The Power of Thinking in Private

　　Zhou Xiaoyong

　　As an artistic form with strong criticalness, woodcut print is supposed to play an active role in the realm of contemporary art. The woodcut prints of German expressionists as well as those created during anti-Japanese war and Liberation War in China are all the sophisticated works with great power. Many critics, however, commented that present-day Chinese woodcut prints had lost the connection with current affairs, even wide of the mark. Bitter as the criticisms are, they tell the truth. The simple reason for that is the majority of printmakers make their effort to sing the praise of and prettify current society with their abundant sweet works, as a result of which woodcut print has lost its distinctive features of criticalness, advance and power. It has been estranged from the marching-forward society.The current situation highlights Mr. Liu Chunjie as a distinct repudiator. His works are characterized by consistent humor, absurdity, sarcasm and criticalness, in which the very value of his works lies. He spares no efforts to find his voice in such a prosperous era.

　　When I first met Mr. Liu nine years ago, the style of his works was quite aesthetic. At that time, his works mainly described the memory of childhood and the scene of pastoral life with serene, mysterious and dream-like pictures. Later, he wrote this sentence in one of his works: “Minor beauty serves to entertain while grand beauty can bend the soul.” As is shown in his later works, he finally chose grand beauty, power and to think on his own. Amazing changes took place and a large number of works were published in the wake of his choice, such as the serialized works of Thinking in private, Worshiper Serial and Dreams over Thousands of Years whose style was completely different from that of his past works. He bid a farewell to the past, resolutely.

　　As Thinking in private, Safety Serial, his newly published serialized work, poses a sharp criticism against the wickedness deep in human souls instead of catering to the materialistic need of the society. Look around us, from food security to drug security, from traffic security to housing security, from travel security, personal information security to life security, even baby milk powder is not safe at all. Each day, the devastating incidents happen around us. Is money reaIIy the most important thing? Do we have to sacrifice our conscience for economic development? What is safe for us to eat and drink without any worry? How can we survive those security threats? Is there a hospital that is able to heal our wounds? The dangerous time has come as economy leaps forward.

　　These works borrow the common portrait on warning signs. Its extremely simple design demonstrates the unique, grassroot and edgy feature of the portrait. Moreover, the sharp contrast between red and green color and the silver gilt, which seem to be randomly arranged, are the real reflection of the artist’ sarcasm. These works reflects the social problems that should be worried most in our age. The repeated appearance of most common pictures prompts us to think about those problems seriously and carefully. In addition, we are reminded of the pop art, the propaganda poster, dazibao and me headlines of the blackboard newspaper during the “Cultural Revolution” in China. There is no doubt that all these paintings are thought-provoking. Mr. Liu claimed that his works should be categorized into “the significant subject of realism”. I agree totally agree with him since all these works focus on current social problems. He has found his voice which remind me of the famous remarks of Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.”

　　Although Safety Series does not seem to be an artistic extract for careful appreciation, or it can not enjoy the international fame as the works of Andy Warhol, it at least represents the accountability and inner peace of an artist. Both his unique ideas and courage of criticizing current affairs does not only inject fresh blood into woodcut print, but also cultivate his own personality and distinct style, which will benefit his creation in other forms of painting.

　　Wang Huangsheng once wrote in his microblog: “After reading the introductions to some famous German and French directors, I am aware that they are resisting the society, politics and market with their dignity and even life. They are exploring and revealing human nature. This is art.” But one thing is for sure: no matter how bitter the artists’ criticisms are, their purpose is in good faith and for the achievement of grand beauty.

　　Mr. Liu is always doing his best to seek innovation in his creation. Fancy ideas ceaselessly change the design of his work. After watching his works, many artists exclaimed: “It is really amazing! Woodcut print can be created in such a novel way!” Despite literariness and narrative have been long distained and most artists of today are after art just for art’s sake, Liu associates his artistic creation with his own life closely, drawing and writing the people and incidents around him. He upholds the philosophy of “art rooted in and nourished by life”. Anything around him can be the materials of his works, with which he comments, criticizes, convinces and warns. Professor Wang Huaxiang from Central Academy of Fine Arts remarked: “I am overwhelmed by Liu’ works because they clearly point out and sharply criticize our social problems. Therefore, his works provides us a diagnosis and a therapy for those social problems. As an excellent representation of the spirit of traditional woodcut print, his works remind me of the works created in Yan’an and those created during Liberation War, which definitely exert profound influence on Liu’ creation. I think he has found a very good way of creation for himself and a way out for the prospect of woodcut print.”(1) Professor Wang’s comment strikes a chord with me. Thinking in private, the soul of Liu’s art, glitters everywhere like shining stars in his works. It is the power of his spirit and free thoughts make his works unique.

　　After carefully sort out Liu’s works published in recent year, I got the following amazing statistics: An Thinking in Private(book), 100 woodcut prints and 100 essays in 2005; Worshiper, a serialized colored woodcut prints with 20 pictures in 2006; Thinking Privately(book), 100 woodcuts and 100 essays during 2007-2008; 60 mono woodcuts, 100 essays and a book named New Private Thinking in 2009; 66 water colors, 66 journals during sketching, one book named Inspiration Kuhlungsborn-A Chinese Painter’s TraveI Journal of Germany; 11 woodcuts(193X123CM), 15 oil paintings, 30 water ink paintings and a novel of 250,000 words to be published in 2011; 75 essays, a dozen of works of the Safety Serial and a book named Liu Yan Fei Yu (Liu’s remarks and comments) in early 2012. These statistics tell us how diligent and productive Liu is. From all his works it is easy to find out that Liu has another distinctive feature: painting and writing at the same time. It is relieved that the publisher recognized Liu’s talent and sponsored him to publish his works more than once. This also demonstrated that his works are well received by the market.

　　Mr. Chao Mei, Liu’s teacher, one commented in an article: “Liu is a versatile artist who is good at thinking and hardworking in practice. He excels his peers in writing and critical thinking. His recent works, Thinking Private, Thinking Privately and New Private Thinking in particular, display his talents. What amazes us is that the pictures and captions in his works complement each other perfectly. They reveal, explain and criticize current social problems with strong sarcasm and humor, which makes his books easy to read and appealing to readers.” (2)

　　I’ve known him for many years and devoted plenty of time to figure out his inner world on the basis of his works. So I firmly believe that Liu will bring us more surprises with his free thoughts. I would also like to offer my suggestions to the readers who do not know Liu well: if you want to have a better understanding of his paintings, please read his articles and books, which are quite helpful for us to experience his spiritual course and enjoy the pleasure and power of thinking in private.

　　Note:

　　1. Preface to New Ideas. Huangshan Publishing House, 2010.

　　2. Cao Mei. A Portrait of Liu Chunjie. Chinese Block Print, 2006 (28).

　　看吧 真火了

　　快乐就是生产力

　　鹿

　　哇!好大的腕呀!

　　诊断