Beyond Contemporary Art: The Artistic Vision of Jian Guo Xu
Coming off of a successful major solo exhibition at the Capital Museum Beijing co-hosted by U.S. Embassy Beijing in September, Chinese-American artist Mr. Xu Jianguo will be speaking to RAS about his art in the historical, personal and artistic sense.
In particular, the artist will speak about deconstructing and reconstructing "art" beyond the familiar world of what is categorized as contemporary art. The artist will speak about works across 40 years; his exploration of boundaries of past and present, the East and the West, and reconstruct a vision which asks us to question our familiar visual experiences.
The highlight of the lecture will be discussion of both the historical as well as artistic significance of his two monumental works--Shanghai: A New Vista (Shengcheng xinrui tu) which were fourteen years in the making. One scroll is currently in display at World Expo Theme Pavilion-VIP lounge. The two paintings are long silk scroll paintings ranging from six meters to eight meters in length respectively. Urban and contemporary Shanghai (or its classical name- Sheng Cheng) is depicted in classical Chinese ink painting technique of the Song dynasty to explode fundamental questions about what “contemporary” visions mean and whether traditional forms can have new resonance with our world. Shanghai: A New Vista is also the subject of a dedicated six volume art book to be released in Xinhua Bookstores in fall 2010.
Shanghai: A New Vista has additional relevance for China. Traditional Chinese culture, having traversed thousands of years of development to arrive at its present form, now faces a new challenge: the conflict between its traditional values and the ideology of competition which dominates our contemporary world. The issues brought afore by this challenge has become a critical topic for the current intellectual world. The two scrolls are the artist's visual response and a path to a new vitality to the form.
Through his work, the artist traces the experiences of a Chinese artist newly arrived to the US and his exuberance in this new world, then to his desire to break the boundaries of the Western visual canon and redefine them through a vision that is both Eastern and Western, and now, to his re-exploration of the classical Chinese canon and his desire to bring renaissance to that ancient form by eyes shaped by visions beyond the contemporary.
About the speaker/artist
Jianguo Xu, or Da Diaozi (“Hue-Catcher,” his style name), was born in Shanghai in 1951. As a young child he studied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy from one of the remaining traditional scholars, Mr. Ye Zhihao (1913–1988), a researcher at the Shanghai Literature and History Research Institute. The traditional Chinese style of education—private tutoring—laid a solid foundation for Mr. Xu’s later artistic studies. Since then, painting has been his life and the object of his religious-like devotion. It has not only sustained him but has grown and evolved along with the different phases of his life.
Jianguo Xu is a graduate of the Shanghai
TheaterAcademy, one of the few national higher-education institutes in China to offer art as a major during the 1970s. His artistic journey in the U.S. began in 1984, when he was offered a scholarship to study at Bard
College, from which he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1987. In the following 20 years of his artistic career in the U.S., he developed his own unique techniques and deepened his understanding of the origin of art and culture in many countries, including China. His numerous exhibits in US and Europe are testimony to the power of his artistic vision. Xu Jianguo currently resides and paints in his studio in New York City.
ENTRANCE: RMB 30.00 Members RMB 80.00 Non Members –
Membership applications and renewals will be available on the evening. Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption.
DIRECTIONS: InterfaceFLOR, Room 201 (second floor), RafflesCity (office tower), 268 Central Tibet Road. Entrance to office tower from rear on CENTRAL YUNNAN ROAD. Tel: 6340 3868
