Five Races Racing In Harmony As a world citizen (nourished in my youth with a complete Chinese education and then having lived and studied in Europe and America for more than four decades), I have based my life’s work -- both artistic and philosophical – upon a dream of a global culture of peace. As an artist deeply concerned with the world today, I closely watch the great, historic events of our time and seek to use my art to evoke a peaceful message and culturally harmonious context for it. For example, in 1986, I created “The Spirit of Liberty Series” -- 100 paintings to commemorate the Centennial Celebration of the Statue of Liberty; and in 1990 my “Post – Van Gogh Series” -- another 100 paintings in homage to Vincent van Gogh on his Centennial Celebration. I have also been inspired to paint series of artworks on themes such as 9/11, Princess Diana, the Eiffel Tower, East vs. West, etc. So needless to say, on the eve of such a momentous event as the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, I felt very moved to participate and contribute my art to highlight the significance of these Games and to evoke its potential for a more peaceful world. In order to paint the “2008 Beijing Olympics Series,” I first gathered countless books and documents about the Olympic Games. During my research, I came across a black-and-white photo taken on June 24, 1894 – it was a photo of the initial members of the first International Olympic Committee, standing in front of the amphitheatre of La Sorbonne. I immediately felt very touched and “at home,” as I had studied in the very same amphitheatre when I was studying at La Sorbonne in Paris during 1960-1970. It was in that room in 1965 that I established my “Five-Dimension Universal Culture” theory, predicting a new era of global convergency that we must ensure is rooted in Love and Humanism, as well as my artistic style of “Neo-Iconography,” which combines icons from all cultures and all time periods to express this new, emerging global village. My intention was to forego “art for art’s sake,” and rather to create an “Art for Humanity’s Sake” – one that sought to express my vision of a culturally harmonious world where all of our human gifts and achievements can flourish. The need for such a consciousness becomes even more and more relevant for our time, as humanity becomes more and more interwoven through high technology and rapid globalization. We all begin to share a similar destiny. This is aptly expressed in the slogan of the upcoming Beijing Olympics: “One World, One Dream.” Guardians Of The Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 And so it is in this same room in Paris where seventy-one years earlier, Baron Coubertin gathered the first IOC to proclaim the “rebirth” of this ancient Greek tradition, yet also modified it to go beyond “sports for sports’ sake,” and in fact expanded it to become a sort of “Sports for Humanity’s Sake.” Baron Coubertin and his colleagues set down the new statutes of the Modern Olympic Games as follows: (1) to utilize athletic competition to help men, women and youth towards becoming a “perfect man” – one in harmony in body, mind and spirit; as well as to encourage them to overcome limits and obtain excellence in sports and in life; (2) to establish a “gentlemanly competition” through open, just and fair sports competition while respecting order and each other, thus setting up a civilized example that could extend to society (like promoting Western civilization’s cultural values of Democracy, Justice and Equality); (3) to promote understanding and cooperation between nations in order to create “a peaceful and better world.” Thus, Coubertin expanded the Olympic Games to not only manifest a passive peace such as the Greek’s “Sacred Truce,” but also to go beyond that and establish an active and positive vision of world peace that fostered Cultural Harmony and Friendship. It is now 2008, one hundred and fourteen years since that small black-and-white photo of the first International Olympic Committee for the first Modern Olympic Games was taken, and I feel like there is a mysterious red string of history woven through time connecting us all, connecting East and West, past and present. That historical string can be considered the ideal vision and heartfelt hope of the Olympic Movement – that through inviting our whole human family to come together in a spirit of honorable sportsmanship, we can come together to appreciate the best in ourselves and our fellow man. Thus, I humbly offer the 29 paintings of my “Beijing Olympic Series” as my sincere salute to the visionary Baron Coubertin, to the Olympic Games of old, and to the upcoming 29th Olympics in Beijing. I am so happy and honored to be able to welcome and contribute my art towards this historic event.

来源：雅昌艺术网 作者：Chen,T.F.