Debra Li

    debra_lidan@163.com

    XU HAN, who researches Chinese culture and art at Peking University, exhibited more than 100 of his paintings and calligraphy works at Artron Art Gallery from Friday to Sunday.

    Xu has held exhibitions in Beijing, Shandong Province and Foshan in Guangdong Province. This was Xu’s first exhibition in Shenzhen. Xu’s works have been mentioned in books such as “Connoisseurs’ Choice of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy” (中国书画鉴赏).

    Born in Sichuan Province in 1961, Xu was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution in his teenage. After returning to formal education, he was determined to make up for lost time and in 1981 he graduated from Sichuan University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

    A lifelong connoisseur of Chinese culture and art, Xu spends most of his free time reading Chinese literature and studying Chinese art. Especially fascinated with bamboo and rocks, which he associates with stability, Xu calls himself “shizhu shanren” (a mountain dweller who loves bamboo and rocks).

    Being an amateur does not mean that Xu does not produce professional quality work, said Ke Wenhui, a researcher with the Chinese National Academy of Arts. Ke quoted an anecdote of late artist Liu Haisu to support his argument.

    “I don’t know how to paint,” Liu once told Chinese painting master Wu Changshuo, who responded praising Liu’s works.

    “Your mind is not framed by what you learn, and ingenuity and character are the marks of a true artist,” Wu said.

    Xu’s portrait works often feature figures with sharp eyes and firm facial expressions, clad in white robes, sleeves dancing in the wind. This appearance is closely associated with scholars in China.

    Although the exhibition has now closed, Xu’s works have been published in an album by Surnwo, a Hong Kong-based publisher.