May 8th, 2013
A new journey is coming.
I have small ambition, wishing I can develop my own piece of universe. So recently I often think about the pattern of my creation, themes and ideas, as well as the manner of painting. I yearn for the grand narrative and scene, although our age changes rapidly, but I still feel my temperament inclining to Chinese traditional style, I also admire the great momentum of some of the traditional paintings, as well as the heavy and steady great works.
Having watched a lot of works, I have some new idea, really starting to give it a try.
I want to see how far on earth I can go, and what kind of result my little ambition will lead to.
August 3rd, 2013
The last time I went to Mount Huang Shan, my wife was also accompanied, only back then we were still schoolmates. Unexpectedly, after 10 years, we could revisit the old place together. We still climbed the mountain on foot, still both with a walking stick. Going along the stone steps in the pines woods, we found that Huang Shan was still so beautiful.
We also passed around the peripheral villages, where we saw traditional buildings with white walls and black roof-tiles, the roads paved by little rocks, quiet lakes and trees over one hundred years, fresh rural atmosphere came to our faces. Thinking about the trip to Suzhou and Hangzhou in June, the biggest difference is this fresh atmosphere, because Suzhou and Hangzhou gave me a feeling of humanistic atmosphere and the comfort and wealth of Jiangnan area.
This time, at the age of 30, I actually lose the courage to overcome the top of Lotus Peak once again, like what I did at the age of 20.
In college age, I demand perfection for everything, ever young and aggresive, I have learned to let go, understanding that life is sometimes regretful.
Facing the potted landscape forged by the Creator, I couldn’t help but thinking how limited people are.
December 7th, 2013
It has been nine years since the first time I came to Beijing.
In retrospect, there is seemingly something that I will do only when I was young. A boy who had nothing decided to go to Beijing and engaged in painting, my family and friends all thought I was indulging in my wildest fantasy. And my wife also dared to put down her stable work and follow me resolutely back then. Occasionally when we were joking, I said if we started all over again, I didn’t know whether we still have that courage.
Last year, I met a friend, who endlessly gestured how fast his daughter grew, hence my wife and I found that we should also have our own baby. My wife has been pregnant, I feel my great responsibility. Occasionally, I was anxious, even worrying. But then I heard the phrase "Don 't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worrying; you just worry about today. "
Can I make myself one centimeter taller through thinking? If can’t, then just forget about it, and live for today!
August 10th, 2014
The arrival of my baby makes me have a total different understanding about life. Now I am a father, this experience of identity conversion is different from any experience before. For the meaning of family, I have a brand new understanding.
A child will make you feel that everything is different.
In my first and second year in college, I thought I could do a lot of things; in the third year, I found the things that I could do well was very limited. My wife always laughed at me, saying it was fortunate that you chose painting, because everything else was really not suitable for you. I’m very grateful, because until now, I’m still doing things I like.
Lately life becomes very busy, my wife and child need my company, and my work also requires my full attention. However, life gets purer.
Occasionally I would feel tired, but practical. I like this simplicity, even the feeling about my creation also returns to pureness and ordinary. The problem about the pattern is no longer a puzzle for me. Thinking about the pottery artists in Jiangnan, the masters of smelting pottery, their life might be handling the works in their own workshops, constantly improving their own works, they live an ordinary life, but also create amazing artworks.
Step by step, down to earth, this kind of life seems pretty good.
December 25th, 2014
Getting closer to my next exhibition, look back the works in past two years, not even one was the planned Chinese Landscape theme. I also no longer rigidly adhere to this theme. During this period, as if I’m getting through a forest, sometimes wandering, sometimes looking, sometimes confusing, but when getting over the mountain, I feel suddenly enlightened. Now I feel like I am in a garden.
I also realize creation is zoetic. This growth is sometimes not even planned by the artist, it is inseparable with life and experience, as a plant grows on its own.
This year, the pomegranate tree in front of my studio also sprouts earlier than normal, ready to greet the arrival of spring. Winter is the most important season for plants. In winter, the plants show the original looking. Compared with other seasons, in winter plants are quite ugly. Sometimes, it’s not because it has changed, it is still the same, just losing some decorations. But life is still deep in its body, and this precious vitality is not wasted on the decorations of the appearance, however
it make through the winter with this inner life, becoming stronger, regaining the resurrection life in next spring.
After this winter, I will start my new solo exhibition. It’s so incredible to look back, I have walked through a long long way! I’m surprised where I got that courage when I was a youngster, and also very happy to find out, as long as life is going on, every step on the way will make me stronger!
