Xu Hongfei (Source: Provided by the interviewee)
I don't know if you noticed it, this year's Spring Festival Guangzhou Tianhe Park and Canton Tower near a group of new "friends". They pose with all kinds of poses, or hold musical instruments and sing drunkenly, or ride bicycles, embrace the breeze with open arms, and their posture is plump and cute, which not only brings a rich art feast to the new Guangzhou people for the local New Year, but also becomes the favorite "travel punch point" of many tourists. These lovely new "friends" are from the hands of Xu Hongfei, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the Guangzhou Sculpture Institute.
Tianhe Park exhibition scene "Tiger Tiger Wind" (Source: Stone Mill)
In addition to the sculptures on the streets of Yangcheng, this year Xu Hongfei also created a new work of "Fat Girl" with the theme of ice and snow sports to express his good wishes for the Winter Olympics.
Xu Hongfei creates a "fat girl" work on the theme of ice and snow sports (Source: Stone Mill)
Over the years, Xu Hongfei has brought his "Fat Girl" series of works to spread Chinese culture and tell Chinese stories to the world with humorous and witty sculptural language. The series of works has been exhibited in more than 20 countries such as France, Italy, the United Kingdom and 35 cities at home and abroad, and is loved by people around the world.
Today, the two sessions of the National People's Congress kicked off, and Xu Hongfei will participate in the meeting with the proposal "Telling The Chinese Story Well and Helping Civilization Exchanges". What is typical Chinese sculpture? What kind of sculptures are needed in contemporary China? Xu Hongfei hopes that artistic creation can become a powerful carrier for conveying the image of China in the new era, first of all, Chinese culture should not only "go out", but also "go in"; secondly, China's cultural and artistic works should strive to "please go out" and "please go back" to show the image of healthy China, happy China, happy China and confident China on the world stage.
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Talk about proposals: Focus on how to tell the Story of China well
Oyi News: What kind of proposal did you bring this year?
Xu Hongfei: This year's proposal mainly focuses on "how to tell the Chinese story well". Nowadays, the international community is paying more and more attention to China, and foreigners want to know more about China, and it is far from enough to rely on our official press releases and introductions. Especially now, cultural dissemination also has to face the unfavorable situation of offline cultural and tourism exchanges caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
At the same time, combined with my own overseas tour exhibition experience, I found that the mainland's current overseas cultural exchange activities have the following problems: first, exhibition and exchange activities are mostly held in museums, exhibition halls, and cultural centers, which are known less to the general public; second, the contemporaneity of the exhibits is weak, focusing more on the display of cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage and natural landscapes; third, the basic products provided are homogeneous products, which are difficult to resonate with overseas audiences.
How do I fix the above issues? In terms of overseas exhibitions, we need to hold more exhibition activities in foreign public venues and outdoor landmarks to narrow the audience distance; secondly, we need to include more works of art that are upright and innovative and disseminate contemporary Chinese values; in addition, Chinese stories must be disseminated through more modern means of communication, combined with local cultural and folk feelings. At the level of institutional mechanisms, the government should break through purely task-oriented external propaganda, accelerate reform, give more support to spontaneous art exchanges among the people, and expand the chassis for foreign exchanges.
Oyi News: This is your fifth year as a member of the CPPCC National Committee, can you share what you think and feel in the process of performing your duties?
Xu Hongfei: Over the years, I have been paying attention to foreign exchanges and rural revitalization, and in the process of research, I have gradually found that there are similarities between the two. Telling a good Chinese story can better promote foreign exchanges, and a good story is closely related to the current social development. Rural revitalization is a major social issue in this era, and the development of a country can be seen through the development of a village. Therefore, artists can go to the countryside and tell rural stories well, which is also a contribution to telling Chinese stories well.
However, the historical environment and actual situation of each place are different, which requires artists to think about how to better cut in, form IP, and create a village and a product when creating ideas. After the establishment of the rural brand, it can drive the development of the local cultural tourism industry, and related public service facilities will also be promoted to enhance the happiness of villagers. At the same time, foreign people can also feel the changes in China's countryside and see China's development through the artist's works. Such works are grounded and can reflect the connotation of the current era of healthy China, happy China and happy China.
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Talk about performing their duties: Artists can also help rural revitalization
Aoyi News: This is your fifth year as a member of the CPPCC National Committee participating in the administration and discussion of state affairs, can you share with us the things that you have been deeply impressed and deeply touched during your term of office?
Xu Hongfei: What touched me the most was witnessing the changes in Liannan Yao Autonomous County in Guangdong Province. Liannan is located in the remote mountainous area of northern Guangdong, Guangdong, and in the 1980s I came to Liannan to sketch and create my graduation work "Playing SongTang". In 2009, I came to Liannan to exhibit sculptures. At that time, the traffic was very inconvenient, and more than 20 of my large sculptures were pulled to the field by 4 scooters and exhibited outdoors. At that time, there were many media reports, driving the development of local tourism. During the exhibition, I found that the art works and the land, mountains, and fields are well integrated, and the original exhibition does not have to be in the high places such as art galleries and museums. Works of art should return to the land and interact directly with the people. It also inspired me to do a world tour and take my work to iconic spaces around the world. In November 2021, I came to Liannan again to hold an exhibition, and after 12 years, I found that there has been a big change there. After the development of these years, Liannan has successfully created a provincial all-round tourism demonstration zone, and the number of tourists and comprehensive annual income are increasing year by year.
Aoyi News: Just talking about rural revitalization, we understand that you have always been committed to using art to help rural revitalization, how do you think artists can participate in rural revitalization?
Xu Hongfei: The state has been promoting rural revitalization, and I think literary and art workers should go deeper into the cause of rural revitalization from the perspective of art. Because the villagers need the happiness and sense of gain brought by art, we have provided too little before. Over the years, in the process of dealing with villagers, I have found that villagers also need art. Men, women and children, they are very actively involved in interacting with the artwork, and you can intuitively feel their happiness. In the high and low cottages, in the green rice fields, in the country roads, the addition of art will make the countryside more poetic and romantic. The changes in the whole environment have made the villagers feel close to art, and the children will be enlightened by art unconsciously.
In the past, when art entered the countryside, it was usually a group of artists, and activities such as sending blessings and writing Spring Festival leagues belonged to the formalities. The countryside needs truly independent artists to create IP with their own original art. How to create an artistic IP of one village and one product? This requires artists to live with villagers for a period of time, walk into local life scenes, and integrate real life to create.
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Talking about the development of literary and artistic undertakings: Artists need more windows for dialogue
Aoyi News: You just mentioned the creation of IP, in fact, Guangdong Province also has some IP images, such as the cartoons we grew up watching, Happy Goat and Gray Wolf, the recently popular Olympic mascot ice pier, etc. As a local artist in Guangdong, how do you see these two cultural IP?
Xu Hongfei: They have a phenomenon-level heat and a certain degree of popularity in the whole country and even the world, which is something to be happy about. But most people can't name specific authors, only that they are the result of the team's efforts. For Guangdong, it still needs more IP works with artists' personal characteristics and individual value, more uniqueness and creativity. Artists can participate in collective exhibitions, but after their careers grow, they cannot be satisfied with this, and the exhibition cannot be a collective artist who exhibits one work at a time. This will not do much to the development of the literary and artistic undertakings and to the improvement of the spiritual living standards of the masses of the people.
Aoyi News: In your opinion, what other areas need to be improved in the development of literature and art in Guangdong Province?
Xu Hongfei: The government should strengthen dialogue and exchanges with literary and art workers. When I went to the province to attend the relevant conference, I found that there were not many artists present, and relatively speaking, the dialogue window for artists to express their opinions on construction was not enough. We must climb the peak of literature and art, it is not enough to have literature and art, and at the management level, we must also have more leaders who pay attention to the development of the literary and artistic circles, so as to promote good development.
Aoyi News: Now that the national tide is rising, more and more cultural and creative products with Chinese characteristics are loved by young people, what do you think of this trend?
Xu Hongfei: This is a manifestation of the cultural self-confidence of the younger generation, and it is also a good thing. However, the relevant creation cannot be a simple pile of national style elements, but also more creative and original cultural and creative IP. Only in this way can cultural and creative IP maintain its vitality, retain it, and penetrate the hearts of the people. After that, it can also become a business card for city propaganda and even national publicity.
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Talking about Chinese culture going to sea: "going out" is far from enough
Aoyi News: When it comes to sculpture, everyone may think of Western works such as Venus and the Statue of Liberty, what is a typical Chinese sculpture? What kind of sculptures are needed in contemporary China?
Xu Hongfei: Typical Chinese sculpture has common characteristics, first of all, these works should reflect the artist's individual uniqueness and creativity. Artists who want to tell Chinese stories through their works should pay attention to the value output of individuals. Previously, our external communication has always been based on groups, and a group of people have not followed once, and they have swarmed through the scene. This kind of transmission does not achieve good results. Of course, I am not saying that it is not good for artists to go to sea collectively, but in the process of going to sea, we must also pay attention to the differentiated individual presentation. At the same time, artistic creation should also pay attention to creativity,
At the same time, sculpture creation should focus on the common emotional expression of human beings. There is no time and place in the sculpture, there is no age and gender restriction, and there is no distinction between faith. When I was touring Turkey, I saw some Islamic women in turbans come up to my work. I was a little worried about whether different beliefs would affect the spread. But as a result, they took pictures in front of the sculpture and had a good time. Later, I thought that the emotions of happiness, happiness, and self-confidence in my works are common and can be felt by the people. Good works, because they have common human feelings, will be accepted by the masses. Regardless of faith, race, colour, men, women and children, it is universal, all mankind.
Aoyi News: Today's world is experiencing major changes unprecedented in a century, and various cultural exchanges, blends and confrontations around the world are becoming more frequent. In the face of a complex international environment, achieving the leap from a cultural power to a cultural power is a major issue facing contemporary China. In your opinion, how can Chinese culture better go out?
Xu Hongfei: I think that there is no shortage of Chinese culture to go out now, and what we should pay more attention to is that Chinese culture not only has to go out, but also has more famous masters to participate, and to continue to export, so as to "go in", "please go out" and "please go back". "Walking in" means walking into the local mainstream culture and getting exposure from their mainstream media. "Please go out" means that the works disseminated to the outside world can be recognized by the local government after entering the mainstream culture of the foreign country, so that they can take the initiative to invite us out. "Please go back" is to take external communication as a continuous project, constantly output and innovate, so that foreign organizers can continue to invite our artists to exhibit locally.
For four consecutive years, the mayor of Salamanca, Spain, has personally extended an invitation to bring happiness to people under the epidemic through my works. Last year was the Year of the Ox in China, and the works on display reflected the interaction between fat women and bullfighting, and the works combined Chinese elements with Spanish bullfighting elements, and the response was very good. This year is the Year of the Tiger, and the exhibited works combine elements of the tiger. The success of the exhibition also inspires me that artists should help cultural dissemination through their original works and personal IP, and their works should be lifelike and grounded.
Producer: Liu Lijun
Planner: Xie Jiangtao
Coordinator: Aoyi News Guan Yuhui
Written by: Aoyi News Zhang Jieying Guan Yuhui
Design: Zheng Baiqi