He is the wise man of the time who observes the world in his extraordinary insight. He is a man bearing a strong sense of social responsibility and historical mission, in the hope of affecting the mind and emotion of the public for the advancement of revolution and progress of the society. He is earnest in popularizing contemporary art in China with art works and focused on the concept of harmony between human and nature to guide people to think about issues of living space, environmental protection and risks of modern civilization.
The Series of Dialogue
He is the pioneer of contemporary art in China-Xinmin Fu.
The artist was born in 1949, having the same age of his nation. He witnesses the ups and downs of China, the long course from poverty to prosperity, the era of spirit supremacy flooded with class conflicts following by the one of material supremacy focused on economic construction. He is bestowed with a strong sense of reasonability and mission owing to experience of military career of over 30 years, which contributes to his broad vision in art creation, intense concern to the realistic and the profound mind beyond “individual thinking” in the deliberation.
The rich experience,broad mind and immense concern to life,nature and human existence,enables the magnificent performance and in-depth implication in his art works.He particularly pays attention to the great changes of nature and society,because the changes are probably interrelated to human beings and far away from our concern.As being in an era of rapid development,he has many wise and unique opinions towards the world.For example,he deems that the subject group of physics leading the development of science and technology starts to transfer to that of biology;The contemporary philosophy is transiting to application field;The dissimilation in daily life and devastation of mental ecology are the key issues in frontier philosophy;The traditional industrial civilization is transferring to ecological civilization of post-industrial society;The traditional social economy is transferring from resource economics to environmental economics and ecological economics.Xinmin Fu foresees the tendency of ecologicalization of future economy,human existence and living as well as the development of society.He has an insight to the matter that the earth exists not only for our human beings,either for the same objective of human beings,and how to realize coordinated development between human and nature has become the biggest concern of today.
Based on these peculiar ideas and in the hubbub of Chinese contemporary art,Xinmin Fu persists to elaborate in art and successfully render deep and powerful calling and thrilling among the spectators with composed creations.With his natural endowment,hard working and strong foundation in traditional root art and Chinese ink and wash painting,he tackles tough tasks in a very easy manner and travels through freely among all dimensions in the combination of localization and globalization,tradition and modernity,acting as a persistent and aloof loner in art.He is breaking a new path for the localization of Chinese contemporary art.
Xinmin Fu alarms the society through art education.Without being well trained,the free style of his creation is dominating in his innovation as he has never yielded to rigid rules.He is tending to get inspiration from personal experience and sentiment and to inspect and think of universal issues of the time from his point of view.Therefore,the conception of the artist naturally moves forward from“individual”to“great self”and produces an art form that is superior in modernity,universality and impact.
The main idea embraced in his works is to realize the harmony between human and nature.The abundant works of the nine series are made from natural material of long years,revealing the artist’s sincere empathy to nature and life.Accordingly,he paints a number of Chinese ink and wash paintings out of the conventions of traditional Chinese painting,striving to perform a new spirit,exclusive strength and fascinating appeal in art.
He has a unique capability in the command of ink and wash paintings.He applies flexible visual variations to create a distinct aesthetic style and visual impact of his own in the works and makes valuable contribution to communicating with the public through art.In the concern of nature,society,history and reality,he embeds philosophical thoughts into the course of art creation,People are exposed to the amazing state of art in non-utility and honest creations since Xinmin Fu has comprehended the most significant element to the point,the worship of inner sustenance and spiritual ideals of human beings.Most of his paintings and sculptures totally differ to traditional conceptions.He studies on the spiritual expression and formal language of contemporary art depending on his personal sentiment and instinct.There is no reference from the antecedents,so it’s all depends on him to think deeply and make progress amidst self denial.
In the art career of over 50 years,he has taken a special place in the field of Chinese contemporary art and made important contribution to the development and innovation of contemporary art with the prominent art performance and abundant works of distinct styles,magnificent atmosphere and modern conceptions.So far he has reached fruitful achievements in the assiduous exploration and created an profound and integral system of his own in the nine series that are independent,interrelative and interact on each other.
ransformation Series
The works created by Xinmin Fu are magnificent, massive and powerful. In which the emotion of the artist is flowing in the joys and sorrows of world and the philosophy is hitting the abstruse sphere of the universe. Their contours are as much splendid, virile and shocking to agree with the sense of sculpture in formative arts and the temperament of contemporary artist. They are acting as the offset to the drawbacks to the artistic circles.
The core of his art conceptions is the combination of Chinese traditional philosophy of the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth) and the dialectical concepts of the modern laws of the unity of opposites. It penetrates in varied creations to reveal the value of life, the birth and death of everything in the universe, the emotional support of human being, the sentiment and concern to the reality and the thinking and criticism of rationality. In the same way, he delivers fantastic image and novel languages in paintings. He takes ceaseless efforts and owns intense spiritual orientation, so that the art works are distinguished in the Chinese contemporary art with with the unique characteristics and features. This is the system for art creation that he has been working on over a decade, which means that, the universe creates a vast world where everything follows the rules and human will finally realize the harmony between human and nature when they know and understand the nature, then they will talk to it and rethink about it to seek for the rule and order of development and operation of everything.
Create for Art
Non-utility, is probably the most accurate word we can use to define the attitude and pursuit of Xinmin Fu in art creation. Rare artist is really devoted and obsessed to art like him among professional artists.
For decades, he keeps enthusiastic in creation regardless of heavy works. He spends a lot of time and efforts in searching for a considerable stack of materials, not to mention about the expenditures for creation. In 2011, under the support of Xiamen municipal government, Xinmin Fu established Xinmeng Modern Art Gallery, the first contemporary art gallery to public interest in China, a large and high quality gallery with systematic art conceptions and various work series. More than one hundred of masterpieces by Xinmin Fu are collected in the gallery. Despite of all difficulties, the gallery is open to the public for free, to implement Xinmin Fu’s idea as to serve, contribute and educate the public with art. The sense of mission to art and nationality is the only faith for Mr. Fu along the enjoyment journey in art.
Subconsciously, he considers art as a personal matter and a matter of positive significance to the society, community and public, which carries a mission in itself. “Because, my upbringing, life and possessions are given by my nation, society and populace. Furthermore, life is a natural magic, a greatest favor and courtesy from the nature. As a result, an artist can be egoistic or rebellious, but he can never give up his responsibility to the reality and society. Although it is hard to get obvious effect from individual efforts in short term, I believe when everyone begins to act with positive thoughts, the inheritance and development of ethnic culture and the advancement of human civilization will go forwards to the promising future.
Personally speaking, if I regard art as my pursuit of life, then I shall not circumvent the reality during the creation at the very least. I shall take it as an embodiment of personal profile, but also a carrier to affect others, to raise concern from the public upon the deficiency, bias and overlook, to get people thinking and imaging the better solution in the face of reality and look ahead. These are my understanding of mission and responsibility.”
Transformation Series by Xinmin Fu
The modern sculpture arts created by Xinmin Fu is based on the essence of life. He picks up rotten woods of hundreds-year old that are remarked with black spots and scars and featured with solemnity and intense flexibility for sculpture art, as they bring out a feeling of long-lasting memories and histories for us. While the cold metal used in the creation turns out to be an element of formal language after processing, cutting and disposition. The two kinds of materials coordinate with each other and render the impressive force of nature, the aesthetic feeling and appeal of creative work as well as the abstraction of modern forms. They are combined to fulfill the harmony from disharmony, the unity from disunity and the integrity from disintegrity. In fact, the meaning of his creation is to attach new significance and formal aesthetic to the essence of life and bring about a shocking experience beyond any voice or expression in the refreshing presentation.
Xinmin Fu has a clear awareness to the intrinsic divergence between modern and traditional art and states that:”The creation of contemporary art is to reflect the thinking of contemporary people in the forms of art. So I have to keep on learning, keep pace with the times and grasp the directions of the times. How would you present the images or forms of modern society and conceptions if you don’t understand them? Contemporary art is the expression of the artist’s emotions rather than a creature. Of which the key element is not about technique, but the highlight of integrating thinking and conceptions into works through artistic form or image. It is a showcase of “great me” instead of “individual” things. ” The statement briefly and impressively refers to the superiority and extension of contemporary art over traditional art. It also interprets the profound theoretical basis of the unique, innovative, vigorous and influential works created by Xinmin Fu.
Transformation Series by Xinmin Fu
He sets up a outstanding standard in Chinese contemporary art with his abundant works and tireless persistence. As the pioneer of the era, he is likely to get recognition in the future stage of art for his value and significance. Certainly, the urgent task for himself is to figure out the how to build more connections and exchanges to the era, the society and the public through art. He hopes that people would know about his works and their implicit concerns over the circumstance of human beings.
Art is a decent carrier, but when it is capable of affecting and arousing more people to think about the harmony between human and nature, the merits of it is more profound. That’s the motive for Xinmin Fu to explore in art field.
He sets up a outstanding standard in Chinese contemporary art with his abundant works and tireless persistence. As the pioneer of the era, he is likely to get recognition in the future stage of art for his value and significance. Certainly, the urgent task for himself is to figure out the how to build more connections and exchanges to the era, the society and the public through art. He hopes that people would know about his works and their implicit concerns over the circumstance of human beings.
Art is a decent carrier, but when it is capable of affecting and arousing more people to think about the harmony between human and nature, the merits of it is more profound. That’s the motive for Xinmin Fu to explore in art field.