Neither "wo" nor "men"

By: Yu Changjiang

Those women whom Zhao Xiaojia is interested in are neither "wo" nor "men".

And, these women in pictures are of rare beauties. It expresses that some women are phantom of a sort unusual temperament or to say they represent the disposition itself - queer, spiritual, bewitching and so on rather than, in demography, it indicates a particular gender such as white-collar ladies, professional women and city girls. The subtlety of it beyond description though it can be sensed, which is fully clear and specific by the hand of Zhao Xiaojia. Not only can it be seen but also can be drawn.

Here, what we have seen are not the pretty and sexy beauties fancied by the man in the street. Only are the figures of modernity and urbanizing living in a life of tangle and mysterious which passes a power of the most moving sense on: the various desires of nature instinct turned into a coherent synthesis after disconnecting and reinventing by education, profession, public opinion and worldly wisdom. During the course of being brought up or succeed, things needless to say like sexy and dissipation are deeply practised as routining performance.

The circumstance with a protective screen made by modernity holds the unspeakable temperament within the women in paintings, and contrarily, has been kept unadulterated. It has become the real leading role in such visional frame created by Zhao Xiaojia ,and distinctly, showing and scattering.

In the event that we had gone back to the age of myth, the female would be telepathizing, forbidding and metaphorical. All of those are eventually buried by age of science reason and, by chance, Zhao Xiaojia is like an archaeologist in post-reason era who has dug up the mystery and hurried back holding it in his hands, then laid it in front of the world.

Figures in picture have nothing to do with being good or being bad. The female form is the embodiment of evil whom can either be a upright and principled woman, or a wellbred girl, or a good wife and loving mother, or a beautiful girl, and either a goddess or homosexual, furthermore, even a mistress in case of corruption though she followed the man not for money's sake.

These women are the logical meeting-point in reality which involved with fashion, economy, equality, entertainment, healthy, consumption, politics, aesthetics, marriage, money, power, sex, psychology, corruption, discrimination, competition, crime, law, harmony and so forth. What we have sensed in modern society can never get around them - they have made various of demonstration, implying and transforming for the world.

In accordance with the standard of fashion magazine, the faminine charm created by Zhao Xiaojia has a little weirdness though away from ugliness. But, far from smearing them! The key question is that he has his own particular angle for women and can see something else through, as same as the saying among medieval theology about children who were able to see the light of ghost. To an ordinary being, it is a bit of unfamiliar, unaccustomed and hard to understand.

This world originally is of male chauvinist ideology. To take enjoyment in women is all from the view of men which always focus on the measurements of the chest, waist and hips, height, skin, double eyelid, nose, mouth, hair, finger tips, foot and so on. Women should be weary of such ruthless uniformity in the standardization chains. To be seen at all time - for either la Joconde or shepherdess from North Tibet - is tedious and unbearable.

Zhao Xiaojia has disaccustomed this single depressing visual habit. He could not wait for women's revolution toward the concept while turning the old habitus on his own initiative. These works show his peculiar attention on women - looks like discard an old selfness from prettiness - he refines else thing from the new combination of beauty and ugliness so as to make his own method. Will his new excitement build a brand-new future in the world?

But, at any rate, true women shall fond of Zhao Xiaojia for the female of species in picture would be, at last, existed without being forced by the hope and selecting from conventional men.

Zhao Xiaojia's lonely struggle is corresponding to his unique indulgence - perhaps, he is the only person in this world whose sexual orientation is straight but having a hobby for feminine dressing, as if he plays a Dan role on the stage of reality - he loves wearing high-heel shoes, stockings, skirt and even women's accessories, etc.. In the life of the extreme survival Zhao Xiaojia has experienced a lot differences in between that heightens his sensitivity for women from all others. Therefore, in any aesthetic circumstances, he is able to express fully about feminine bodies and their inner nature which indicates Zhao Xiaojia's receptivity and self-control capacity, not only the technique of painting skill.

His special sensitivity and visual angle of women is derived from his growth stage when surrounded by women. He had to observe and perceive women by then. But, he will get bored easily if only to see women through common sense - such as beauty, ugliness, fat, slim, tall, short, staunch and tender and so on - due to his strong sensibility and creativity, in which requests him seeing what others can not see.

This innate capacity also put himself in self-critical and longing for a new lease on life. His dress in a reverse role, teasing people at a banquet, being crazy on singing a song loudly, piles of boots, uncountable teapots on his table, unusual high-back chairs......all of those seems to force him into a brave situation with not knowing what is for....... To the world he shall be a rare beauty. As well as in his entire life there is a monologue :" I must be quite a figure!"