 Think Tech Hawaii. Civil engagement lives here. Aloha. Welcome to Understand China on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm your host, Xiaofang Zhou Norris. Our show today is called Art and Artists in China Today, and we're going to talk about a Beijing gallery owner and a Hawaii art gallery owner and talk about a new exhibit in Hale'iwa. This program answers the following questions and more. What is the artist's connection in the perception of individual artists between America and China? How do American and international collectors view quality art? What are the parallels and the differences in their aesthetics? What can Americans learn about the inner Chinese experience from the art produced by their best young people? And how can they put that knowledge to use in business and the daily lives? I'd like to welcome our guest today, George Akinz. Long time no see. Welcome to our show. We must have met 20 years, almost at least 20 years ago. And how are you doing? Well, my life is an art gallery, and I live in Hawaii. Yes. Any other questions? Yes. So, as I know, you've been running art gallery for over 20-something years. Can you talk a little bit about your art gallery? Sure. So, Hale'iwa Art Gallery, I founded it 22 years ago. With two mission statements, one was to show Hawaii-based fine artists in original works, and the other was diversity, so that everyone who walks into the gallery can find something that touches them inside. Art is the visual expression of the human experience. No two humans have the same experience, so diversity is art. And we were chosen and honored to host this selection from the wonderful Chinese artists because of our focus on real art, fine arts, and also our indelible connection to Asia and the Americas. Our artists are almost split from Asia and America in terms of their cultural heritage, and that comes through in their work. So, that was one of the reasons that I think that I believe Hale'iwa Art Gallery was chosen to host the Benevolence Collection, which came from the United Nations International Peace Day on September 21st. So, it's a great honor for our gallery to host this collection and to show the diversity of artists in China and how they all came together to present these works in their own way. So, it is amazing when I walk into your art gallery, you have a glasswork, you have, you know, the Vietnam silk border, it's so beautiful and the local artists, and there's, it's like a little itself, it's like a little United Nations, right? So, talk about a little bit about the recent, you know, the collections you have, you know, the art pieces from the, so the collection, the Benevolence Collection is 23 pieces of art from six artists who mostly came together in Beijing under the tutelage and great guidance of Ms. Chao, and she herded the cats and got, and so they had the message of international peace and the hope for it, and so all of these artists came together and produced this incredible collection of diversity, of feeling about what the war had brought, what is happening after the peacefulness that comes with the peaceful world, the prayers for peace, and so they each drew from their own spirit and their own soul to create this collection from how they felt about the hope for world peace. So, it's very appealing that when we show at the United Nations, we draw a lot of attention and it's very emotional, actually, and we're going to take a short break and we're going to bring our Chinese, you know, the great lady behind all of these artworks, and I really like to, you know, for people to understand how these all come together. You know, you're from Hawaii local guy and a running art gallery for over 22 years, and we have a Chinese that never been to Hawaii, and all these artists, when they first got here, they feel, of course, the warmth of Aloha, and as an artist, you know, they see Americans through the art and through the best of the best of American, because arts, I think, is a universal, right? You don't need a language to- And sense politics and nations. Yes. Okay, so, let's take a break and we'll get back. Aloha. Aloha and Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii with Think Tech Hawaii. We come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, Mabuhay and Aloha. Hey, Aloha. My name is Andrew Lening. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii, airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because security matters. Aloha. Welcome back and you are at the Think Tech Hawaii Understanding China show. So I'd like to bring our next guest from China and her name is Gao Chao. She owns an art gallery called Benevolent. So let's, it's Gao Chao on the line. Can you hear us? Hello Gao Chao, you have the show. Yeah, clearly. Aloha. Aloha everyone. Yeah, welcome to the Think Tech show. You know, you were just here a few weeks ago and we did the show at the United Nation. You brought all the young artists from China and we had another show in Honolulu, Hawaii. Tell us about a little bit about your background and the art gallery. Thank you so much Ruby. First of all, I would like to thank both you and your husband Michael and as well and thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for us, for our delegation. And also thank you so much for introducing us to the dear George, Mr. Dear Arkin and for helping us introduce our artist work to his gallery. Thank you so much. And myself, I was involved in international relation business for more than 35 years. And this is the first time for me to raise private business art gallery for myself. I decided to quit my professional career as a consultant to this international relationship. And it was my greatest honor to deal with those artists. Actually, first of all, my first passion of getting involved is business so simple because my husband was one of these artists. It's for a simple reason. And then I think I'm getting, I'm coming to be indulged myself into this such wonderful business, which can bond the people from the different backgrounds and from different parts of the world together in one single purpose of beauty, the beauty of our life and beauty of every single piece on this globe. So I think, well, thank you. Yeah, thank you for your introduction. Well, George, our dear friend is right here. And why don't you two talk about the pieces? We have a special two pieces we brought to the studio. And George and Gao Chao, maybe you guys talk a little bit about how do you feel? Why this is so important to you? And what does that mean for your own interpretation of the artwork? Say hello to Gao Chao. Hello, Gao Chao. Aloha. So nice to speak with you again. And thank you for bringing, for bringing your wonderful artists, all of whom we had time to sit and talk with about their art and get deeply into the pieces. And it was such an amazing pleasure to meet you and all of the artists and have this great honor you've given us to host this collection. Thank you. It also is our greatest honor to get to know you people and get to know your gallery. And it was such a amazing and a wonderful experience for all of us this last time, I mean, three weeks ago. Thank you. So we really connected with the arts, you know, you from America and Gao Chao is from China. Talk about the pieces for the love, the two pieces that you recently... We could bring up the two images, yes. So Quiet Night After the War is just a beautiful piece. The artist actually told me that I asked him for his inspiration on the piece and he said, I dreamt this piece, which is somewhat typical for artists, not necessarily in their sleep, but the feeling just comes out from them, which is the best part of an artist is when they paint from their spirit and their soul. So this piece, which is called A Quiet Night After the War, depicts in the foreground, of course, after the war, the new birth and looking forward to a life without war. And the stork, of course, bringing the new baby. So with the foreground, but the stork, you can see, has been wounded by the war, but still wants peace and brings it to the world. And then in the background of the piece, we're seeing a village, beautiful village, and way off in the distance, we can maybe see some still vestiges of the war in the orange haze behind the mountain. And then the house upside down, he explained to me, is the disruption of families in the war. And it's just a beautiful piece and very well done in composition and artistic quality. So Gao Chao, can you share with us in your view on this special painting, The Quiet Night? Yes. And the artist himself, Mr. Wu, and he was born in the year of 1990. So he was totally a young artist, and he just finished his education from the university. And he was a farmer's son, and he raised buffaloes and raised goose while he was up to everyday school. And he finished high school education, get through this university. And you know, in China in the year, each year, as our students are finishing high school education, and the percentage to get to the university to get higher education of art is pretty low, about only about 20% of those, our students could be able to get a higher education. So obviously this young artist, he's talented, and he was selected actually from over 80 young artists that way, our gallery assigned consciously. And when he was finished, finishing this piece of work, actually I was face talking with him about his idea. And he didn't realize that a crane, there was an old thing as well in the far east and the middle east. And there was a similar thing that a mother crane can bring the baby to the world. And the artist to choose this crane is only because he raised a crane when he was about a teenager at his father's rice field, water rice field. And then the crane up to the wound was, it's a wounded, it's a wounded crane. And he raised it for like two months and he let it just let it go. He had a very dear, dear feeling about the crane. And the one, I was talking, I told him that was a similar saying that a crane bring a baby to the world. And he was so shocked. And then he told me that, okay, I'm going to get to know, I'm going to learn more about this crane, about this international history stuff when I was in the long term on the way when I'm pursuing my business career. This is such an amazing knowledge that you let me know. And another point of this painting, which, which give me a hot, very strong feeling is about the moon. The moon in the background, actually not like a full moon in China is always a single of a unification, a unified of a family. Actually, it's a kind of a good sign. So we always celebrate a full moon, a moon festival, when the family is gathering. So to this young artist, this painting, it's really meaningful, wounded city, city sign behind the crane. It might be a town, it might be a town that just finished the war, or it was only a time it was only a one night by night during the war. Right. And a crane was always a single. And a baby was always a single of peaceful and quiet future. And the baby always was not the future. Thank you, Godchild. That's a beautiful. So we understand the painting behind it, the feelings and emotional, the meanings. I like to talk about the next painting, the break wall. When I first saw this one, I didn't, I thought was a global as a map. But when you look at it closer, you see the little people are painting, painting the wall. And there's so many breaks and the painting above the breaks. So, George, I'd like to ask you what's your first impression on that painting? So, certainly a timely piece in the world today. But, you know, it was immediately clear to me that the painter was trying to express this feeling that if the world is open and not have any kind of barriers, that that is the most peaceful feeling that everyone in the world could have. And so they were, they couldn't stand the wall separating all of us, walls of mental walls as well as physical walls and, you know, government walls. And so he was trying to say, give us the whole world, open the whole world. And it's just, it's just a very meaningful and heartfelt piece. And the work that went into it is artistically perfect. Just a quick aside, I had a gentleman in the gallery the other day from Ghana. And he said, oh, the guy, he's painting Ghana. That's where I'm from. He was thrilled. He's painting the world. I love that, what you're saying is, yeah, that's beautiful. So, I'd like to ask Gao Chao about this painting. What is really behind the artist, the view, their feelings, and how you interpret it? Okay, this artist's name is Mr. Moore General. Mr. Moore was born in the year of 1970s. So he's about 40 years old. And he's back in his earlier career. He was a journalist. He was a porter and he was an editor, working with CCTV. And then he quit his job, get back to his original major of this oil painting. And he's pretty knowledgeable. He's interested in history. And he's very knowledgeable with, well, those liberal arts. And when he was creating this painting, he paints the world first. And as he described, he was pretty shocked when he was a teenager that this eastern Berlin wall was knocked down. And then he had this world map painted on. And what he wants is to either use the paint to cover the wall, or either to break the wall, a wall between east and west, a wall between those different types that which don't understand each other and to knock down all those conflicts. And to express his strong feeling of his understanding of what peace is. Yeah, you know, George, this is such an emotional piece. I think this makes you thinking the war, the time from our ancestor, what they've been through. And when we were born in the generation, you probably went through or see the war, or at least our parents. So it is emotional. And timeless, timeless peace. Yes. And when you see that, the people, you know, craving peace and carry that burden, you know, as a war when we were, you know, Berlin War is there when we were born, right? So now is a time for the unity and people get together. This is beautiful. I'd like to, you know, I know recently, congratulations, you sold two pieces. We did sell two pieces. Yeah, I'd like to, you know, talk about the two pieces you sold. The first one is titled, Love. So the first piece, which is almost a keystone piece to the collection, if there's such a thing. And it depicts a soldier walking along on his patrol and a Muslim woman walking the other way, paying no attention to him or trying not to pay attention. And he's looking a little bit sideways at her. And so it starts out evoking this feeling of, you know, disparity that we see in the world so much today. But then, as your eyes gaze to the left, you start to realize there's a shadow on the wall. And it shows the two of them almost in a love embrace. And the message to me that I felt from the piece was that when light shines through humanity, it throws a shadow of love. And the dog gets it. And I think it's just an amazing piece. And the people who acquired it was a very young couple, very knowledgeable in art, but just starting out in life. And they fell so much in love with this piece, they were literally dancing around the gallery when they realized they could acquire this piece. Oh, that's beautiful. I know this artist is Gao Chao's beloved husband and the same painting, The Break the Wall. So his name is Mo Zheng Long, a young gentleman. And it's amazing when we did exhibition at UN people drawn in that painting. I love it. I love it. So I'm so happy. Congratulations. And a congratulations to Gao Chao and then her husband. So tell about the next. So the other piece called Peaceful Hu Tong is a wonderful, quiet little back street in Beijing. And that's one of the many messages in this collection was just something to give you a peaceful feeling. And the piece certainly does that. You just want to walk down that alley and forget about everything. And so the other couple who bought that, or Father Long and Life, had traveled all over the world. And they relayed to me that what it meant to them was whenever they were in a big city, whether it was Beijing or or any big city, they always tried to get away from everything and find one of these perfect, quiet little back streets. And it would just make everything melt away to them. And that just drew them. And as I said before, art is the visual expression of the human experience. So that's the experience they saw in this piece. And that's what they really wanted. And they just acquired it and then sent me pictures of it after it's hung on the wall there. So both of the couples who acquired these two pieces are so proud of them, and will be for the rest of their lives. Yeah. And I really want to connect and bring Gao Chao to the about this Beijing Hu Tong, you know, I'm from Beijing. So I seen them all the time, but you're passing by and you don't really, you know, have that connection because you live there. But now China is growing. And it's this scene is, it's very rare. There still exists, but you don't really see, especially for Westerners. If you don't research or if you don't wandering around and write a bicycle to go to that small hotel, you don't see them anymore. So Gao Chao, I know this is another wonderful piece from your husband, Mo Zheng Long. Can you just tell us the story? How did he get up, you know, had the idea to paint the Hu Tong? Okay, my pleasure. And I still remember the moment that he, we walked to this site, and he, he said, stop, I might take a photo. And it will be a great picture and it will be a great painting. He just erased the sentence suddenly. After we finished a wonderful Beijing Road dinner, and which is like 200 meters away from the Hu Tong, it was a crowded street, a famous Chinese restaurant street walk, which is in a single mere one mile distance, there are more than 200 different restaurants in different flavors. It was so crowded and they even call the heavy traffic each night. And we turn, we finish the dinner and turn around and right away we came to this quiet and peaceful Hu Tong area. And the area is only about 15 minutes driving distance away from the downtown Tiananmen Square. Yeah. And it was also a place that Gao Chao, our time is so sorry, the time goes really fast. And I have to wrap it up. And thank you both so much to share with us today. And thank you again Gao Chao to bring piece of Beijing and the history to America. And I like to, really, I hope we could find another time to have a longer chat on this, on this arts and, you know, the histories so we can bring people together through arts with better and deeper understanding. And I think we are talking about the same, same, same story, regardless where you're from, China, or America, home, family, peace, and, you know, love, it is where we're in our heart. So thank you both again for the show. Thank you. Thank you. Hope to see you and meet you guys again. Yes, I'm looking forward to to meet you in either Beijing or Honolulu back to Hawaii. And thank you, everyone, to come to our show. My name is Xiaofang Zhou, Norris, and at ThinkTag Hawaii, Aloha.