Indeed sometimes to return to one’s hometown after making good is a kind of glory, but to take this returning as a further starting point, one needs much more than courage to do it.

　　Having been away from home for twenty years, Wang Jian’s coming back to his homeland is rather bothering to some people, since he really has not experienced ups and downs in China through all this twenty years while Wang Jian , as an influential artist in the USA, was enjoying his great success. In the process of the interview, when he was talking about his every life phase, he kept mentioning a lot times the people for whom he was very grateful.

　　Wang Jian is now over fifty years old, but he will not stop on his career for which he has a five-year plan, perhaps due to his faith in making still further progress.

　　“In a nicer way, I would say I did it because of my love for painting career, but in a not nice way, I did it because I was stupid.”

　　Art Survey: It’s said when you were studying in the university at home, your major is not painting, which has nothing to do with art?

　　Wang Jian: Yes, when I was 10 years old , I followed my teacher Zhang Fu in the Fifth Middle School of Da Lian to learn painting. At that time, I focused on joining the entry test into the fine arts institute. But I was working in the rural area, and wanted to go back to the town, besides this I lost the chance of enrollment at Lu Xun Fine Arts Institute, and my parents encouraged me to take the entry test into university earlier, so I was admitted into Da Lian Railway Institute, majoring in welding.

　　Art Survey: After graduate you stayed in the school with a stable job there, why did you choose to go abroad for a further study at arts?

　　Wang Jian: In a nicer way, I would say I did it because of my love for painting career, but in a not nice way, I did it because I was stupid. I worked as a secretary of the president, much regarded highly by them., and I was awarded with a sectional cader at 22. However, I didn’t have much sense of official career, all I wanted is to paint as I liked. In those days, I practiced calligraphy, learned Chinese traditional painting and even sponsored the Calligraphy and Painting Association of Da Lian University Students, acted as the first Chairman. I didn’t work hard at school, holding the post of publication, making broadcast newspaper, painting posters and movie posters, I spared every minute in painting. Many schoolmates don’t remember me, but they must remember the picture Father in the dining hall which I copied from Luo Zhongli. Later I heard TV university was in need of art knowledge, so I went there.

　　Art Survey: What did you do there?

　　Wang Jian: I worked there in a very short time, editing programs, such as educational, taking charge of the art designing. Soon I was asked by the school to prepare Foreign Affairs Department. Then I got acquainted with the foreign teacher Maggiore, an elderly lady who decided my life of art. She was a retired art teacher from a place near San Francisco, teaching English in our school. I was the youngest association member in Da Lian calligraphy and painting profession, I invited her to a lot of handwriting and drawing activities. At the end of 1985 when she was going back home, she told me “Wang Jian, you have been working at arts and making efforts for so many years, why not try to be an artist?” Later she proposed to aid me financially to go to the USA to study arts, and asked me whether I was brave enough to do that. Thus, in 1986, she finished the outside procedure for me.

　　“I am hot-tempered, for example, I prefer watching marqui than long-distance running. This temper is shown in my paintings.”

　　Art Survey: You were on a smooth way to go abroad, then how about your life outside?

　　Wang Jian : I was studying engineering, and if I wanted to change to learn arts, I would have no credits. That was the first and most difficult thing I encountered there. In fact, I paid much more hard work than the other students abroad. I started from four-year college study at arts, then finished further three-year postgraduate courses, that was in total seven years of arts learning in the USA. That was why somebody played joke on me. They said if I had continued my study at engineering , I would have got the double doctor’s degrees.

　　Art Survey: After so many years in the USA, you have been affected much in the respect of your art system, at least the painting style.

　　Wang Jian: Yes, this was much related with the teachers I knew when I was staying there. My first teacher there was a very placid person, who was able but held himself aloof from the world. He was excellent at painting, and helped me a lot. Later when I was studying in Davis Branch affiliated to the University of California, I was lucky to know the very few renowned masters in the USA. One of them was Wynne Tibo, a painter, 91 years old, who contributed most to the language of painting in the few American effective Pop artists. As for sculpture, I got access to a very influential painting style, a style started at the same period with the Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism is what it is called in the Northeast of the USA, while in the west coast, it is called Bay Area Figurative School. Perhaps it is because that I have been affected by those teachers, I have been working hard at the basic expression style of painting and sculpture for so many years. Not like Chinese artists nowadays, I haven’t been bathed in the wave of the open and reform career, and I haven’t absorbed the social cultural theme, so I still make my efforts in the language of painting and sculpture itself. Art Survey:You are the third generation of leading exponent of Bay Area Figurative School, what is the difference between you and the former generation?Wang Jian: Bay Area Figurative School is very influential in the USA. Our works have much in common, and difference also. Both of us use massive painting strokes, which makes the colors impressive and bright. The difference lies in the effect. They attach more importance to designing effect while we direct effect. It depends on the contents we try to express. The artists of Bay Area Figurative School create most of their works through continuous practice and study besides sketching from life, while I create by direct painting from models. Another difference is the direct painting style. I am hot-tempered, for example, I prefer watching marqui than long-distance running. This temper is shown in my paintings. My style may reflect my excitement or enthusiasm for life.

　　Art Survey:I heard that you often tone colors directly on the canvas, is that true?

　　Wang Jian : Yes, about sixteen or seventeen years ago, I abandoned the palette, and began to use a single pigment can. I use very few colors, like black and white with yellow, orange, red, purple, blue or green and such kind of simple colors in between. All the colors are toned in the process of drawing. In my opinion, if there are too many colors for use, we will become lazy to get the color at hand. That is the reason why I have to do the toning by myself. The biggest difference to tone on the canvas is that it is nearly impossible to do it in an even way, so quite a few colors will be included in each stroke.

　　Art Survey:From your first beginning till now, is there anything you keep to preserve by your own?

　　Wang Jian To be frank, I really don’t know which stroke is right or which is wrong when I am painting. I finished my pictures by continuously correcting mistakes. I have a stupid dream that one day the western painters would take my way in their practice, but I am not sure whether it can come true or not.

　　Art Survey:The color pluralism of the Impressionism is also expressed in your works, and that is quite different from Classicalism.

　　Wang Jian : Yes, I guess all artists have the same dream with me. That is to say, your works will not be submerged under the sea of works in the art gallery. Your works have their own style, different from the current art stream. That is what I am pursuing.

　　“I return home to learn the changes and trends, and to find the space and chance to establish my own art gallery. As for the others, I have to wait and see.”

　　Art Survey: How was it when you held your first exhibition in the USA?

　　Wang Jian : At first, I drew some Chinese traditional painting on water paper, and I sold them at $1 per small piece and $5 per large in the flea market. I did this bitter thing for three times. A boss from Tai Wan invited me out for dinner and said to me “You did this to ruin your own works.” I went to the USA in 1986 without the title of artist or any instructions from pioneer artists at home, so I learned everything by my own. In 1987, I held my personal exhibition for which I attributed my gratitude to Fred Dlkey’s solicitude. It was a hard time in my life, my families living on only $ sixty for three people each month. In that year, I followed Fred Dlkey to learn crayon drawing. By the time of holiday, he sent me a set of crayons with two to three hundred colors packed in box. The crayons were his Christmas present from his wife, but he gave me because he knew I couldn’t afford that. During that summer, I was taking care of him in an elderly American man’s home. I prepared my dinner for next lunch every night, and put it on the corner of tea table. Then I took out my crayons and papers, drawing the dinner on the table. I called these drawings as “student’s lunch”. My teacher was deeply touched when I showed him these paintings in the fall semester. He, the Chief Inspector of Modern Art Gallery in the capital of California then, discussed with the boss and decided to exhibit my crayon paintings that November. It was splendid, with all my works sold out, although at a low price, $125 a piece.

　　Art Survey:Is this the first time you have sold your works through formal art salon?

　　Wang Jian : Yes, I have to thank my teachers for their help. When I arrived in the USA, although equipped with basic skills at painting, I was absolutely untrained in aspect of painting practice. So it was quite easy for me to take in at 100% rate the study system, themes and language of paintings from my teachers and the American society. For the teachers and students graduating from domestic art institutes, the difference from my experience is that when they went outside, they had already grown fully in their thoughts. Most of them strived in the USA with the skills they had learned in China.

　　Art Survey: Except the Oct. program in Da Lian, was there any other art programs in China before?

　　Wang Jian : Only once. I have come back every two or three years to visit my families since 1986. In the year of 2007, the University of California held “an exhibition looking back on the twenty years of Wang Jian in the USA” . They published a very delicate album, with which I visited Du Dakai in Bei Jing. He talked with his friends and presented my album to Fan Di’an who invited me to exhibit in Chinese Art Gallery. In 2007, I began to think about coming back to start my career. I set up a studio to show my works. I accomplished it in August,2008 during the Olympic Games. I met several current artists at the same time when Cai Guoqiang was holding his exhibition. His presentation impressed me so much that I couldn’t calm down after I went back to the USA. I have experienced my homeland’s great changes and I feel it will make much difference to me in my creating career. This is the first reason why I am back, and the second reason is I feel vigorous with every cell of mine full of energy. Not like the comfortable life in the USA, only a half part of me is alive.

　　Art Survey: What is your painting plan for the next step?

　　Wang Jian : I like my pencil sketching works very much, and due to this I want to make sculptures. I like it particularly, and have made some abroad. Now I am working at a three-meter bronze sculpture the Foolish Old Man Who Wished to Remove the Mountains to decorate the square in front of a newly built office house. In addition, I plan to improve my series Bei Jing Girls. After a long time of staying here, I found the girls are quite modern and fashionable when they talk to you although sometimes they appear to be a little shy. They are brave enough to have their hair dyed and cut in a unique style. This change stands for the change of the society in some point. It is powerful and I decide to develop more themes in this respect.

　　I have two exhibition plans this year. For the fist, I plan to have a reporting presentation in Da Lian, my hometown. It will open at Sept. 28, and last for a month. The designer is Wang Ruiting and artistic consultant is Li Xianting. The government of Da Lian city cares much about it, and embodies it as a program on the National Day in Zhongshan Art Gallery. For the second, I plan to sort out my works exhibited and publish a picture album. My other plan in publishing is to join the International Art Fair in HongKong this Oct..

　　Art Survey: I know you are running a business with art salons abroad, how about a home business?

　　Wang Jian: I have been having some business with art salons in the USA, and I will continue to cooperate with them. I have never started my own business in my homeland. But I have set up such a goal. I believe business will come to me as long as I keep working on arts. If I try to work with art salons, I am afraid I will not be so free to conduct my exhibition plan in some art galleries. These days, I am putting my whole energy on the art gallery exhibitions. Of course I am pleased to receive the chance of doing business if it comes to me, but I don’t have to live on this. My pictures sell well in the USA, more than 2000 pictures having been sold. Because of this, I come back just for a sense of the changes and trends, and a space for my own exhibition in art galleries, as for the others, I have to wait and see.

作者：Gu,Jing