Lu Jun was born in Wuhan where he trained in fine arts. His landscape works blend ink and wash techniques with photography, defying tradition and resurrecting it at the same time. Lee met with Lu to talk about his works in the context of today’s of contemporary art.

　　Lee Ambrozy:

　　How would you describe this series,“Chinese Real Estate Dream”?

　　Lu Jun:

　　When I came to Zhuhai in 1992, the property development market was going through the roof.After many years of struggle, it seemed that I had found my perfect apartment on the sea .But buildings [began to] encroach on the shoreline, blocking the view of the mountains and seascape. The irreplaceable landscape carved over millions of years seemed violently overtaken. I use traditional ink methods and follow my intuition to create “natural” landscape paintings .I can elaborate my feelings for traditional culture with ink, and use slices of contemporary Chinese reality through photography and computers to weave a scene of urban fantasy.

　　Lee Ambrozy:

　　Up close, the works are beautifully blended. How many techniques are you combining?

　　Lu Jun:

　　I use all kinds of methods: ink, slides, digital photography, computer alteration, printing on traditional Xuan paper and all kinds of printing techniques.

　　Lee Ambrozy:

　　How do you define these works? Are they photography first, or conceptual art? Are they traditional or modern?

　　Lu Jun:

　　They are photography, but not traditional photography. They are ink and wash, but not traditional ink and wash. They are conceptual, but not conceptual. They are traditional Chinese, but most traditional Chinese. These are humanity’s ancient ideas subjected to the forces of technology and globalization. These are humanity’s ancient ideas subjected to the forces if technology and globalization.

　　Lee Ambrozy:

　　Because these works combine different technologies and aesthetics, do you think that makes them an ideal way to view contemporary China?

　　Lu Jun:

　　My works definitely contain elements from a modern China, but I’m not trying to paint reality. China has been through 20 years of reform, opening and harried economic growth. People are forgiving and accepting of outside cultures, but on a spiritual level they have begun to place importance on the traditional. At the same time nationalism is increasing, there is a kind of internal need for people to promote the glory of our culture abroad.

　　Lee Ambrozy:

　　Besides aesthetic beauty, is there some deeper message that you hope to convey?

　　Lu Jun:

　　China’s urban growth and our everyday reality share a common fate. I hope that my works will inspire people to think more about this. I think that people with different experiences and in different states of mind can glance at these works and have many different levels of appreciation.

[That's Beijing 杂志2006年8月刊专访艺术家陆军]