Sculpture Diary Works of Li Xinyu 2013.11.16 - 12.10 PREFACE WORKS SCENE TEXT	□ Make It Simple It is a group exhibition in Heiqiao art district where I for the first time saw the works of Li Xinyu, the exhibition was organized by artists, there is no common topic of works, no foreword or labels. At one corner of the hall I saw a fiberglass horse and three bronze cats. Although there is no label, I intuited that the artist must be young. After seeing the exhibition I visited a firend, coincidentally he mentioned to me the same sculptures with aprreciations and was going to inroduce me to the artist Li Xinyu. At that night besides the opening banquet which was actually a reverly that consumed several roast whole lambs there is also a dancing party. We went to the banquet at first, among the cold leftover and countless empty bottles some boys leant against motorcycles were still drinking; then we turned to the dancing party which was crowed with stylish young people, and we almost got lost in the flashes of neon lights and the very hot air; also we tried luck to visit a studio of a pop band, where it is said that young artists in Heiqiao usually hang out together, we saw amazingly cool musical devices and even cooler boys. But at those places we did not find Li Xinyu, he was not in the hot spots. 　　　We finally found Li Xinyu in his studio, the young boy in T-shirt and basketball cap still seems like a student, but graduated from the university for two years he has filled his studio with more than twenty finished sculptures. When we talked about something like the ideas for his future exhibitions, he usually said“make it simple” with shyly amiable smiles. That is exactly the same impression the aundience would have in front of his works: uncomplicated and indifferent. 　　　In contemporary artworks people can usually find some tensions such as the tension between an artist and the society, the tension between an artist and himself/herself and the tension between an artist and his/her native language. Wherein the “native language” not only includes the language used by a nation for thousands of years, but also the culture and customs inherited via the language. What’s more, some sentences with prominent ideological features as well as some exaggerated and artificial expressions promoted by the consumerism that is gaining momentum in nowdays society, are also parts of the native language. Moreover, generally you can find more tensions in the works of young artist compared with those of mature artists. 　　　Most sculptures of Li Xinyu are animals, where half are his cat and dog, others are big animals whom he has been interested in from childhood. The works are not in the pursuit of showing contemporary characters and therefore able to keep a distance from the recurring illness of formism, it looks like they are casted by the natural flows of the very instant of feeling while the aritst observing the animals and fulled of the happiness and easiness of finding the hightlights as well as enjoying every moment of life. 　　　Li Xinyu considers his works comparatively classic. The choice of the medium “cast copper with chemical stain”is indeed influened by his treacher, sculptor Wang Wei, but also a decision of his own after trying many different media such as wood and marble. Even once he made a highly simulated cat face which is almost lifelike in appearance and enhanced his self-confidence in skills, but after yeas of study and practice he found more appropriate way to express himself. 　　　“We had barely entered the first studio when our teachers started to teach us to make works ‘thin’, but I did not really get the point until I realized that being ‘thin’ is not as simple as it sounds. To make a sulpture ‘thin’ you have to keep a holistic view to see the whole shape and catch hold of the core.” Because of the comprehension of this creation ideology Li Xinyu emphazies the pure look and integrity in the process of creating to make his works fresh, solid and forceful. 　　　The creating of Li Xinyu is totally motivated by personal interests. He thinks that the core value of an artwork comes from the feeling and temperament of the artist, and good artworks could only be created by deeply and finely feeling artists with active interests,thus an artwork cannot touch any audience if it cannot touch the artist himself with approachability. Although living in this era that information technology and multimedia are so highly developed that an artist can easily get the latest inforamtion of the international art industry, Li Xinyu does not care much about changes in the outside world, because “rehashing existing thoughts of other people leads to indistinct or even disppearance of the creating consciousness of one’s own self.” On the other hand, insterests show personalities and are related to one’s life history, which is comparatively honest. 　　　The growth and experience of Li Xinyu is quite simple. He comes from a typical three-people family, the parents both have stable jobs and dicent incomes and they rarely pressure their boy. Li Xinyu likes to paint since childhood and was trained with basic skills of painting in highschool, after only one attempt of the university entrance exam he was blessed with acceptance to seek admittance to the China Central Acadamy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Shortly before the graduation he was blessed again to sale several pieces of the“giraffe series”, with the money he rented a studio in Heiqiao and became a professional artist without any hesitate. 　　　Eventhough being an artist whose only income is from selling works, Li Xinyu does not watch his “bread and butter” closely. One time a foreign collector visited Li Xinyu and expressed his wish of having a sculpture of his dog that was already dead and showed the artist many photos of the beloved pet.As an animal lover Li Xinyu certainly took the order and did the sculpture very seriously, the final work comforted the dog master deeply but it did not charge much money, actually the artist hardly profited in the deal. I got somehow shcoked when I heard this story, but after knowing more about the artist, I find it is the typical style of him. 　　　What shocked me even more is that having lived in CAFA for five years and in Heiqiao for two years, Li Xinyu has just for time visited the 798 art district that is only five minutes drive from his living areas. And the only time was for delivering something for other people. When talking about his impression about 798 he said “I saw many people, I can rarely see so many people”, which made me smile. However, if not for this kind of charateristic, he may not have so many finished works now or the works could not be so natural and clean. Almost everyday Li Xinyu gets up at 7 o’clock and works until being too tired at night, and he barely participates actions except playing basketball with other artists living in Heiqiao. However, being so diligent and concentrated on his work, he does not pay much attention on the raises and downs of the art world or the chances for showing one’name. As to how young artist in the big enviroment are keen on getting reputations, his not seeking fame is indeed somehow special. Especially considering the tough life of young artists in his age, even Li Xinyu himself said that his parents cannot understand why he is suffering here, and his not only being indifferent but also having done many sculptures of innocent animals , in my opinion, the artist is walking towards the inside world, therefore it would be better if the things of the outside world on his back could be kicked off by “make it simple.” Amanda Yang September 2013
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Sculpture Diary
Works of Li Xinyu
2013.11.16 - 12.10

□ Make It Simple

It is a group exhibition in Heiqiao art district where I for the first time saw the works of Li Xinyu, the exhibition was organized by artists, there is no common topic of works, no foreword or labels. At one corner of the hall I saw a fiberglass horse and three bronze cats. Although there is no label, I intuited that the artist must be young. After seeing the exhibition I visited a firend, coincidentally he mentioned to me the same sculptures with aprreciations and was going to inroduce me to the artist Li Xinyu. At that night besides the opening banquet which was actually a reverly that consumed several roast whole lambs there is also a dancing party. We went to the banquet at first, among the cold leftover and countless empty bottles some boys leant against motorcycles were still drinking; then we turned to the dancing party which was crowed with stylish young people, and we almost got lost in the flashes of neon lights and the very hot air; also we tried luck to visit a studio of a pop band, where it is said that young artists in Heiqiao usually hang out together, we saw amazingly cool musical devices and even cooler boys. But at those places we did not find Li Xinyu, he was not in the hot spots.
　　　We finally found Li Xinyu in his studio, the young boy in T-shirt and basketball cap still seems like a student, but graduated from the university for two years he has filled his studio with more than twenty finished sculptures. When we talked about something like the ideas for his future exhibitions, he usually said“make it simple” with shyly amiable smiles. That is exactly the same impression the aundience would have in front of his works: uncomplicated and indifferent.
　　　In contemporary artworks people can usually find some tensions such as the tension between an artist and the society, the tension between an artist and himself/herself and the tension between an artist and his/her native language. Wherein the “native language” not only includes the language used by a nation for thousands of years, but also the culture and customs inherited via the language. What’s more, some sentences with prominent ideological features as well as some exaggerated and artificial expressions promoted by the consumerism that is gaining momentum in nowdays society, are also parts of the native language. Moreover, generally you can find more tensions in the works of young artist compared with those of mature artists.
　　　Most sculptures of Li Xinyu are animals, where half are his cat and dog, others are big animals whom he has been interested in from childhood. The works are not in the pursuit of showing contemporary characters and therefore able to keep a distance from the recurring illness of formism, it looks like they are casted by the natural flows of the very instant of feeling while the aritst observing the animals and fulled of the happiness and easiness of finding the hightlights as well as enjoying every moment of life.
　　　Li Xinyu considers his works comparatively classic. The choice of the medium “cast copper with chemical stain”is indeed influened by his treacher, sculptor Wang Wei, but also a decision of his own after trying many different media such as wood and marble. Even once he made a highly simulated cat face which is almost lifelike in appearance and enhanced his self-confidence in skills, but after yeas of study and practice he found more appropriate way to express himself.
　　　“We had barely entered the first studio when our teachers started to teach us to make works ‘thin’, but I did not really get the point until I realized that being ‘thin’ is not as simple as it sounds. To make a sulpture ‘thin’ you have to keep a holistic view to see the whole shape and catch hold of the core.” Because of the comprehension of this creation ideology Li Xinyu emphazies the pure look and integrity in the process of creating to make his works fresh, solid and forceful.
　　　The creating of Li Xinyu is totally motivated by personal interests. He thinks that the core value of an artwork comes from the feeling and temperament of the artist, and good artworks could only be created by deeply and finely feeling artists with active interests,thus an artwork cannot touch any audience if it cannot touch the artist himself with approachability. Although living in this era that information technology and multimedia are so highly developed that an artist can easily get the latest inforamtion of the international art industry, Li Xinyu does not care much about changes in the outside world, because “rehashing existing thoughts of other people leads to indistinct or even disppearance of the creating consciousness of one’s own self.” On the other hand, insterests show personalities and are related to one’s life history, which is comparatively honest.
　　　The growth and experience of Li Xinyu is quite simple. He comes from a typical three-people family, the parents both have stable jobs and dicent incomes and they rarely pressure their boy. Li Xinyu likes to paint since childhood and was trained with basic skills of painting in highschool, after only one attempt of the university entrance exam he was blessed with acceptance to seek admittance to the China Central Acadamy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Shortly before the graduation he was blessed again to sale several pieces of the“giraffe series”, with the money he rented a studio in Heiqiao and became a professional artist without any hesitate.
　　　Eventhough being an artist whose only income is from selling works, Li Xinyu does not watch his “bread and butter” closely. One time a foreign collector visited Li Xinyu and expressed his wish of having a sculpture of his dog that was already dead and showed the artist many photos of the beloved pet.As an animal lover Li Xinyu certainly took the order and did the sculpture very seriously, the final work comforted the dog master deeply but it did not charge much money, actually the artist hardly profited in the deal. I got somehow shcoked when I heard this story, but after knowing more about the artist, I find it is the typical style of him.
　　　What shocked me even more is that having lived in CAFA for five years and in Heiqiao for two years, Li Xinyu has just for time visited the 798 art district that is only five minutes drive from his living areas. And the only time was for delivering something for other people. When talking about his impression about 798 he said “I saw many people, I can rarely see so many people”, which made me smile. However, if not for this kind of charateristic, he may not have so many finished works now or the works could not be so natural and clean.
Almost everyday Li Xinyu gets up at 7 o’clock and works until being too tired at night, and he barely participates actions except playing basketball with other artists living in Heiqiao. However, being so diligent and concentrated on his work, he does not pay much attention on the raises and downs of the art world or the chances for showing one’name. As to how young artist in the big enviroment are keen on getting reputations, his not seeking fame is indeed somehow special. Especially considering the tough life of young artists in his age, even Li Xinyu himself said that his parents cannot understand why he is suffering here, and his not only being indifferent but also having done many sculptures of innocent animals , in my opinion, the artist is walking towards the inside world, therefore it would be better if the things of the outside world on his back could be kicked off by “make it simple.”

Amanda Yang
September 2013

□ Make It Simple

Next