In the spectrum of contemporary sculpture in China, the sculptures of Ren Zhe, a young artist, are not plagued or restricted by the pop fashion, but exhibit his personal firm faith in arts. On the basis of giving full play to his personal exaggerated imagination, he integrates the inherent nature of classics and modernity with a simple and concise method, and vividly demonstrates the spiritual world of Chinese people, that is, the inner strength and personality implied in (a body's) motion and gesture. Ren Zhe shows great respects for the classical spirit in sculpture, as classics are nearly completely disappearing rather than flooding. No history, no depth and no obligation have become the synonym or label for those artists born in the 1980s. The talking about the spirit of arts will even be sneered at. In fact, spirit is universal. It refers to "human consciousness, intellectual activities and mental state" or "the vitality". Thus, Ren Zhe pursues the spirit of classics that imply the epic loftiness and majesty. In terms of the sculpture language, he demonstrates the precise grasp of the solidification of spirit that stops abruptly. He further interprets this form of sculpture as "essence, spirit, and energy" in aesthetic words. "Essence" refers to the key element that is refined or picked out; "Spirit" in Chinese medicine refers to the prime force making physical organs function well, or people's mental state; and "Energy" is a person's vigor, or surprisingly superb and amazing numen and state. The abstract Chinese aesthetics is in line with the personal preference of artists and also encourages Ren Zhe to constantly seek energy and power in traditional intellectual resources, rather than simply borrowing the superficial forms. It is in the process of the absorption and transformation of traditional cultural resources that he redefines the language of new classical sculpture.

　　In his sculptures themed on ancient Chinese warriors and civil servants, Ren Zhe does not focus on the specific look of the figures, but on the spiritual state contained in the strong trend of motion and spiritual elements through the Xieyi style( meaning-focused) with both engraving and sculpting. Just like the "potential or trend" stressed comprehensively in traditional Chinese calligraphy, Ren Zhe translates the abstract notion into the concrete sculpture form. Once grasping the overall momentum in the sculpture language, he would fully express the romantic and poetic ambition in his works. This kind of sculpture has both exaggerated and dramatic gestures. It can be said that he creates the ancient characters with meaning of the material, and boldly simplifies the tedious details and decorations in classical sculpture. For example, he pays more attention to the relationship between people's gesture and the horse's shape, expressing the abundance of vigor, intensity and strength in the smooth motions. He also focuses on the exaggerated expression of human bones and the motion of muscles. He would use a fixed gesture in martial arts to imply or suggest the continuity, rhythm and tempo of people's motion. Obviously, this kind of implicative gestures does not directly originate from the western realistic sculpture, but from the action aesthetics in wusheng (men with martial skills) in Peking opera, which fully reflects the relationship between abstract and concrete and that between yin and yang (Chinese traditional philosophy). These two pairs of relationship depend on such aesthetic principles as balance, simplicity and imagination in time and place, which will bring greater feelings and imagination. We could not only feel the perfect unity and combination of spirit and motion, but also perceive the inner relations between historical consciousness and contemporary spirit. Thus, the interpretation of history or classics nearly becomes the focus of Ren Zhe's mind. It is better to say that Ren Zhe's sculpture is his dialogue with the contemporary time than with history, because the filtration and distillation of historical images intend to find a more authentic "rendition". In contrast, the popular culture rejects realistic or authentic needs, and even tries to maintain the regressive role of catering to the public ideology. Clearly aware of this, Ren Zhe tries to make a reverse thinking and judgment in the logic of arts. He selects the monumental classical sculpture as the starting point and relies on the interpretation and expansion of traditional sculpture language for classics. Thereby, he re-shapes and simplifies the bearing and vigor of the figures' motion, and faithfully alludes the complicatedness and disputes in contemporary society.

　　Different from other realist sculptors, Ren Zhe also presents the referential implication of ideology and classics in his works. He pays more attention to the relationship between classics and ideology, i.e. the dialectic application of classics, than to style and symbols, or the identification and categorization of classics. Then, what are classics in arts after all? Classics refer to the highest norms and level, normative and orderly implication, or designated models. Therefore, classics are not the original intention of the artist, but bestowed with new meanings by followers. This turns classics into power discourse of arts and ideology. Thus, classics have become the object of imitation or study, as well as something to be criticized and surpassed. From this perspective, Ren Zhe does not pursue a formal return to classics, but explores new artistic power and dynamics in the classics, and tries to create neo-classical sculpture within the cultural context of post-modernism. Like the artistic hybrid advocated by post-modernism, Ren Zhe's sculpture language is based on the integration and deconstruction at different layers, unifying and transforming the aesthetic tastes of personal will, historical consciousness, classical resources and popular culture, so as to prove the value and significance of what classical aesthetics left – thinking about such lofty issues as ideology in the "post-revolutionary" period, and considering whether human beings faced with "solemn", "noble", "magnificent" and "rigorous" aesthetic values could imagine or sense the tempering function of model, respect and purification on people's heart and mind. As Louis Althusser once said, ideology does not reflect the relationship between human beings and their living conditions, but the way human beings experience such relationship. That's to say, there are real relations as well as "experiential" and "imaginary" ones. Therefore, the majesty and loftiness in Ren Zhe's sculptures bring some sense of security.

　　Another core of Ren Zhe's artistic concept lies in the shaping and interpreting of human body. As we all know, since ancient Greece, human body has been playing a very important role in sculpture. Whether it is a monument for the respect of leaders, religious sculpture, secular sculpture reflecting the earthly life of the people, or modern art sculpture, body language gives birth to unparalleled energy and charm. In other words, body has endless appeal, imagination and creativity for artists. Today, the research on body has become a discipline in cultural studies. Body is defined in cultural studies as three states: natural body, social body, and scientific body. However, Ren Zhe never tries to distinguish body in his works, but regards body as a kind of metaphysical carrier of spirit. In the process of exploring the meaning of body, he subjectively fills human body with spirit through repetitive revision of the internal nature and strength. An artistic body based on natural, social or scientific body is the spiritual utopia harbor for artists, which implies the artist's imagination and interpretation of body, i.e. the exploration and explanation of the history, identity, context and reality related to the body. To some extent, the body symbols combine the features of monumental writing, and extend the attention, association and analogy between the subject and others— containing gaze, desire, impulse and combat, and interweaving the consciousness of dialogue, consultation and criticism related to the body. Therefore, in terms of plasticity, the body equals to subject in English. In this sense, the body expresses the philosophical meaning that understanding others is understanding oneself, and the latter depends on the former. Therefore, the construction of body in sculpture is the production of both body and body-related thoughts.

　　In general, from the sculptures of Ren Zhe, we could sense and experience the intriguing aesthetic implications. Some figures are quiet, some with contained charm, some romantic, and some graceful. They present not only the masculinity, righteousness and pioneering spirit, but also romance, poetic flavor, loftiness and other aesthetic connotations. His re-activation and development of classics, his integration of Xieyi style in Chinese aesthetics into sculpture, as well as his metaphysically philosophical thinking on the body, fully reflect his historical consciousness, social responsibility, and aesthetic judgment. All is clearly presented in his unique sculptures.

By Huang Du, Curator

March 22, 2011