition includes a fine collection of Chinese New Year pictures produced in places such as Taohuawu District in Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province, and Yangliuqing Town in Tianjin, which are known for their intricate skills and unique styles.
Apart from tracing back the history of woodblock printmaking, the exhibition also touches upon its application in a contemporary context.
The second part tracks down the exploration of contemporary artists, both young and senior, in increasing the artistic possibility of such an antiquated skill.
In Cai Feng's "Five Hundred Luohan Project," he juxtaposes the luohan figurehead paintings together with the woodblock he uses for each painting.
"In an era where billions of images are being seen and transmitted on WeChat and Twitter, the woodblock printmaking has lost its original function as a means of reproduction. My idea is to go back to the tradition of painting," said Cai.
He paints directly on one woodblock and then transfers the image on to paper. Instead of being accurate, Cai purposely allows in accidental and unexpected occurrences in his art, in order to achieve a certain texture in painting or just to leave traces of "being himself."
For him the woodblock is the stone tablet he has made, and the paintings are the resulting rubbings created from it. Anyone can make their own versions. Not a single version will look alike.
He even plans to invite kids to participate in the future.
Chen Qi, another artist who is showcased in the unit, is assisted by computer technology for making large-sized, delicate printmaking. He has used an astonishing 96 blocks in producing a 335-centimeter-by-780-centimeter art piece of water waves, which according to him meditate on concepts of life and death.
Another highlight of the exhibition lies in its last part. Being part of a grand public art project, "Rubbing Mountains and Printing the Lake" was launched late last year to extend the subject of printmaking from books and paintings to an outdoor landscape.
A team of artists led by curator Ying Jinfei and professors from the Department of Printmaking at the China Academy of Art, spent hours in Wushan Hill, Fenghuang Hill and the West Lake scenic area, trying to make rubbings against the earth, engravings on stones and also bamboo trunks.
An interesting series focuses on the rubbings produced from inscriptions found on bamboo trunks in one of those tourist places, which usually include travelers' names, dates, their wishes for the future or sometimes a vow.
The vandalism, commonly seen in China, attains a sense of monumental significance, when they are consolidated in time by such a historical form of art.
Visitors will also be able to see how the artists make all that possible with a visual reality service available at the museum.
Date: Through March 11 (closed on Mondays)
Address: Zhejiang Art Museum, 138 Nanshan Rd
Admission: Free
