Argentinian artist Federico Bacher believes that he has a different way to express his love toward Mother Nature to re-create it with artworks. An artist-in-residence at Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Bacher is hosting Nature, a solo exhibition at the venue spread across all three floors of the office building.

Bacher's re-creation of nature through a circle of tree-paper-tree idea is a highlight of the exhibition. And hence the image of the tree as a major theme of the show.

The artist, in a symbolic and artistic way, draws the trees as a ritual to bring nature back to life.

"We can say that we artists are lucky to re-create and create, and I take the advantage to go against the destroying of nature, re-creating a tree from a dead tree," Bacher says.

His goal is to make people conscious, in a poetic way, of taking care of nature, to join humans with nature closely.

"You can say I'm a nature protector. I feel nature as my religion," Bacher says.

Bacher studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts of Argentina for five years. Instead of completing his studies locally, he decided to go to Florence, Italy. Upon completion of undergraduate life, he studied at the Istituto Statale d'Arte di Firenze for two years, assisting museums and monuments of Florence.

"I was a student and assistant to great sculptors and artists like Aurelio Macchi, Ruben Locaso and Magda Frank," Bacher says. "Artists of older generations cherish the essentials of fine arts, and that is what I have learned from them."

Now he is a professor at the Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte in Argentina, the Argentina University of Arts.

In his works, nature is showcased with various mixed-media pieces, including a 10-meter-long ink painting called Moving Energy / Dragon on rice paper, which was inspired by his experiments with calligraphy techniques.

"One day I was drawing a portrait of my friend, the dancer Iker Arrue," Bacher says. "An idea came into my mind: Why not try it with the Chinese traditional calligraphy brushes I just bought?

"At that moment my energy flowed ... and with the inspiration from the beautiful gestures of the dancer, I did more than 20 pieces in a single hour - like a creative explosion. It was magic."

His dragons, as a unique mix of his previous works and a feeling for Chinese culture, make their debut in his exhibition in Shanghai.

"I never painted anything like it before, and the theme is my first try of abstract art. It was born here in China," Bacher says.

Bacher calls his studio the temple, and he thinks this summarizes everything.

"My studio is often in divine order and sometimes in great chaos, such as life and the universe, and I live in it and enjoy it," Bacher says.

Highlights of the exhibition also include woodcut prints of a horse, echoing with the Year of the Horse, and a series of portraits with oil on canvases.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/09/2014 page9)