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July 2, 2015

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Artist finds a fondness for leisure

Artist Wu Yiming has always preferred a low profile, partly due to his personality and partly due to the media he adopts.

Wu has chosen Chinese ink and rice paper even though he eschews traditional subjects like trees, flowers, animals and landscapes. His work falls clearly in the contemporary art category.

Occupying a spacious studio that boasts a good view overlooking M50, a collection of galleries and studios on Moganshan Road, Wu says he is comfortable with himself at his “shelter.”

Wu confesses that as an old M50 “resident,” he has a strong emotional bond with the place.

“I spend nearly 10 hours at my studio every day,” said Wu, a Shanghai native born in 1966. “It is such a relaxation for both my body and soul. Sometimes I do nothing here, but you know idling away the time can be a fantastic thing.”

Although Shanghai is his home, his ancestors are from Suzhou, a city that has made a deep impression on the artist.

“Have you ever been to Suzhou? It is a city that provided many imperial goods, varying from the silk clothes the emperor wore to the royal ceramic teapots and the hand-made furniture the emperor used.

“There are also the gardens. The philosophical thoughts hidden in the garden are profound and contain the essence of Chinese culture.”

He says art has always been his destiny and he even turned down offers from prestigious universities like Tsinghua University to pursue his passion.

“Art is my ‘belief’ and its form suits me,” he said. “I am glad that I made the decision.”

Art critic Zhu Qi is an admirer of Wu’s painting.

“Li Yu, a scholar from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) once wrote a book with a title that loosely means ‘random thoughts of a mind at leisure.’ The book recorded the different playful reflections of a introverted scholar on occasions after he had eaten his dinner and drank a good cup of tea. This is what I think about when I look at Wu Yiming’s new ink paintings. They are like a diary of his mental state. It is not that he is digging for the difficult meanings of life; but rather that he depicts the scattered thoughts of his mind when at leisure.”

Ming and Qing scholars often projected their inner longings and spiritual pursuits through their obsession with certain objects. Similar to these scholars, Wu’s ink paintings depict life’s playfulness and enjoyment of leisure, such as looking at the branches of a blooming orchid, a corner of a water pond, a portrait of a friend or a pair of dancing swans in a lake. In each painting he adds contemporary elements such as a car, the spectrum of a neon light, several landscape photographs, a still from a film sequence or designer playing cards.

But Wu’s “leisure” has something he has “learned” after going through some difficult times.

“There existed some moments when I was so disappointed in myself, as if I had come to a deadlock in art,” said the graduate of East China Normal University. “But no one could help, I had to climb from the abyss on my own.”

A combination of factors including financial pressure, a mental block and the rocketing fame of his peers led Wu to doubt himself and his ability.

“However, one day I suddenly realized that it wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “I just painted what I wanted because that is what art is all about.”

Wu is also unusual in that he places the rice paper on the ground while painting because it has no “bonds.”

He also confesses to being an amateur gardener.

“Believe it or not, I am very good at nurturing plants,” he said, “Look at this asparagus fern. I have nurtured it for nearly a decade. As if by fate, I am now painting plants. I find that I have a special attachment toward ordinary items in life.”

He also says he has avoided what he calls “Taobao fever” as it “deprives us of the variety and fun part of life.”




 

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