Du Xinjian, a graduate of China’s top art university, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, is not only a painter, but also he is an intellectual and a philosopher. As an admirer of the ideas and historical concepts of the great minds of China’s past, Du Xinjian’s surrealist paintings reflect the themes of China’s ancient thinkers such as utopia, justice and balance.
“Only an artist can portray what is in their imagination”, says Du Xinjian. “Others can imagine things and talk about them, but they have no way to show it.”
Du’s inspiration comes from a mixture of his own imagination, stories of old by ancient Chinese philosophers and modern life, creeping into the artist’s mind. As an intellectual himself, Du greatly admires the ancient Chinese philosophers. Du was inspired by the story of the Peach Blossom Shangri-La, by Tao Yuanming. It is a story of a fisherman who travels to a utopian world (written long before Thomas Moore’s Utopia). The people who lived in the utopian garden were not affected by the world’s harsh realities. Inspired by this, Du has created his own imaginary world, free from the realities that Du Xinjian chooses. For example, people in Du’s world often do not follow the laws of gravity, they are often floating freely.
Something that is very clear from Du Xinjian’s work, even at first viewing, is the artist’s excellent training at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Du does not use models, yet the details in the figures he paints are truly superb: the details of the hands, the shading of the faces, the wrinkles of the clothes – all perfectly painted with the utmost care and skill. The technique is reminiscent of many classical master painters.
Due to the artist’s painstaking and meticulous technique, each painting takes Du many months and sometimes even years, to complete. It is therefore Art Scene Beijing’s very great pleasure to announce the unveiling of Du Xinjian’s new works, for which so many have patiently waited. In this, his new series, Du Xinjian has surpassed even himself; an accomplishment that many would not have thought possible.
