Comment by Dawei Liu: The Spirit of Li Xu in Chinese Ink and Brush Painting
Anyone familiar to Li Xu knows that, he is an absolute academism having extensive background of oil painting, a productive painter of distinctive oil painting and a remarkable Chinese painter of outstanding achievements. Li Xu is attached to art images, tastes and spirits of oriental aesthetics in painting and the unique quality and spiritual depth of painting language. Through the insistent exploration in academic planning, he has brought more and more evidence to the orientation in his ink and brush works.
“Driving a pen is never been easy through the ages.” Li Xu studies carefully on art traditions of Chinese painting and calligraphy all the year around. He comprehends the theories of ink and brush paintings in the course of mastery and acquisition of ink languages to seek for the mental image and artistic conception in Chinese ink and brush paintings. He also studies on calligraphy for long and insists to the tradition of “drawing calligraphy into paintings” in order to savor the experience of various ink lines and vigorous spirits in different calligraphy styles.
Li Xu knows well that painting is an art that requires profound literacy and enlightenment in life. Therefore, he works hard on different categories simultaneously, from painting to calligraphy and from calligraphy to literature. He reads a variety of subjects and takes delight in literature, history and philosophy as a diligent reader who is never seen without a book in his hands. Being a professional painter, he has been traveled around for thousands of miles, seeking for writing sources and painting objects and cultivating for internal accomplishment along the way. Li Xu has been worked as a faulty member in university. In mission of transmitting wisdom and imparting knowledge, he has become more understanding of the truth that there is no end for learning and art. He maintained an open heart and took advice from the senior or fellow artists, drawing inspiration and nutrients from learning. Afterwards, he worked in literary federations at primary-level and liaison department for several years. In that period, he reached out to local neighborhoods and folk cultures, keeping grounded through the service and liaison towards a number of artists from the grass-roots. From which he experienced different lifestyles among them and learned from their good virtues and toughness. Li Xu often feels proud of the diverse experience in his life, as they are connecting to his wide vision, broad mind and generosity and producing a profound effect on his creations of Chinese ink and brush painting.
Li Xu follows the laws of art creation but not handles all the elements strictly by rules. He absorbs the essence in tradition and seeks for changes and innovations in the meantime to make the best blending of varied sources in creation. What’s more, he thinks highly of the intentions to experience life gets inspirations frequently in the moment from dynamic elements in routine life, before integrating into the creation with his broad mind and without haste. He is capable of wielding the brush and pen freely and quickly as he wishes in displaying the brushwork of bold style and the common sense with absurd image. The magnificence force of his creation has won a favorable comment by a scholar, saying that Li Xu knows infinite varied skills by heart and drives the pen and brush freely with plenty of guts like a hero.
The freehand brush works created by Li Xu is a presentation of the ideological and academic level to his achievement. They are subjective expressions over varied subjects from the bottom of his heart by the means of high generalization and abstraction. In which he delivers various mind image and create the artistic conception as a showcasing of philosophical meaning of an optimistic life. Combining the spirit implied in the previous oil paintings on the theme of Tibetan religions, the free mind and unconstrained style accomplished from calligraphy and the pattern of image oil painting lately together, he emphasizes on physical image and artistic conception in the forms of art tuition and sensibility during the creation. Varied themes of his works are featured with concise and funny profile, while the vigorous characters are formed in the bold and unconstrained display of ink and brush and the simple colorization. Both of them are the best evidence of the artist’s prevailing mind with less attention to the forms or appearance. It usually creates excellent works that emerging with appeal, amusement and meaning.
Li Xu is looked like a northerner though he comes from the southern part of China. However, the ink and brush works in his creation are precise and diversified, revealing the temperament of a literary and knowledgeable man, the spirit of a seasoned veteran, the atmosphere of a calm and prudent figure and the exquisite expression of pen movement and skill. Meanwhile, they also deliver the spiritual outlooks of the artist, the frankness, optimism, vigor and strength characteristics, with a slice of clumsy, humorous and natural sense. The sentiment and reminiscence of Li Xu are cultivated and improved through a great deal of life experience and elaborating undertaking in art, as he truly and deeply shows the loving care for life and the inner world of people.
The tradition of humanity spirit which is of importance to Chinese ink and brush painting or the cultural value of the latter refers to the high value of art quality, the concern towards the realistic world and the individual expression and true feelings at the utmost. As a result, the academic significance and goal of Chinese painting is closely related or targeting to human life as such. While, if the ultimate goal of academic dimensions were set other than to concern with human life, then art would not go forward steadily. Without doubt, Li Xu has gained more insights into this matter.
By Dawei Liu