Ren Zhe's sculpture captures his viewers through his adroit use of the language of sculpture, his deep regard of Chinese tradition, and especially his exaggerated and magnificent sculptural form that is nevertheless filled with spirit and character.  He maintains an appropriate distance from contemporary and traditional art in its form and expression, revealing his own maturity and depth.  According to age divides, however, he is irrefutably part of the young 'post '80s' generation.  Thus, there is something seemingly "incongruous" between the artist and his work.

　　This psychological feeling of "incongruity" is actually caused by people's first impressions of certain cultural expectations.  The term 'post '80s' has been coined by older people to describe those born in the early 1980s, to set a boundary using the colorful, external signposts from historical determinism to biological reductionism.  The "characteristics of the '80s generation" are described in terms of a one dimensional vocabulary as having no history, no depth, no responsibility, no vision, and being frivolous by nature; yet, these are actually symptomatic conditions of the '80s.  In fact, the survival conditions, cultural background and perceptions of the '80s generation are so diverse and their values are so varied that there are absolute, unbridgeable differences.

　　Furthermore, since art is still developing, there is an implied immaturity and tender youth, even to the point of shallow ignorance; yet, this is a time of maturation when it is possible to achieve multi-faceted development.  For the '80s generation, to persevere in advancing their own experiences and thought, refining their own subjectivity and to surpass their former selves in order to gradually mature is of the greatest importance; they need to continue to be refined, filtered, and selected by history.

　　Through his keen and contemplative awareness, Ren Zhe has arrived at this point; he inherits the traditions of the older intellectual generation through his sense of history and vision. Equipped with his own unique abilities and talents, he has sought out a way to continue pressing forward within this cultural lineage.

　　Since his youth, Ren Zhe has been in a favorable environment where he has immersed himself in traditional Chinese culture without being a blind adherent.  In fact, it is the exact opposite: as a spirited contemporary person who is familiar with contemporary culture, he comprehensively contemplates the successes and failures of modern culture through the perspective of traditional culture.  In all of his reflections, he asks, what is the most important issue in contemporary culture?  He postulates that it is the decline, the disappearance, and the decay of spiritual character; all these questions are rooted in the question of humanity and the question of beliefs and values on which they base their views and build their character.  In the end, this is a fundamental, unavoidable question.  Humanity habitually shifts the blame for the "cause for sickness" onto every aspect of the structure and system, so they feel at peace with themselves and continue on as usual; or, they become cynical.  Upon deeper reflection, however, it is necessary to attack the question first by examining one's own character; otherwise, there is no other way.

　　This understanding is the basis for Ren Zhe's careful observations and ruminations on the "character" of contemporary culture.  Since China's forced opening by Western guns and battleships, the pursuit of modernity has become its core desire, where nation-wide modernization has been continuously advancing and changing as people stride forwards towards modernity.  However, modernization should have modernity at its core; otherwise, it is merely external modernization–superficial development, which may seem harmonious, but is actually problematic.  The foundation of modernity is subjectivity; in its absence, everything else is unsustainable.  Therefore, any profound concepts or refined speech must be internalized in order to be truly effective.  Otherwise, what seems lofty will merely sink into the bubble of utopian culture or opportunism, where valuable customs become tools that make noble righteousness bear rancid fruit.

　　Ren Zhe's understanding of this touches on the core of contemporary culture.  It goes without saying that over the years in pursuit of maximizing the economic benefits of the upsurge, capital appreciation and the strong consumer desire to become a leading society, people's standard of material consumption has been increasing incessantly, but it is also associated with low moral character and the loss of faith.  This is, perhaps, the direst issue, where the pervasiveness of this condition has resulted in the loss of the subtleties of values once the contemporary art world was called "pioneering" and "avant-garde."  How we are to build and establish the identity of the contemporary Chinese character or subjectivity is a question that still needs to be discussed.  Modernity and subjectivity are similar in the way that they have relatively determined connotations, which is why Western culture can be used as a reference.  However, to completely copy the Western model makes it difficult to avoid the situation of cutting of your feet to fit them into a pair of shoes.  This is because Western "subjectivity" came out of its own context, native cultural pulse and complex environment, developing into what it is today.  While it does contain some degree of universality, there is no way it can completely correspond to what China has gone through.  Furthermore, it is crucial to address the fact that within China's native traditions, there is both accumulated dross as well as the distilled remains of the very best; to throw it away regardless of this would be to abandon this rich and intellectual heritage.  Creating and constructing contemporary Chinese subjectivity should be based on China's immediate situation and understanding and assimilate Chinese and Western realities as well as the foundations and connotations of the ancient "character" to freely reference, transform, and renew them in order to use them.

　　Ren Zhe perceives that the lofty qualities of the traditional Chinese character can have profound meaning and function in modern times.  To this end, as a contemporary artist, he immerses himself in classical Chinese culture to find and extract resources that can be used to transform modernity.  His motivation and ultimate goals are completely contemporary despite the fact that his sculptures are traditional generals and civil officials.  Contemporary art and stagnant ontology and the regulations of narrow-minded disciplines are not related; rather, it is a constructive concept that is constantly being rewritten and refreshed by the changes in historical context as well as being readjusted to a new direction and scope.  The inherent impulses and basic standards for contemporary art should start and end with the different explorations, studies and deliberations of the present questions.

　　It is the artist's responsibility to transform and change his reasoning according to the changing cultural environment and issues and to effectively cut through current issues to find positive solutions; art furthermore preserves the mark of modernity.  Based on the present, we can determine that there is art that is obsessed with history and tradition itself but does not engage in the present issues and thereby lacks modernity because it takes no clear path.  There is also art that utilizes the rich essence of history and tradition to remedy the superficiality of contemporary culture and art; borrowing from the ancient to infuse it into the present and usher in modernity further provides a far-reaching vision of the continuity of the past and the stability of the future.  This has become a common occurrence in the history of Chinese and foreign cultures, Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan dynasty, for example, advocated "returning to the past" with the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who "returned to the painting style before Raphael." In contrast, although the contemporary Chinese art world is currently congested with the form and colors of contemporary art, it is hypocritical and pretentious at the core, resulting in a slew of inauthentic contemporary art language and work.

　　Ren Zhe hopes to be able to seek out and extract lofty and worthy models of character from traditional China and coordinate them with the demands of contemporary culture to carry out transformation.  Thus, his sculptures of traditional figures are not actually a reproduction of tradition; rather, they incorporate his personal hopes for contemporary subjectivity.  He chose to use generals and civil officials as his main themes because they all have specific responsibilities in government structure: "civil officials are not avaricious, and warriors are not afraid of death" (Yue Fei).  With their high degree of political, social and historical responsibility, whether they are warriors or civil officials, they have exhibited complete devotion to their duties, scrupulously abiding by virtuous and lofty principles (otherwise, if they lack discretion and subjectivity, then they are merely high ranking obedient tools) with complete integrity even if they know it will clearly require their death.  In order to concisely convey their inherent strength of character and essence and to tease out its vividness, Ren Zhe exaggerates form and movement, simplifying it until there is nothing superfluous.  Due to his inherent desire for expression, his work displays the strength of the line and the vigorous emotion contained in the block surfaces which use "splash," "painting," and "spatter" techniques to emphasize his maneuvering of abstract momentum.

　　His purpose and hope for the Chinese people hinges on his warrior sculptures with their staunch heroism that sweeps across the fluid spirit of traditional Chinese culture.  Along with throbbing pulse and eager anticipation to ride to the beating drums, their belts and robes catch in the wind and join together to form this vigorous power and impassioned strength that bursts forth.  His sculpted civil officials have a hearty strength of character and the utmost loyalty to their duties with an integrity that is neither overbearing nor self-effacing; they emanate an open and upright demeanor and stern righteousness.  What he admires and esteems most in this variety of characters, whether they are powerful, resolute, upright…is that they are rooted in steadfast and lofty values at the core; this is precisely what we are missing most in our current cultural context.  Thus, this lack of subjectivity, which displays symptoms of cynicism, nihilism, and baseness, has become tacitly universalized to the point of validation.

　　Ren Zhe's true intention is to evoke and promote this noble character; only then is he able to steep himself in traditional culture, to call back and re-forge the essence of this classical character.  This kind of behavior is based on the extraordinary measures he has taken to saturate himself in this culture.  His sense of history lies in his concern for the present—looking back while gazing ahead and his consciousness of the future are concentrated within each of his seemingly ancient yet exuberant sculptures of warriors and civil officials.

Du Xiyun