Art from the Silk Road

WEST VALLEY CITY — China's Silk Road was a series of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean region. Starting in the ancient capital city now known as Xi'an, it stretched for more than 5,000 miles across deserts, through high mountain passes and on to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Antioch, Damascus, Syria, Persia and even to Rome.

The Silk Road was used from about 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., but even now the name evokes images of exotic caravans, swirling sands and colorful bazaars.

While named (by a 19th-century scholar) for one of the primary trade commodities — the highly prized and made-in-secret Chinese silk — other goods were also traded: gold, gems, metalwork, pottery, paper, spices, teas, horses.

But equally important was the transfer of information and culture, creating patterns of influence that extend to this day, says Susan Klinker, programming director for the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, which is currently showing an exhibit titled "Ancient Threads, Newly Woven: Recent Art From China's Silk Road." The show runs through Oct. 17.

Co-sponsored by the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy and put together by the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., the exhibit features 86 paintings by contemporary artists from five regions along the ancient road. It has traveled around the United States for two years; this is its last stop before it goes back to China.

It is not what you think of as traditional Chinese art, says Klinker. "You see influences from Russia, from the Middle East."

At first glance, the art from one city in the Urumqi region, for example, looks like the traditional rice-paper scrolls you might be familiar with, but a closer look shows differences. "These have strokes that are more bold. Traditional art is usually more delicate and most often depicts man's relationship to nature. These have more activity, a lot more going on," says Klinker.

Other art from the Urumqi region features paintings of contemporary bazaars, village people and landscapes. There's a painting of a camel caravan that looks like it could portray ancient travelers — until you see the highway mile marker set in the corner that gives it a contemporary context.

Kashgar is the western-most region represented. Art from there shows more of the Eastern European influence — in paintings of baking bread, for example, or a baby in a cradleboard that is decorated with Russian motifs. Art from Lanzhou shows scenes from the Chinese opera. From Xi'an come paintings done with earth and mineral pigments and paintings done on wood.