CRI听力:Artist Promotes Chinese Traditional Ink Painting Overseas

Reporter: Xuan Yongsheng is a Canadian Chinese artist who has earned great achievement in different artistic areas, such as Chinese ink painting, illustration, ceramics and woodblock print.

Since the 1980s, he has been painting with ink in order to explore the unique style of contemporary Chinese ink painting.

The artist, who is now in Beijing preparing a retrospective exhibition in Today Art Museum, recalls the early years when he embarked on Chinese traditional ink painting.

"In the eyes of westerners, ink painting, like the Great Wall, is a symbol of China. More than a decade ago, I gave up efforts on oil painting and instead began dedicating to the studies of Chinese ink painting."

After he immigrated to Canada from his hometown of Shanghai in 1989, Xuan Yongsheng discovered that western artists couldn't understand Chinese traditional ink painting at all.

"Western artists used to think Chinese traditional ink painting a type of water-color painting. And, water-color painting is only a rough drawing, which they see a preliminary version of a piece of oil painting."

In the western art circle, the ink painting is also often considered to be the 'Old-Fashion' and had already been marginalized.

However, Xuan Yongsheng adores this traditional Chinese art, and has never stopped his efforts in promoting it overseas.

A member of prestigious artists' organizations, like the Canadian Society of Artists and Vancouver's own Canadian Artists Society, Xuan Yongsheng advanced the ink painting skills by combining the characteristics of comprehensive landscape painting, calligraphy, and western contemporary painting. This way, he could help his peers better understand this traditional Chinese art.

The upcoming exhibition which begins from September 18th, is designed to reflect Xuan's entire artistic career, particularly showcasing his significant works which were completed in Canada, as the artist explains.

"I've never held any exhibition in more than a decade. So I want to showcase my best artworks. The two pieces, which I feel most proud of during the upcoming exhibition, are both 2-meter long and over six meters wide. One piece is The Madness, Elegance, and Thrill of Ink and the other is my later series, Not Mountain Not Water. In fact, years ago, I drew several drafts overseas, but completed it at the end of this March."

The exhibition will run until September 26.

For Studio Plus, I'm Xu Fei.