An Interview with Fan Di’an
Mr. Fan Di’an, Curator of NAMOC, historian on Chinese fine arts, renowned critic of fine arts
    As Chinese art enters the 21st century, the domestic circle of artists as well as its international counterpart is re-observing its direction of development or the cultural features of Chinese artistic works. In the 20th century, Chinese art was mainly subject to the influences of western schools. This was true of Liu Yonggang, too, who started his career in the 1980s. But if an artist has an urge to transcend his own limits as well as those of the culture, he will never stop seeking to establish his own artistic language and style. More importantly, he will try using elements of Chinese culture in his works. This exhibition of Liu Yonggang’s works is rather astonishing to us all, whether we are familiar with him or not, because it displays an approach that shows a strong cultural independence and a distinct cultural awareness.
    As we know, the difficulty of contemporary art is that you not only have to develop your own style and language, but you also have to express your thoughts on cultural meanings, especially cultural value. This group of works by Liu Yonggang, including paintings and sculptures, is a conglomerate that appropriately reflects his explorations in this respect. As the highlight of the exhibition, Spatial Calligraphy can either be considered as a group of sculptures, or as a form as contemporary art pregnant with ideas. It can be appreciated as an independent work, or it can be put in some public places as a large public work of art. It produces a refreshing visual effect. That’s why I went to the hall many times to think about what’s special about his art. I’ve heard praises for the exhibition from both artists and non-professional visitors.
In my opinion, a contemporary artist has to draw on different resources. The contemporary art can be simple, because there are many resources available. But it can also be difficult, because you may not know what to look for, and, even if you have found it, how to turn it into your creation. I think Yonggang must have spent a lot of time pondering over this.
    An important thing about Liu’s artistic career is that after he studied in the country for some time he went to Germany and stayed there many years for artistic exchange. So he knows a lot about both Chinese and western contemporary art. It’s interesting to note that the longer he stayed in the West, the more he missed Chinese culture, especially the traditional part of it. Because when he had seen a lot and learned a lot, he found that a Chinese artist must create an individual style that is underpinned by his culture instead of making a simplistic blending of what is western and what is traditional. Liu never did that.
    His work derived from painting. He adopted western expressionism, especially the modernist expressionism. He incorporated the abstract style, but he found it inadequate. So he discovered a new resource in the tradition of Chinese written language. He made it his objective to express that tradition as well the modern experience, especially modern people’s pursuit of harmony and the return to nature.
    There are several features of the work that are related. For instance, he used Chinese characters, but instead of being common, legible ones, they are symbols and images that carry themes, whether in paintings or sculptures. Secondly, he used a great deal of stones to make the characters stand, like monuments. In that way the power of the written language, or rather the power of its image, is increased. So I find Spatial Calligraphy a marvelous work. The word ‘standing’ that comes from “Spatial” has two-fold meanings, as I understand. On the one hand, the written language stands up so that it can be put in all kinds of places; on the other hand, it stands up as an important symbol of Chinese culture. That shows a strong confidence in our culture.
    I find his works greatly impressive. They are much more than novel visual forms. They prove one thing: if Chinese artists can draw on their traditional culture and have a clear idea of what they should achieve, they will create good works with characteristics of Chinese culture.

    I saw Liu Yonggang’s exhibition after my visit to an exhibition of American art over 300 years in the company of curators of foreign museums and my friends from the artistic circle. Everybody praised it highly. They say it made them see that Chinese artists are pursuing their own ways. In this age of globalization, individual styles seem to diminish. But Liu’s works reflect his journey across cultural borders between the west and China since the 1980s. Many of my friends are much interested in his exhibition and his artistic career. They saw the way of Chinese art. It concerns the world, but it’s more about itself.