Painting as a game

By Lu Qianwen Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-16 20:53:01

Why is it Easy to Wake from Beautiful Dreams Photos: Courtesy of Today Art Museum

Maids at Eighteen Are Like a Flower Photos: Courtesy of Today Art Museum

Zhu Xinjian Photos: Courtesy of Today Art Museum

"I've always felt that the subject you paint is not important. What's important is what level you reach in your painting." This once overlooked but thought-provoking remark by the once controversial artist Zhu Xinjian seems to have become the key to understanding his paintings. With the opening of his first large-scale solo-exhibition on Saturday at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, visitors will have the chance to look at 150 of Zhu's works and judge one of the most controversial artists in China for themselves.

The 'trouble maker'

When it comes to his place in Chinese art history, Zhu, who passed away in February at the age of 61, was something of a "trouble maker." Applying traditional ink wash techniques in his paintings, he took the female body, or more accurately naked or flirtatious women, as the subject of his many paintings. Back in the 1980s - 90s, this was seen by many critics as standing in total opposition to the serious and noble traditional of Chinese  painting.

First beginning to paint women in the 1980s, Zhu titled his series of female-themed works Painting of the Beauty. In 1987, another set of paintings, The Golden Lotus, named after the eponymous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) erotic novel, appeared at an exhibition of young artists in Hubei Province. Bluntly depicting the nudity and sex scenes in the novel, this set of paintings caused a huge stir throughout society.

These paintings were later exhibited at the prestigious National Art Museum of China, instantly drawing strong indignation from elder artists who accused Zhu of profaning traditional Chinese art with unhealthy doodles.

Despite being beset on all sides by controversy, Zhu's fame quickly spread across the country. Later in life Zhu revealed that he painted these paintings purely for fun and had never thought about what it would mean for society or traditional Chinese art. Zhu never once tried to hide his preference for drawing women, "I started to draw women when I was a boy to satisfy my fascination about sex," he once said according to a report by The Beijing News.

"It's only after those paintings were seen by society, that my private fascination became improperly interpreted and exaggerated," he added.

The storm of controversy didn't keep Zhu from painting what he loved. He continued to paint more nudes, this time depicting figures of modern women in idyllic and lackadaisical poses. In the later drawings of modern women he's created since the 1990s, viewers are able to see reflected in his works the criticism and views the artist has towards modern people: beings vulgar and low class.

"He makes a game of art," said Jia Fangzhou, a famous art critic. "This attitude is consistent with his philosophy of life. The real and sincere imagery seen in his art doesn't just come from his understanding of art, but also from life," Jia noted.

A new door for traditional painting

An art form officially recognized by the State, traditional Chinese painting has been historically confined in its presentation of subjects. For years, many artists had never thought of drawing something other than flowers, birds or landscape paintings. Although nude paintings were actually nothing new in China, however, Zhu was the first artist to introduce them to society at large as a formal art. Despite the great challenges they posed to people's traditional notions, Zhu's works have now been commonly recognized as opening a new door for the modern development of traditional painting.

Zhu's passion for using traditional ink wash techniques led him to try and attempt to draw nude figures in the style of Qi Baishi (1864 - 1957), one of China's greatest traditional ink wash painting masters, however he found the task difficult because no matter if it was technique or the way Qi was able to express himself in his work, Zhu was unable to reach the same level.

Despite being unable to draw the female form using Qi's style, Zhu is still acclaimed for the line work he used in his paintings. "Although they look shapeless and twisted, those lines transmit the spirit of the characters in his paintings," said Jia. "From these lines, we can tell that the artist was drawing in a very relaxed and casual way," he told the Global Times.

Chen Danqing, one of China's most influential artists and art critics, explains that Zhu has been listed as one of the top painters of the New Literati Painting movement that was first proposed in the 1980s. Although New Literati Painting hasn't been given a clear definition even today, artists considered part of this movement are attempting to expand the limits of traditional Chinese paintings when it comes to the subjects they paint and the materials they use.

Today the concept of New Literati Painting is being increasingly emphasized and more artists are considering themselves a part of this movement. Zhu has been upheld as one of its pioneers. "Young artists who are exploring either traditional ink wash or erotic art, have all been influenced by him," said Chen.

Philosophy of life in art

The title of the exhibition: Except Eating, I Live the Life of a Shenxian (immortals in Chinese legendary stories who are always happy and without worry) was taken from Zhu's own description of his philosophy of life. Doing anything he wanted at any time such as playing chess, reading a book, writing poems, painting or even being too lazy to get out of bed, Zhu felt that his life was nothing but jovial.

"Zhu was a very free and easy person, he was a natural born artist," said Li Xiaoshan, an art critic and a good friend of Zhu, "but this doesn't mean he drowned in meaningless pleasure, he was also eager to learn and very erudite."

Happy or not, his dedication to painting made a deep impression on many insiders. After suffering from a stroke which paralyzed his right hand in 2007, he continued to paint with his left hand. In 2010, he published all the works he had created over the previous two years in the book A Powdered Layman - the Collected Works of Zhu Xinjian.

Although lines painted with his left hand were not as free and gallant as before, people can still glimpse his attitude on life through his paintings of beautiful women. "His paintings drawn with his left hand are more childish, but still very real," Jia said.

"At their core, his paintings are frank and natural," said Chen. "His paintings make all of us feel hypocritical about ourselves and all men feel shamed."

Posted in: Art

blog comments powered by Disqus