Lu Peng, Greetings! Your letter and words brought me back to beautiful Sanya. As you mentioned, our gathering was most restful. I live in plateau area without a glimpse of sea, so the trip to Sanya left me deep and wonderful memories: the moist air, the soft sunshine, the transparent greenish-blue sea and the beach with our footprints ... Of course we also had academic activities. With the publishing of the first book in 20th century Chinese art history, a group of artists who have contributed positively to Chinese contemporary art had the chance to get together. We reviewed history, looked forward to the future, and painted free and relaxed with brushes under a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere. Having heard that these spontaneous works will be consigned to a renowned auction house in Asia, with the income being used to support AAA and your own teaching, I am indeed very happy! I think this is most meaningful and am honored that my work can contribute to your cause! Meanwhile, say Hello to Sanya! Have a nice summer, Da Mao (Mao Xuhui)
Work in brush and ink on xuan paper (70x140)
Born in the 1950s, Mao Xuhui had experienced all the major changes New China had undergone and these had profoundly influenced him. From his Paternalism series created in the 1980s, we can see that his tenacious will held up during those earlier social changes, which only strengthened his self-belief rather than make him more compliant. The advent of commercial society, however, aroused his concern that an individual's experiences should provide spiritual value in the present, and that past experiences, whether personal feelings or a rudimentary respect for human nature, are the proper measure of human worth. As he followed this train of thought, he expressed a deep concern about the new commercialization: 'When the advertising industry began to develop and everyone tried to go into business, the plane trees that grew up with us still generously provided us with free shade and touches of color as they always had, as did their friends like the tall and dark eucalypts and the poplars. These city trees saw us through from the 1950s to the 1990s, thriving in the dust, soot and exhaust laden atmosphere through different periods without uttering any complaint'. (Journal at the Palm Camp, 1995) Artists with this nostalgic temperament seemed to be doomed to suffer, and Mao's experiences not only made him sensitive to the anxieties brought about by the latest social changes but also encouraged him to anticipate future disasters. Mao had no time for the 'carefree' artistic attitude, and he could not tolerate a cynical or detached artistic position. The individual is always relatively powerless, and while trying to compensate for the loss of collective idealism that evaporated with commercialization and replace it with his own sense of idealism, Mao became engulfed by loneliness that is reflected in his life and work. Contemplating the nature of universal 'authority' (quanli) when he painted the Paternalism series led Mao to determinedly defend the 'authority' of the individual, and the themes of his paintings began to explicate the individual's world. In his 1995 account titled Journal at the Palm Camp he wrote: 'We can only feel sympathy for ourselves. Confronted by the supreme and perfect world, our shortcomings are self-apparent. We can't control the course of our own life, nor can we ever be sure that we will reach our destination on time'. Mao's spiritual struggle reminds us of Schopenhauer's tragic philosophy in which man feels pain when he can't fulfill his desires and ennui when his desires are fulfilled. Mao's problem was probably not so much 'his suffering', but rather his knowledge ofthe root of that suffering.
In 1993, he convalesced at home after a serious illness. This provided him with time and space to confront the burning issues. Yet while he found material peace, his spiritual life was going haywire, like the ongoing construction projects in the world outside. His contemplation of metaphysical issues triggered anxiety: 'What is the meaning of life? Tell me precisely. It is just like that pair of blue plastic slip-ons in front of the door, practical, simple in design and so perfectly positioned'. (Journal at the Palm Camp, 1995) Daily life provided the spiritual resources required by the artist during that period. The creation of the Daily Epic (Richang shishi, 1994) series of works was both part of Mao's long process of exploration of the overarching theme of life's meaning and his personal defense against the irresistible tides of commercial society. Feeling that most of the countryside had lost its pristine beauty, he could only attempt to retain that beauty in his own private world. Finally, in Daily Epic: Scissors (Richang shishi: Jiandao, 1994), the artist found the means to express his rage and anxiety. The historical significance of 'authority' in Paternalism was now cut into by the incisive work Scissors, which dramatically expressed a reality that is more or less hopeless. This seemed to be a natural development for the artist: Scissors cut apart the sensual relationship between the artistic reflection on big themes related to 'daily life' and the idea of authority.
.....................................................
Paternalism
Mao's numerous works with 'paternalism' as their theme completed after August 1989 indicate that the artist had entered a new stage of creation. Around the time of the 1988 Southwestern Modem Art Exhibition, the basics of his image of paternalism emerged clearly in such works as the Portrait of Young Paternalism series (Nianqing jiazhang xiaoxiang zuhua, 1988) and Paternalism (Jiazhang, 1988). Prior to creating these works, Mao Xuhui had simultaneously followed a number of creative paths represented by the lyrical Guishan works, the Private Space series and his pop collages. However, in the second half of 1988, the themes of Paternalism started to gain prominence. Portrait of Young Paternalism is a selfportrait reflecting the psychological state of the artist. Among these works, the diamond-shaped face has become a symbol and the significance of the portrait has almost disappeared. These paintings reflect the artist's horror occasioned by some force emanating from an unknown source. The artist sensed that this force could swallow and diminish man's flesh and spirit, but the Paternalism images are also surprisingly intimidating. Paternalism, as exhibited at the Southwestern Art Exhibition, stressed more obviously the measure of diminishing power. The two heads on the left and right give us a sense of retreat, while the head in the middle is being pushed forward by the dark square behind it. This painting, generally speaking, conveys a rather vague impression.
......................................................
The artist proposed a definition for his concept of 'paternalism' or the 'patriarch' (jiazhang), which has the following meanings:
First of all, 'paternalism' is the personification of reality. He is the father of life. He has strictly defined the existence of life. He instills life with an impression of solemnity, sacredness, terror and tyranny. He makes life accept everything as he has defined it and leaves life with no other choices;
The 'patriarch' is also a shadow of history that reminds us of the non-transcendental nature of life. He links life with rotten things of the past or more remote worlds;
'Paternalism' is threats coming from all directions, an instrument of torture that tortures life and makes
life submit to death;
'Paternalism' is an ethical and moral mask. It makes life depend on it and violates life;
'Paternalism' is a deadening sound coming from a mysterious depth. It entices life to approach it and makes the living lose their normal sense of hearing;
'Paternalism' is the doorkeeper of hell that makes a horrible identification of life when it enters hell; 'Paternalism' is also the mother of life. It possesses the features of a mother. But these maternal features only remind us of Medea. Linked to killing and blood, it also reminds us of the vampire painted by Edvard Munch;
'Paternalism' is also life itself.
'Paternalism' always appears in various disturbing places as an incarcerated image. It embodies a threat
'Paternalism' always appears in various disturbing places as an incarcerated image. It embodies a threat
since life is always under threat. It informs us in a visible way of the power of threat. 'Paternalism' looks very lonely, and this loneliness belongs to every life;
'Paternalism' also looks deformed, and this deformity is the deformity of life. Therefore, the 'patriarch' is thus both an executor of torture and a victim of torture; 'Paternalism' controls life and is also the controlled life;
'Paternalism' possesses the power of threat and is being threatened by some force too;
'Paternalism' is omnipresent but has no freedom of movement, devastating life as well as supporting life, cross-examining life as well as being the cross-examined life, and, finally, 'paternalism' is the existential choice made by the artist to represent the relationship between life and reality.
The artist recognizes and endures the fact that 'paternalism' is filled with spiritual content.
Mao Xuhui thus recognized that 'paternalism' encompasses the artist's understanding of 'control' (kongzhi) and 'authority' (quanli). Reality, in the final analysis, is irresistible, and must be understood as a complicated relationship between the internal and external worlds.
....................................................
Scissors
Scissors
In 1993, Mao experienced a health crisis, and was to pay a heavy price in the 1990s for his relentlessness of the 1980s. Physiological disorders not only led to mental depression, but also caused him cultural disorientation. He began to doubt what he set out to paint. Prior to 1993, Mao was immersed in his victory over his sociologically artistic and spiritual 'rights and their portrayal' (quanti yiji quanli zaoxing). The joys of victory and the combination of physical and spiritual torment brought him back to his beginnings. He began to paint still fife works at home, at a time then China began to experience the first round of collective excitement occasioned by her economic growth.
During his illness, Mao was faced with many still life objects, 'such as medicine crock pots, liquid medications, ashtrays, pills, tablets and scissors, all lying on the table'. Because of his sensitivity to lines and shapes, the scissors caught his attention. The theme of 'authority' in the Paternalism series now found its internal continuity in daily articles, although at that time the Vocabulary of Authority (Quanli cihui, 1993-94) was still at the center of his creative efforts. In the Vocabulary of Authority series, expressionism is still obvious in his work, but there are traces of new figurative images and pop styles in his creative process, indicating that his long term devotion to reflections on society, philosophy and existence had itself entered a new stage in which grand themes and narration ultimately tum to a micro-statement of the artist's internal feelings. He finally describes deep thinking in poetic colors and geometric shapes, and his perception of daily experience shows the perspective and minuteness of the artist's thinking. In the Vocabulary of Authority series completed in 1993, we find a familiar, yet strange, world. Furniture, doors, keys and portraits now make a visual play, and the surface calm turns into a conflict of colors and composition, probably telling us something about the artist's actual condition at the time. He had learned to confront his own body and soul calmly, and at the same time, did not permit himself too much freedom in his daily life.
His peaceful struggle finally found its most apt symbol in a pair of scissors because, as an object, scissors are an insignificant quotidian instrument of delicate attack. Scissors ultimately provided a true opening for the artist's real emotions, and when Mao's scissors first appeared, the artist was very angry at life itself and felt perplexed by his own conditions. Scissors signify cutting things apart and reorganizing them, and so his motif drawn from daily life has eventually been transformed through his perceptions into something as important as epic poems, capable of relegating true authority to the most tranquil comer of life. If it can be said that authority in the Paternalism series was sociologically of great importance, as was the influence of authority on the existence of the individual, an influence sometimes imposed by history, then the leitmotif of scissors further explains how our lives are a network constructed by authority. In Daily Epic: Scissors (Richang shishi: Jiandao, 1994) we see a complex everyday scene composed of a table, chairs, cups and plates, with a pair of sharp scissors placed in front of them. The balance of routine is thus shattered and normality negated, and we sense anxiety within the stability of the scene. Scissors are a part of our daily life, but through the artist's discovery of them, they become an everyday enemy. They have also now become both the visible and invisible core of the artist's compositions.
...........................................
The history of the past two decades has not brought great change to the basic requirements of artists.
Various vigorous artistic forms and phenomena all point to the central issues: the revelation and solution of various real problems related to man's freedom and ideological emancipation, and the maximal possibility for these forms and phenomena to seek out the most appropriate condition for human existence, not the establishment of new models and new authorities that brook no verbal attack or new structures that refuse change. Mao's work and art are part of this whole cultural mutation. Although his efforts may look insignificant within the entire spectrum of cultural mutation, it is the small efforts made by Mao Xuhui and other artists and intellectuals that are changing people's concepts and worldview. Artists cannot take the place of other people in seeking changes for themselves and their environments, but they can provide them with tonics for their psychological well-being.
Artists in Art History. Lü Peng.