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On A Man and His Paintings
By Zhao Xiaoming
In the year of 2009, the Library of Congress of the United States. US Asian Cultural Academy and American Folklife Centerlaunched the projec:t 'Recording Today for the Future". and Mr Yuan Jinhua was selected into the section of "Chinese Ar-
tists" We came to know each other at the initial recommendation stage of the project, and became good friends through two years of cooperation: evaluation, sorting, publishing, making speeches, collecting, recording, interviewing and exhibiting
During the threeyears thereafter, wheneveriwent to visitAsia. Iwould invariably go to China to meet him From Hangzhou,Shanghai. Suzhou. Beijing. Hong Kong to Taipei. my understanding of China's contemporary art and artists grew more and
more concrete through in-depth discussions with him。
Jinhua is a candid and composed man with an unrestrained and unaffected nature, who always laughs troubles off He sel-dom complains about the poverty he suffered as a student. or the ficklejob assignment on graduation He rarely dramatizes
the hardship of creative work. and when faced with the critics. or even the misreading from friends. he remains rational and sensible Thus his life is now abundant in harvest and enjoyment。
ticulous and delicate approach to the details and techniques of landscape painting Its directivity and oitical function has never entered the mainstream of landscape painting, and is irrelevant of the contemporary sociological and cultural study It's merely a conventional performance. a selfentertaining cultural "show' of landscapes, of you and me and others In Yuan Jinhua's eyes, to say goodbye to such a history is exactly the positive meaning of his artistic creation The 'Embracement'-series by Yuan Jinhua fully manipulates the element of Chinese ink and wash painting. meanwhile constructs a mocking
landscape of modern people's daily life in a style of decomposing the classics. bidding farewell to the history with a grin His virtuallandscape and his humorous and teasing formation direct a newvalue orientation in the 'landscape culture' of China's
contemporary art With a light and witty touch. he p My colleague experts on the committee of US Asian Cultural Preservation once explained about the selection of the Library of Congress's collections: Chinese painting had been developed to its pinnacle during the dynasties of Tang, Song. Yuan and Ming Its height of perfection. its splendor and glory can never be overstated Yet over the centuries since the Qing Dynasty.
though there emerged hundreds of "masters' or "experts'in the painting circles. most of them were simply good at imitating or copying Landscapes and figures. fiowers and birds. fish and worms, beauty and Buddha. the only difference they made lay in the strokes So what really emerged were only a fiock of 'expensive and voluminous' artisans. who failed to accom-plish any artistic, philosophical. social or cultural status that can match their era An artist who has never made profound contemplations on his era will not be remembered by history. nor will he go down in civilization The western art circles still hold an attitude of 'anticipation'- towards Chinese painting. anticipating the modernity of Chinese ink and wash painting.
anticipating that Chinese painting would be able to express the mental power of modern Chinese culture
We cannot make the verdict that Yuan Jinhua will lead or change the revolution of contemporary Chinese ink and wash painting, but we can see the hope of it from his personality and his works Its such hope that shapes our anticipation of him At the moment. instead of making artisticjudgment on Yuan Jinhua. we can only have culturalexpectations of him Ihe nar-ration above is neither a compliment nor criticism. just my personal opinions Deeply touched by his characters and sinc:ere friendship. I made the above remarks