The Bogside Artists Enjoy Success China

The Bogside Artists of Derry N.Ireland return from Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen with a population of 19 million is one of the most progressive cities in China. Their mural was a great hit with the organizers of the Dafen Museum mural art project that will be a prominent feature of China's Expo 2010 to he held in Shanghai at the end of the year. End Quote

"The artist is not a special type of human being but every human being is a special type of artist."

Chicago, IL (1888PressRelease) September 02, 2010 - The Bogside Artists of Derry have just returned from Shenzhen where they painted a mural for the Dafen Museum. They were among twelve artists from all over the world to have participated in painting nine murals on the walls of the museum situated in Dafen Village, a place given over entirely to the art of painting and the only place of its kind in the world. The Bogside Artists were the only artists to have been invited from Ireland and were given the enormous priviliege of speaking for all the international artists during the closing ceremony. Their mural showing the transition of old China to a new modern China won the praise of organizers, fellow artists and public alike.

Tom Kelly spokesman for the Bogside Artists delivered the speech which is here reprocuced below

"Ananda Coomaraswamy, the famous Indian scholar, summed up our approach to art in a few words. He said; "The artist is not a special type of human being but every human being is a special type of artist." Contemporary art, and particularly contemporary public art, has become a kind of show business that can be traced back to that egocentric showman Salvador Dali. Our work, in a sense, takes issue with that notion as we deal with the real world and our perceptions of it. That is why there are no airs or graces about us or our work. In the West you can attain fame by doing nothing and many people like Paris Hilton do just that. They go on then to become spokespersons for various commodities from perfume to watches, shirts to shoes. The day is not far off when a celebrated muralist (or graffiti artist) is called upon to sell cans of paint or brands of scaffolding on bill boards of the kind you see in airports. We can assure you we will not be among them as we stand for the sanctity of our craft and its enormous importance in conveying and preserving the human creative spirit without which we are no more than beasts.

I am sure we speak for all the artists involved when we say that this project at Dafen has pioneered a form of art festival that may well have set a standard for the rest of the world. It gives us humble painters the respect and regard we find so scarce in the West. That says a great deal for China, her culture, her people and her profound awareness of being human beings first and Chinese second. That is how it should be elsewhere in the world.

The organizers of this remarkable festival of art which we see as homage to Dafen village here in Shenzhen have given us an opportunity to address a simple brief to state what we think and feel about Shenzhen and its people. We are thankful indeed to all who work at Urbanus for this opportunity. Thanks especially to Karen who has been a wonderful helper and hostess and to Jeffery Zhang whose tolerance and patience under fire have been simply amazing. We hope they go on to manage further festivals of this nature. Last, but not least our warmest thanks to all the Chinese artists we have worked with, to Bruce and Long Beard, Lei Lei and others, to the girls who brought us coffee and Vicki our interpreter and to Jiamin especially for his insights into another China we have yet to see. It has been a wonderful experience for us all."

The Bogside Artists next venue is Chicago this November.

http://www.bogsidemurals.net

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