The Town Ambassador Award to 4 Chinese artists for the promotion of Rocca Santo Stefano

We left off last week with the exhibition of works that 3 Chinese artists had made inspired by Rocca Santo Stefano during their 1-month stay in artist residency. But the exhibition was only the first step.

The words of love and well-being that Chen Leru pronounced during her speech touched the hearts of the audience in the room and gave new ideas to the mayor Sandro Runieri, to the Town Ambassador Oriana Impei and, of course, to myself.

Zhang Yan and Chen Leru painted glimpses of the town, but Chen also kept a diary of her stay in Rocca Santo Stefano that she will complete with drawings and publish in the coming weeks. Li Xu, then, painted some glimpses of Rocca Santo Stefano that will be exhibited at the Nuvola di Fuksas next week as part of the event Roma Arte in Nuvola.

All this has been possible thanks to the Town Ambassadors Oriana Impei and Matthias Omahen who have already started to invite international artists for long stays in Rocca Santo Stefano and who are transforming their home into an artist residence for young students.

Oriana teaches sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and is very active in promoting travertine, the characteristic Roman stone, organizing meetings in the quarries of nearby Tivoli where she makes great master sculptors work together with young students.

Rocca Santo Stefano can become a true point of reference for stone artists, an artist residence where the meeting point is the art of sculpture.

The town is perfect for this project: it is located in the Aniene Valley and the ancient village appears in all its splendor. The facades of the houses in the historic center have all been recovered and the houses have begun to be repopulated with families in search of the true Italian spirit. Just as Chen Leru tells in his diary.

There is a human dimension that can only be found where people know each other and trust each other: the baker gives you credit if you have forgotten your money, the pastry chef lets you taste his desserts and the grocery store offers you local products.

Not to mention the Cesanese DOCG wine area a short distance away where one of the few native red grape varieties of Lazio is grown. And we at Donna Vittori are among the producers who have replanted this variety respecting natural methods.

The fourth Chinese artist awarded is Wang Yongxu, who is actually the driving force behind this cultural rapprochement between Italy and China. Wang was a student of Oriana and in 2012 he decided to stay in Italy where he and his wife founded an art gallery, AAIE Center for Contemporary Art, which promotes international artists and cultural exchanges between them.

The residency in Rocca Santo Stefano was conceived as a step into the past to look to the future, a meeting with the local community to build new bonds. We could define it as a modern Grand Tour where the real amazement is not only given by the great artistic heritage of our villages, but by the interaction with the local people. Oriana and Wang intended the artist residency as a participatory process with the local community, and from the words of the artists and residents it was a real success.

A bit like what happened to me when the first tourists who had seen the Korean TV series ‘My name is Maria’ came to visit me: they wanted to know Italy through me. Their Italian experience was me, as if I could make them enter the true spirit of the Italians and not the one told by tour operators and stereotypical advertisements.

I am very curious to read Chen Leru’s diary and to see how the 3 artists who will soon return to their country will tell about their Italian stay and promote Rocca Santo Stefano. Wang Yongxu will stay in Italy, and I think we will meet again because his connection with China and Italy makes him the perfect ambassador of our country.

Chen Leru, Li Xu and Zhang Yan will soon leave Italy but with the mayor Sandro Runieri and Oriana Impei we have already decided that the next meeting will be on May 8th with the inauguration of an exhibition and the Oriana’s artist residency. And we will meet with the Town Ambassadors of Rocca Santo Stefano to find out what their commitment to this prestigious recognition meant and what they have done for their Rocca Santo Stefano.

The award ceremony was very heartfelt, and Chen Leru donated one of her paintings to the municipality then, in perfect Italian style, it ended with a ritual photo under the fountain in the town square and at the bar for a traditional Italian aperitif.

The young ambassadors of Rocca Santo Stefano have already learned it: everything in Italy ends with Tarallucci e Vino (taralli and wine)!

Li Xu was born in 1970 in Inner Mongolia, China. He now lives and works in Beijing and Tianjin - China, and New York - USA. Li Xu graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 1997; graduated from the fourth studio of the Department of Oil Painting, Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2004; received his PhD in Oil Painting from Central Academy of Fine Art in 2012. His doctoral research interests are research on Chinese oil painting and traditional culture. His doctoral thesis, “Free Viewing: The Space Concept of Portrait Art in Han Dynasty” was collected by the National Library of China.

Zhang Yan was born in Tianjin in 1973, graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 1997. Zhang has participated in various exhibitions including the group exhibition "Hong Kong Handover" in 1997, the exhibition "Cloud Life" at Dingtian Art Museum in 1999, "Interwoven: Artist Colony" at A Space in New York in August 2024, and the "Images of Life" Dehong International Art Biennale in October 2024. She taught at Renai College of Tianjin University from 2016 to 2024.

Graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 1997. She has been a media professional for many years and is now a self-media art writer, artist and curator.

Wang was a student of Oriana and in 2012 he decided to stay in Italy where he and his wife founded an art gallery, AAIE Center for Contemporary Art, which promotes international artists and cultural exchanges between them.