Wangjing and Feijiacun: these are districts on the outskirts of Beijing where I live and work. Everyday, from home to work, I go the same way. Through the car windows, one section after the other,I can see: farmland that is still untouched, new construction sites, European-style villas, old buildings from the sixties and seventies built in the style favoured by Socialism, and the modern office buildings FOR THE NEW CENTURY. In little more than 10 minutes, I can view the paradoxes of the times, the haste and the frenzy of the era. It makes me angry and uneasy, and this is the background atmosphere for my new paintings.
Since the 1990's, daily life has been the dominant theme in my paintings. However, I moved my
studio from the bed of down that is Chongqing to this noisy, impetuous and magnificent city that is
Beijing, and it has become painstakingly difficult to pursue only the symbolic representation of
daily life, as I did in the beginning. Had I continued in the same mode, it would have become empty and meaningless. So my old style of careful and delicate painting, somewhat like a miniaturist, that I used previously to get a feeling of the smallness of things, I gave up.
Today, I feel that these “fragments” of living props must be done away with and explode, and my brush strokes have become freer, more improvised and calligraphic. This change began with the series of cat portraits that I did in 2003. I use this technique to create tension and a feeling of chaos, and this new style of work is very different from before. The dominant theme in my work is no longer my own daily experiences, but I try to show the violence of human beings in regard to their environment, the demolition sites, the mindless and unlimited urbanization, the excessive use of resources, etc. I started doing this in my fish series in which the narrative is more direct and purer; symbolization and evocation mingle to create a much clearer expression. I am no longer interested in carefully and delicately painted pictures. Painting has become for me a way to express my nature and my feelings. Something accumulates in my heart a part of which will naturally overflow and this is what I want to show in my work.
Year 2005,Huan Jiadi
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