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Break the boundaries between tradition and the contemporary era, present the charm of art, wander freely between art and life, and explore the qualities of the spiritual and the material.

The Universal Art Centre is located in the core area of the bustling and noisy CBD on the East Third Ring Road in Beijing, adjacent to the Tuanjiehu Park. Its works create a peaceful atmosphere amidst the hustle and bustle, using a large amount of blank space to set off the artworks on display in the museum. The building itself focuses on the changes of free facades and light and shadow, integrating the indoor space with the outdoor lake views. Through the changing of the four seasons, people can feel the interaction between artworks and nature indoors. Here, art, architecture and nature complement each other and shine brightly together.

The exterior of the building is simple, pure white and square, just like a Rubik’s Cube inlaid here. It combines the simplicity of the Song Dynasty with modern aesthetics.

The master of modernism, Richard Meier, said: “For me, white is all colors. White creates a neutral surface on which a sense of space emerges and enhances people’s perception of the structure and order of space. White allows for a luxurious performance of light and shadow, immersing the building in light and allowing light to permeate every corner.”

The windows serve as lenses, capturing the scenes of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Just as the Zen master Wumen Huikai in the Song Dynasty said in “The Gateless Gate: Ordinary Mind Is the Way”: “There are hundreds of flowers in spring and a bright moon in autumn, cool breezes in summer and snow in winter. If there are no trifles weighing on your mind, it is a wonderful season in the world.” The blank space is meant to stimulate the viewers’ imagination, while the framing is to guide their sight. The beauty of artistic conception in China lies in the “combination” of the scene and the meaning. Here, the windows are transformed into “picture frames”, enclosing the lush green willows around Tuanjiehu Lake into the interior, which is an idea that combines modernist architecture with naturalism.

Contemporary art goes beyond the direct depiction of the physical world. Through forms and colors, it expresses inner spirits and emotions. As a medium that can touch the soul, art stimulates the inner world of the viewers and evokes emotional resonance.

The black mottled staircase connects tradition and modernity, allowing the passage of time to witness the charm of art. Wandering in this space makes people feel the strong contrasting effect that the building has on artworks. Here, the spiritual and the material are integrated seamlessly.

The building itself, with its white facades in all directions, enables people to see paintings from different directions no matter which corner they are standing in inside the gallery. Here, people can experience the spiritual exchanges among different artists. The works in the exhibition, through different media and perspectives, demonstrate each artist’s interpretation of spirituality.

The walls along the central circulation route inside the museum are the places where the most stunning works of this exhibition are displayed. In the work “Peach Blossoms” presented at the You Art Center, the painter Zhou Chunya adopted the method of layering to handle the texture of the picture. The paint spreads smoothly on the canvas. In the painting, the peach blossoms in the foreground, middle ground and background each have their own characteristics. The brushstrokes are clear and powerful, the layers are rich, and the colors are harmonious and lively. The same is true for the building itself. Its structure can be grand, exquisite, expansive or compact.

Nearby are the pink peach blossoms blooming right in front of the viewers, while in the distance are the beautiful scents spreading all the way to the horizon. The multi-layered treatment makes the picture more vibrant. When viewers stop in front of the painting, it seems as if they have already been in a peach grove, attracted by this vibrant spring full of vitality. The multi-layered treatment in art is also applicable to architecture. It will make the building more dynamic. When viewers stop inside the museum, it feels as if they are in a peach grove. Not only are the nearby peach blossoms gorgeous, but the tender buds in the distance are even more delightful. The fresh air is filled with the fragrances of earth, grass and peach blossoms.

We hope to present the elegant and artistic conception beauty of the Song Dynasty through space. It can be described as rational and profound, yet vivid in spirit. It is also an idea that pursues minimalist aesthetics. Such minimalism, when the rain stops and the sky clears, in the silent blank spaces, between the lines and within the words, is like a small boat, rowing slowly towards the greener areas of the grassland; and it also seems like walking alone all the way to the top of the cliff.

The building facades with the concept of “treating the unpainted parts as painted ones” embody the extreme tranquility beauty of Chinese calligraphy and painting. The beauty of porcelain lies in its warm and smooth texture and its essence close to nature. Chinese porcelain, set against this Chinese-style window view, appears particularly translucent, demonstrating the cultural connotations of porcelain itself. Meanwhile, through the borrowed scenery opposite the window, a new background is defined for the porcelain, enabling it to travel through thousands of years from the past to the present. When there are fewer material things in a space, there will be more on the spiritual level.

Zen Buddhism advocates: “A special transmission outside the scriptures, without reliance on words; directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one’s nature and attaining Buddhahood.” What it means is that all the cumbersome rituals or procedures should be removed, and even language can be abandoned. Only by retaining the most genuine part can one discard distracting thoughts and suddenly realize the true meaning of life!

The concept of Zen Buddhism coincides with the proposition of the minimalist style, which is to remove decorations and preserve the core functions.