Spanish painter displays wax works in Beijing

SpanishartistJose-MariaCanoisshowinghisencausticpaintingsinBeijing .[ PhotoprovidedtoChinaDaily*]*

(CHINADAILY) Spanish encaustic painter Jose-Maria Cano is displaying his works at an ongoingretrospective show in Beijing.

His paintings, made by mixing color with hot wax, exhibit the two main themes of his art－materialism and spiritualism.

Cano's show, Differences and Similarities Between Reality and Truth, which continuesthrough March 23, displays 11 series of some 200 paintings he produced since 2003,including his well-known Wall Street 100, a collection of large-size images of public figureswhose photos appeared in the Wall Street Journal. He started the series in 2004, long beforea meltdown hit US investment banks.

For his Beijing exhibition, Cano, 57, added two special sections. The RMB series presentsmassive Chinese currency notes in denominations of 1, 10 and 100. The Beijing seriesfeatures one landscape painting of the present-day city and its landmark buildings, andanother from 1930s China, based on the Tintin book The Blue Lotus to show the changes incities here.

The paintings of bank notes offer audiences an unusual way to clearly see the details ofmoney, something they pay little attention to daily. One needs to see "the beauty of themoney itself", Cano says.

"The portrait of Mao Zedong on a 100 yuan note is beautiful. So is the color and thewatermark," he says, adding that he makes money paintings just like he would paint colorfulgardens.

Besides the yuan, Cano has also painted pounds, marks and euros. He says it's an ironic wayto show beauty because rich people are considered "beautiful" and painters are "obliged topaint beauty".

Cano has visited Beijing a few times, and it is the first time that the Central Academy of FineArts, an art school that produces well-known artists, is hosting his works at its art museum.

During his first visit to the country in 2006, he went to Shanghai and saw how the economywas growing, he says.

On display are also many wax paintings inspired by newspapers' layouts.

It takes months to produce an encaustic painting, he says. He has dedicated more than adecade to the art form, and now has a distinctive style.

Wang Huangsheng, curator of the show and director of the CAFA's Art Museum, says it'sdifficult to make wax paintings, an art form that probably originated in Greece 2,000 yearsago.

Some Chinese artists tried this kind of painting in the 1990s but eventually gave up.

"When he showed me his works at his London studio, I was attracted to them by the energy. Ithen decided to hold a show for him in China," Wang says.

Wang had also suggested that Cano's musical side be displayed at the show. But Cano, whowas a full-time musician until he became a painter, said he would stick with paintings.

In the 1980s, the artist gained fame as a member of Spanish pop band Mecano. He alsowrote songs for famous singers like Placido Domingo.

More than a decade ago, he stepped into the world of painting, which he says has muchsimilarities with his past career. He draws on music for his expressionism, such as thebullfighters' series.

Manuel Valencia, Spain's ambassador in Beijing, says: "We often listened to his music.Painting is just another language for him to express himself. His art is as energetic as hismusic."

If you go

9:30 am-5:30 pm, through March 23. Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, 8Huajiadi South Street, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6477-1575.