Essay – Foreword

Foreword

The two words that form the title of this exhibition, Chinese Desires, were chosen very carefully by the Luxe Art Museum. The artists are Chinese and the art is Chinese, so the first word may be easy to understand. But what about the second word? What are there desire and, returning to the first word, why are they specifically Chinese? In fact, these two ideas are what bring the three exhibiting artists together. Although their styles of painting are very different from each other, they have something important in common: the subject matter of the works in the exhibition.

Each of the three artists depicts an aspect of the lifestyle that people of the new China want that Chinese people nowadays desire. These people have gone beyond the basic needs of former times and are interested in more than the fundamentals of mere survival. The Chinese people of today have more highly developed lifestyle desires and these are what the paintings in this exhibition illustrate: Li Jin’s works relate to the quality of everyday activities; Wu Yi comments on traditional pursuits; and Nan Qi presents the urban experience.

Eating and drinking, showering, lazing around, breathing, taking in the sights, sounds and smells, day dreaming- under the brush of Li Jin, such banal activities of daily life are presented ‘warts and all’, but with a humorous slant that fully engages the viewer. His paintings identify the joyful elements to be found in the simple things of life and this is the key to understanding Li Jin’s art. He has a passion for beauty, and he has discerning eye for delicacy and refinement wherever they exist. In his works involving food, for example, he reveals these character traits in the calligraphy that fills the otherwise ‘empty’ space. The script details recipes and ingredients that describe the finer things of life for a man who loves to cook as well as eat. He has the ability to transcend the quotidian and the mundane and to appreciate the beauty of simple everyday desires.

Wu Yi, on the other hand, celebrates the delights of country life. He and his wife live in Mapo, a small town on the outskirts of Beijing, where Wu Yi also has studio. He has chosen to live and work there because Mapo suite his temperament and he enjoys its rural atmosphere. Naturally, in turn, the rhythm of daily life for Mapo’s residents has an influence on the painter’s mood. In fact, it is this successful combination of Wu Yi’s nature with the nurture that Mapo provides for him that allows him to produce the paintings in this exhibition. What the viewer sees is a depiction of the residents of Mapo going about their business, engaged in their normal activity, and what Wu Yi communicates in these peaceful scenes is the desire for simple pleasures.

Finally, Nan Qi’s paintings portray another element of life in today’s China, that of the urban experience. Instead of depicting people, however, he has chosen to paint the mannequins that appear in the windows of fashionable shops. Their cold, indifferent expressions reflect the helpless alienation of people who find themselves prey to the pressures of modern life: the crowds, the traffic, the glaring lights and sounds, and the constant messages that encourage them to envy the mores of high society and exhorts them to consume by aspiring to a ‘better’, more materialistic lifestyle, filled with the designer fashion. Like the mannequins behind the store front, people have to choice but to endure their surroundings. They have no independent features or desires and both they and the busy city are fittingly represented by Nan Qi’s numerous dots.

Chen Jiazi
Curator
The Luxe Art Museum

前言

“中国情”，对中国人来说是一种熟悉到骨子里的表达了，传了上千年到今天，还是可以说：词儿俗但情不俗，行为俗但意不俗。正如此， The Luxe Art Museum邀请了三位中国当代颇有知名度的画家，用各自的画风圆说了他们的世俗、乡俗及时尚都市之情。

吃喝、洗澡、消磨、顺气、闻香、痴梦 – 如此这般的生活常态到了李津笔下，都成了能量浩大的幽默小品，世俗的内容却不显俗气的图画，正是李津借绘画形式滋养出来的一番情调，令人激情荡漾。李津的饮食图中常会有填满空白的文字，细读下去实在受益不小，都是他料理食谱或保健招数。李津爱吃会做，对美食美色有着无须节制的热情，然而他是非常讲究的，讲究着一个在世俗喧闹中能够领略到的“空”的境界。

马坡是北京郊区的一个小镇，武艺将他的画室和妻儿都统一在这儿。自然，马坡的百姓和生活节目都变成了他想写要画的姿态。如果用“自然与姿态”欣赏武艺的画，“自然”是他追求的理念，而“姿态”则是这个理念的产儿。武艺的画，看不到什么铺张背景，就是那些百姓某个动作、某个场面的速写，自然得朴拙天真，个个欢悦自娱的姿态，含蓄而风趣地表达着乡俗情调。

南溪的这一组画，不见了以往的素材和思绪。在纷乱喧嚷的大千事态中，他没有选择鲜活的样板儿，却搬出橱窗里那些无比庄严的模特儿，以 “冷漠静观”的神态，传达着她们骨子里对车水人龙的无奈、对名牌时尚的渴望、对刺眼灯光的厌恶、对饮食男女的羡慕、对追求SPA的嫉妒、对 …… 。再观画家表达这些模特儿的方式，正是这些数以千计的“点”的组合，构成了一幅幅虚虚实实、忽幻忽影的都市画面。

陈家紫
余欣美术馆研究员