Thanks again to Professor Wu, we visited Professor
Xue Feng's studio while in Hangzhou. Prof Xue also teaches at the China Academy of Art in Hanzhou. When I first walked into his studio on the 6th floor of an industrial complex, I felt I was suddenly transformed to Bushwick, Brooklyn? Huge colorful canvases lined the walls and he quickly said he was getting ready to pack everything up for a show opening in Beijing at the end of September. At first glance, the canvases look like the work of any abstract expressionist, upon further investigation and explanation, the canvases all rooted from one since landscape painting (
Bruce Stiglich, are you paying attention?). Each additional painting is derived from the original landscape painting infused with objects either from his memory (playing cards) or imagination (doorways). We sat down and got into a very academic conversation about art, the state of art on the international stage and the influence of the east on the west and vice versa. I asked about some German signs hanging in the shelves of his office. Turns out, Professor Xue had spent some time in Berlin. And then what I thought were bookshelves, is indeed a new series that he anticipates we will see in two years. They are series of "drawers" full of memories and he plans on manipulating what we think are everyday object into something from new from his imagination, thus transforming our perspective on ordinary things. He then plans on producing a series of paintings on the whole installation.
