1704—Exploration and Research, Accumulation and Progress

No. 1704 is the current location of the China Oil Painting Institute. No. 1704 is located on Gaobeidian Cultural and Art New Street in Chaoyang District, Beijing. It was originally an old factory of a township enterprise in the 1970s. In 2007, after "renovation of old houses", on September 26 of the same year, the Chinese Academy of Arts established the "China Oil Painting Institute", a professional creative research institution. Since then, No. 1704 has formed an indissoluble bond with Chinese oil painting. Here, colleagues in the oil painting industry have always insisted on taking academic research as the central task and artistic creation as the foundation of their lives, seeking the source and asking the way, keeping the right and innovating. After 20 years of development and a large accumulation of high-quality teaching, creation, and research in the field of oil painting, coupled with the active and selfless participation of outstanding artists of all ages in the Chinese oil painting industry, No. 1704 has gradually been given academic significance in the hearts of oil painters from the actual door number, and has gained the social reputation of "home of oil painters". In recent years, a group of young oil painters with similar interests have realized their own creative shortcomings and have spontaneously, consciously, and independently gathered at No. 1704 to conduct research on the basic principles of form and color and further exploration of individual language expression and perspective forms with the simplest sketching exercises, and have deeply exchanged and communicated with each other in practice. In fact, there has never been a ready-made path in art itself. The process of learning art is a process of continuous exploration and growth. Whether an artist has a future depends on whether he can continuously explore and seek the essence of cultural spirit, and deeply study and explore the level of artistic expression. The progress of art can only be guided by the classics created by the ancients, by mutual learning and inspiration from colleagues, and by the enlightenment and understanding of nature, with the spirit of great love without effort, and sensitively receiving the light of aesthetics, to create resonant and valuable works of art. Accumulation and progress, this exhibition can become a stage summary and mutual learning for these "on the road" artists, bringing new confidence to move forward. It highlights the academic spirit that has always existed in No. 1704 and deeply understands the wisdom of the ancients' "clear mind and observe the way".