48 hours in Hangzhou's flourishing arts scene: an insiders' guide
There is inspiration aplenty to be had in the capital of Zhejiang province, where intoxicating beauty and creativity can be found emanating from a pot of ink or a pot of tea
Away from the tourist hordes and Hangzhou's beautiful West Lake and wetlands, the Chinese city has an art scene just waiting to be explored. Olivier Hervet has been director of HDM Gallery's Hangzhou branch since it opened in 2013. HDM is devoted to promoting young Chinese artists working in all media. We asked him and some of his artists for their tips to discovering the city's art and culture - from ancient calligraphy to 3D cinema.
THE ACADEMIC CITY
A two-hour flight from Hong Kong, Hangzhou has always been the cradle of Chinese calligraphy and ink art. It's one of the old dynastic capitals and has been a main trading and cultural post for centuries. When Marco Polo visited in the 13th century it was the largest city on the planet; these days it's China's fourth-largest metropolitan area and home to the China Academy of Art (caa.edu.cn), the country's leading art university, founded in 1928 to help make art replace religion.
Academy of Art student in the Xiangshan campus grounds.
The main entrance of the campus.
HDM Gallery Hangzhou director Olivier Hervet.
"The academy is so important to the city that its president is higher in rank than the mayor," explains Hervet. "It's the real focus for Hangzhou, producing China's best contemporary artists and helping make the city the largest ... centre of art after Beijing."
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MUSEUMS AND STUDIOS
"The beauty of the city is that you can immerse yourself in the traditional arts, but you're also in the birthplace of the country's contemporary art scene," he explains. To understand more about the founding of arts and culture in the city, visit The China National Tea Museum (teamuseum.cn), the China National Silk Museum (chinasilkmuseum.com) and the Zhejiang Provincial Museum (zhejiangmuseum.com) on the West Lake, which has a collection of antiques, calligraphy and paintings from Chinese masters.
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"Hangzhou is mainly a city for producing art and there isn't a big market for selling it, as there is in Beijing. So in terms of buying art here, you have three options," says Hervet. "There are the galleries - I recommend seeing Sanshang Art [sanshang-art.com]; then there are several local auction houses; and then many ink artists sell from their own studios."
