"The dolls I've created have come out of my pen, and they belong to everyone." Yu Xiaofu, a representative of Haipai art and a well-known artist, said.
On January 22, 2022, Yu Xiaofu's solo exhibition "Expressions" - Yu Xiaofu's Small Talk Art Exhibition will open at Somer Mather W&S Art Space.
posters
"Taste of Shanghai" under "Shanghai Emoticon"
Whether inside or outside the circle, online or offline, everyone has a consistent view of Yu Xiaofu's painting style, that is, the typical Shanghai flavor. "I think so myself. Old Shanghai is a city with a variety of styles, because of decades of infiltration, I will be somewhat gentle, but at the same time do not miss the grand narrative, but also have the historical responsibility of daring to ask the world, right? The site of the First Party Congress in Shanghai is not a fake. ”
As one of the representatives of contemporary Shanghai school art, at the selection of the Sixth National Fine Arts Exhibition in 1984, Yu Xiaofu's oil painting "I - Gently Knocking on the Door" caused an uproar in public opinion in the art circles because of its failure. But he also became famous because of this, and "I - Knocking Softly" became synonymous with the classic art of Haipai and the humanistic spirit of Haipai.
Yu Xiaofu's works often feel fresh and have a kind of impact. His paintings are rich in imagery and profound in realm, and whether he depicts objects or depicts scenes, he can use unique and sharp brushstrokes to deepen the essence of things, so that readers can feel the deep breath of history in his paintings and feel the artist's different thinking about the era in which he lives.
He likes absurdity without complex imagery to represent history. Objects of different eras appear in the same painting inconceivably, and the contemplative expressions and calm light of the objects, as well as the colorful light that moves around them, are integrated into the body, giving a limit to reverie.
The movie "Love Myth" vividly shows the petty bourgeois mood and city life of Shanghai, a Shanghai-style city. Shanghai culture, Shanghai plot, and Shanghai expression have aroused widespread discussion. In this exhibition, the expressions in Yu Xiaofu's works are not only the vivid human expressions refined by the artist, but also the expressions of Shanghai, a city full of humanistic spirit - Shanghai expressions.
On the exhibition, "A Pair of Works", there is a painting of an old Koehler holding a dog. Seemingly consistent expressions, but one pampered and one doted on. "Beer belly, suspender pants, old Koehler too." Yu Xiaofu said.
"A Pair"
"Strictly speaking, I should also be counted in the Shanghai old Keller file." Yu Xiaofu told reporters, but he also said that he "does not look too big on the outside", "not deliberate at all, nor does he have the gentlemanly demeanor of drinking coffee at a fixed point, does not play the brand, but just happily paints foreign comics with white appearances in his spare time." ”
Yu Xiaofu claims to be accustomed to painting in the flow-of-consciousness style of the Frenchman Proust's Reminiscences of the Watery Years. At the same time, his works are mixed with the atmosphere of the city that emanates from the old alleys in Shanghai, and they are also a bit cunning.
"Those humorous, flexible brushstrokes are locally produced in Shanghai. Maybe it was his own, or maybe he had been enlightened by He Youzhi and Cheng Shifa? Maybe. Yu Xiaofu said.
"Silver Wedding"
A miscellaneous home that walks back and forth between large and small works
Comics have always been Yu Xiaofu's personal preference, and he is very precious to Chinese and foreign cartoonists. Yu Xiaofu recalled: "At that time, I was like a freelance writer, mixed in the field of comic strips and illustration of foreign literary novels. When he was fifty or sixty years old, he still remembered to pick up the famous book "The Great Gatsby" by the American writer Fitzgerald, and serialized it in the supplement of Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News through comic strips to share with the public.
Because of the extensive involvement, natural experience is good and handy. Yu Xiaofu commented on himself: "I am a miscellaneous family who walks back and forth between large works and small works, big paintings and small paintings complement each other, and there is no such thing as well water not violating river water. ”
"Embroidered Characters"
The theme of this solo exhibition on paper is the continuation of the illustrated "Yu Xiaofu Small Talk", which was once serialized in the supplement of Xinmin Evening News. "Expressions" is the theme of this solo exhibition of Yu Xiaofu. He explained: "In fact, like my big paintings, it is intended to give themselves to themselves through the small Chinese and foreign characters I call dolls created in my "Small Talk", including the newly added tigers, through their cute expressions, to give this sometimes helpless and helpless cold and warm world to themselves, in fact, to give myself a deepest comfort. ”
The exhibition will be on view until February 22, 2022.