“Multi-Narrative: Painting in Coexist” is the 1st Artistic Creativity Exhibition of International Alliance of Academic Painting Education (IAAPE), the Exhibition is hosted by the School of Painting, China Academy of Art and organized by Oil Painting Department of the School of Painting, China Academy of Art.

The works of certain teachers and students from many international art institutes are presented in the Exhibition, including St. Petersburg Academy of Arts named after Ilya Repin (Russia), Munich Academy of Art (Germany), Academy of Fine Arts of Rome (Italy), Brera Academy of Fine Arts of Milan (Italy), School of Visual Arts (New York, US) and the School of Painting, China Academy of Art; the frontier levels of painting teaching methods and painting creation forms adopted in such art institutes are reflected by the exhibited works from various angles.

As a homonym of Chinese words “Multi-Narrative”, “narrative” had been the most important function of painting in the development of art. During the period of western modernism, painting was returned to its so-called “noumenon”, and traditional “narrative” methods of painting were changed in nature. Under the ideological and social environments of modern and contemporary art, the scenes in life have become objects of artists’ individual perceptions and expressions, the “narrative” elements in painting again serve as carriers of artists’ attitude expressions and concepts. In the Exhibition, from traditional “narrative” painting, contemporary painting in which attitudes and concepts are expressed, and even sketching in which artists directly face their objects, we can discover that the “visible world” is continuously penetrating into our minds in a manner of “combining subject and object”. In another word, painting – as a “Multi-Narrative” method – still has profound influences on both education and creation. Therefore, “Multi-Narrative: Painting in Coexist” is set as the theme of the Exhibition and aims at revealing current statuses of painting education and creation in international art institutes.

Moreover, considering the severe “epidemic” situation, the 1st Artistic Creativity Exhibition of International Alliance of Academic Painting Education (IAAPE) is held in the new online Art Museum of the School of Painting. Exhibition in a virtual space is not only an inevitable option, but also an expansion and attempt of exhibition mode conducted by the School of Painting. We sincerely wish that upon the Internet of everything, the School of Painting, China Academy of Art can provide a high-quality international exchange platform for painting education and creation in international art institutes, and display painting art in “coexist”.