DSL Collection

Yu Hong in Conversation with Yuan Yuan
February 8, 2010
Beijing

YH: I want to start with your childhood, things like your
family, your parents, where you grew up and so on.

YY: My parents work on visual productions at the August
First Film Studio. Their careers followed my maternal
grandparents who also worked on film productions there.
The films they make center on glorifying the country
and narrating wars. My dad is from the countryside and
later joined the army. He was admitted to study at the
National Film Academy on part-time-study-part-timework
base, and became a producer at the August First
Film Studio. My mom was a set producer, and grew up in
the Studio??s living compound. It was one of those typical
living quarters for military personnel, like those described
in Wang Shuo??s novels.

YH: What he wrote is during the Cultural Revolution. Was it
like that when you grew up?

YY: All my childhood friends are from military families.
D u r i n g s c h o o l va c at i o n s, we a l l g at h e re d i n t h e
playground, and particularly boys would sit there chatting
or playing soccer. Many children living in our compound
were from families of actors and actresses, and they were
very good looking. These are children born in the late 70s
and early 80s. It is similar to the film In the Heat of the
Sun. Our studio also screened films every week. It was fun.

YH: But to me you don't seem like somebody who grew up
in living in a military compound. You don't have the typical
arrogance of the offspring of Beijing high officials. I didn't
know anything about this. You are very down to earth.

YY: Maybe because I am simple. My circle of friends is
small, and even when I was younger I rarely chatted with
other kids. I just used my eyes to observe the lives of
my generation. I think my living environment has been
simple.

YH: How did you start to learn to paint?

YY: I started to take lessons when I was two. My cousin
was two years older than me and he started first. When I
was about two and a half, my mom sent me to the same
class, since they couldn??t leave me alone at home anyway.
But the teacher didn??t want to take me because I was
too young. My mom begged them to take me in, and she
finally gave in, on the condition that I wouldn't cry. Other
students there were all taller than me, and sat on chairs
to paint. I sat on a table. I remember it was a private
classroom at the Navy living compound. I also remember
my first drawing of a cat fishing.

YH: You could draw a cat fishing when you were two?

YY: Normally, a painted cat has a round head. I thought
if we look at a cat??s head from the side, it would be
oval, so I painted it oval. I still have the drawing. Years
later I took lessons from a couple in our compound. The
husband painted stage props for the Film Studio. His wife
is a painter, and their son went to the Central Academy
of Fine Arts. I studied with them all the way to middle
school, and by then my parents didn??t want me to paint
anymore. They wanted me to have it as a hobby but not
a profession. I wanted to take the entrance exam for the
Central Academy??s high school, but they wouldn??t let
me. I was all prepared for the exam and planned to take
it with a friend, but on the day of the exam, my parents
locked me up at home. I still regret it today. I then went
to a regular high school, but joined the 'special talent'
class. There were about twenty of us. Most students
in the class studied design, but I kept painting, and
still dreamed of going to the Central Academy. In the
twelfth grade, my parents insisted on having me study
design. In order to do so I needed to take some design
classes in order to take entrance exam, so they enrolled
me in a design class at Tsinghua University. I took those
classes, but I purposefully did poorly. Drawing for design
requires even and precise lines, so I intentionally added
some brushwork, so much so that the teachers thought I
wouldn??t pass the exam for a design major. At the same
time, I tried to persuade my dad to let me to take the
exam for the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

YH: So you were passionate about it since you were little, or
was it just a hobby?

YY: I was passionate about it. Going to regular high
school didn??t leave much time for me to paint, so I went
to painting classes on weekends and over summer and
winter breaks. I just thought those classes were enjoyable.

YH: A feeling of happiness?

YY: Yeah, very happy. I didn??t want to stay home! Other
school kids went out ever yday over summer breaks,
playing games, boating and so on. I didn??t like that at all.
Every summer, the teacher brought us out of the studio to
the August First Lake and to the countryside.

YH: So you studied with that teacher all that time?

Y Y: Yes, but she stopped teaching me right before
the entrance exam. So my mom asked Mr. Wen (Wen
Guozhang) to teach me. I started to study with him, and
found that the way I painted before was not quite right.
I never took any of the 'cramming' classes designed for
taking such exams but rather painted at the teacher??s
home.

YH: Why did you choose oil painting?

YY: I never felt I painted enough. And there was my dad??s
wish too. He said if you are going to the Central Academy
the Oil Painting Department will be your only choice, no
other department.

YH: Did your dad study painting?

YY: He studied Chinese Literature, and probably is better
at writing film scripts and management. I think film
actually influences me a lot.

YH: You mom specializes in stage prop design. It might have
some influence on your spatial conception and imagination.
Have you been to any film studios?

YY: I go there often.

YH: Have you ever had a dream of being in the film industry?

YY: I did. I thought if I could not paint, I would become a
film director.

YH: So your family background had lots of influence on
you when you grew up, and not only on two dimensional
paintings. When you took my class ?C when you were a senior
?C I had the impression that you didn??t like to paint from life.
But when you showed me your creation, I was surprised and
said to myself: this kid is very serious. I remember you put
your paintings on a broken sofa in our corridor. In the Oil
Painting department, many students can paint well but few
are creative. But that time you presented more than ten good
paintings. I am particularly interested in finding out how you
were already mature when you just started, and how you
discovered the format of Polaroid photos.

YY: I had a great interest in being creative. I took a class
in the Print Department as my elective in the junior
year, and studied silkscreen and lithography. I think that
inspired me greatly. So did the class on color composition
taught by professor Zhou Yi. I got interested in 'making'
when taking print classes. For example, in one class we
were given the assignment of making a book, and the
book was to be about yourself. I also liked taking photos,
and preferred photographic film over digital because
negative felt more human. So I used lithography to print
Polaroid images and the result was similar to black-andwhite
pencil sketches. I also made a box for the book, and
glued some paper on it to give it an old feeling. I put my
pictures in the box, and that??s me. I got a good grade for
the project. From then on I felt that I had found the way
to combine material with expression. My way of thinking
started to change as well. The silkscreen class was similar.
On a sheet of white paper, you add one impression after
another, and only when all the layers of impressions are
pressed together is the final product completed. This is
very different from making a painting. You have to think
through before you start. From this I learned to sort
through my thoughts and to understand the procedure
of making a painting. That summer I started to paint
Polaroids.

YH: Which year were you?

YY: That was the second semester of my junior year. I
think those classes inspired me greatly. Professor Zhou Yi
also taught us contemporary art. I read several books, one
of them being Benjamin??s The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction. It influenced me a lot.

YH: It??s interesting to me that you were already mature
when you started. In the Oil Painting Department, most
students will run into this or that kind of trouble in terms of
being creative. They are good in technique, good at theory,
and have good ideas. But it usually takes them a long time
to experiment with creativity. But yours is very clear, and
stands out immediately. I??m interested in your Polaroid
paintings. How do you choose the content? You painted your
classmates?

YY: Yes. I painted my friends, my dog, and some of my
things. Eventually I found that I??m most interested in
people. I enjoyed the simultaneousness of Polaroid.
It??s different from a digital camera. The latter is very
realistic, like making a documentary. Polaroid is artistic.
Any Polaroid image is a work of art. When I paint, I can
feel that the painted subjects are people related to me.
They are my friends or friends?? friends. Whenever I finish
painting someone, I feel that I have got to know her
all again. I chose to paint only girls, and get to know
all kinds of girls. One of them likes to dress as a boy,
and has never considered herself a girl. I found that her
living style is totally different from mine, and I am very
curious about it. So I read Carl Jung??s The Development of
Personality. The book says that girls have the personality
of boys, and this is the issue I want to address.

YH: You painted Polaroids on canvas, but the original images
are photos. Polaroid appears from your brush. What do you
think of this link or transformation?

YY: People started to paint photos a long time ago. I have
seen a lot of paintings of photos, of old photos, and of
black-and-white photos. In my mind, especially those
who specialize in painting photos, their paintings do not
look like photos.

YH: Do you want to paint a photo or paint a painting?
YY: I want to make it into a painting. To be more precise, I
want to paint it as a person.

YH: Photo portrait?

YY: No, not photo, but people. I want them to have
brushwork, to have a painterly quality, but they need to
be close to people.

YH: Do you think you learned a lot in the four years studying
at the Central Academy? Can you relate what you learned
there directly to your creation?

YY: What I learned is from the experience of those four
years. Not the classes themselves but the experiments
conducted in those classes. I think what??s important for
painting, as well for art, is 'to make' it.

YH: Well, let??s see?? You studied in the Oil Painting
Department for so many years, and painted a lot of bodies,
portraits and so on. The forms and colors are all clearly
defined. But in your creations, such as the Polaroids and
bubbles, a painting doesn??t need to be big in size, or to be
complete or detailed. What do you feel is the relationship
between these two? I mean you don??t need to apply
techniques of realistic painting in your creation. The training
in forms and so on, is it useful to you or does it limit you?

YY: I think it is useful. It teaches me how to control an
image. My paintings are relatively small. The bubbles are
casual and expressive, because of my use of brushwork.
I sometimes paint very rapidly, very different from those
class assignments where ever y detail needed to be
perfect. So what I learned in sketch classes is more useful.
I feel when I tried to finish those large-scale and longterm
consignments, all things me were erased. Then I took
a sketch class with Prof. Liu Xiaodong. I painted freely
and didn??t think too much. At the end Prof. Liu praised
me. Technique can control the overall feeling of a work.
In my painting the sketch and the feeling are the most
important.

YH: Now let??s talk about the bubble series. Why did you
change from Polaroid to bubbles?

YY: I think the Polaroids are the basis of the bubble series.
I got to know a lot of people when I painting Polaroids ?C
I talked to them and observed them. I also looked at their
eyes and discovered that what they see through their eyes
is different from what I see through my eyes. A person??s
reflection in their eyes is similar to a convex mirror.
It is so interesting. It re-forms a person by changing
her proportion. In addition to the convex feeling, the
transparent and water y quality of eyes is similar to
bubbles. So I started to try to paint on its surface, and
got very interested. The material itself feels fragile and
transient. We have the energy of youth, and bubbles
expand due to a certain inner energy. But it bursts quickly,
and the energy will be released, just like when somebody
ages.

YH: You are so young, yet you painted memor y and
transience. Do you feel insecure?

YY: I don??t feel very secure. I have been protected by
my parents since I was born. They indulge me in every
respect. They picked me up from the painting school
everyday. Even the teacher there said "You are already a
big girl but still need to be picked up?". Because of their
extra care, I feel if I leave them, I would have nothing, no
financial support, no emotional support, no love.

YH: Do you feel it strongly?

YY: Very strongly.

YH: You already made many paintings, participated in several
museum exhibitions, and received attention from many
people. Does it make you feel more secure?

YY: I just started, so I still feel it is like an adventure.

YH: What is this feeling of adventure?

YY: Sometimes I feel I paint for shows, so painting
becomes less pure.

YH: People make comments after seeing exhibitions, some of
them are good and some are not. Do you imagine what kind
of comments you will receive before your exhibitions? Do the
comments you receive contradict what you thought?

YY: I receive a lot of comments. For example, for my first
exhibition at our school, because we were all students
there and took the same classes, they all liked it. But they
also felt what I painted were just TV screens. (laughter)
I think I was able to touch them and make them think:
somebody was painting other people, and each painted
person was unique. For other exhibitions, the audience
was different, more diverse. Some even said "You??d be
better off taking photos". No matter what, I feel my works
are visually new.

YH: What you painted before were mostly your classmates
and friends, against the background of the Central Academy.
Now your works will be exhibited in the society at large,
and will be seen by all kinds of people. Some of them are in
the art circle, some are not, and some know nothing about
art. On top of that, many artists have their own opinion on
academic training and realistic painting technique. I believe
you will receive some negative comments. What do you
think about that?
YY: I think criticism is always good. Some people may
think there is no need for painting anymore ?C what I
paint is based on photographs, so it??s better to take photo.

YH: What if we make real Polaroids into light-boxes and hang
them up? Will it be different from your painting?

YY: I thought about this for a long time as well. I think
they are different. First, visually they are different. I won??t
paint to imitate photos. This is a debate that can be traced
to the day photography was invented. I also asked myself
"Is there really no need for painting anymore?". I feel
strongly about it, I cannot give it up. This is how I feel. I
spent lots of time painting. I believe that people can feel
the time and emotion I spent on them.

YH: You mean when you paint, when you see a photo and
a painting in front of you, you reflect your own life on your
creation. You will mainly show two-dimensional work this
time at Chambers?

YY: Yes, and mostly people and landscapes. They look like
faded images, with the feeling of being over exposed. I
went to Hong Kong before I started making this series.
I had never been to a cosmopolitan city that big, but I
felt I didn't belong there. I also went to check out the
art fair. The overcrowding in Hong Kong is beyond my
imagination. The city is so big but not an inch fits me.
I felt very down, and had zero desire to shop. The day
after seeing the art fair, I went to Disney Land. It was a
paradise to me. It brought you to a dream, to un-reality.
The contrast was so dramatic, a reflection of yesterday,
now, and the future.

YH: Why did you paint on canvas?

YY: These paintings express, through over-exposure, an
aesthetics of desolation, and canvas can covey it best.
I also made corrugated porcelain frames for them. The
series are traces of life. For sure they are not about now,
because now is always clear and defined. Only yesterday
or the future are uncertain.

YH: What is your direction after this show? Your work in
general combines painting with different materials, and adds
personal elements. Where are you going?

YY: I don??t have a long-term plan. I hope I can encounter
something by chance in my life. I??m not good at planning,
and I hope I can adjust to whatever kind of environment
I??m in. When I grow older, my surrounding will change,
but my feeling will be the deciding factor.

YH: Are you happy with your current life, having shows once
in a while, being a professional artist?

YY: I??m happy with it. I can decide on my own time and
pace. I don??t like to control other people, but I try to
control my own life. Being a professional artist is a very
independent career.

YH: What do you parents think about your work?

YY: They think my works are new and full of youthful
energy, so they like it. But they also want me to paint
something 'serious,' such as Gazing at a Battle or
something like that. They hope my painting can be shown
in the National Military Art Exhibition.

YH: Maybe one day you will.

YY: I thought about it not long ago. War is far away from
our lives, and I hope to interpret it through humanity. A
lot of recent TV shows and movies reflect on this topic.
Did you see the movie Avatar? It tells the story of a war,
and makes me sad. Humans are cruel. If I use war as
subject, I hope to express love through it. As far as I am
able I also want to do something for society.

YH: What can you do, besides painting?

YY: In addition to painting, I want to do something good
for the environment, like planting a tree every year.

YH: Where will you plant them?

YY: In Miyun outside Beijing. I started already.

YH: You planted trees there yourself?

YY: My dad built a studio for me there. It??s very quiet. He
wants me to paint there.

YH: Do you paint there?

YY: Not yet. I rented a studio in the Huantie art district.
Recently, there are a lot of rumors that the government
will soon demolish these art districts. It reminds us of
Avatar, where homes are destroyed. We feel the same.