Jin Shangyi, the dean of CAFA, talked about children learning to paint: his grandson taught himself at the age of 4, but he never taught it, believing that painting was not the ownership of a doctorate. He emphasized the foundation of art education, attached importance to the combination of sketching and light and shadow, and the style was solemn. Jin Lao believes that artistic growth requires a solid foundation, and the quality of a painting depends on the level of technique, not style.
After the reform and opening up, Jin Shangyi became one of the earliest explorers of original Western oil paintings, which brought opportunities for Chinese oil painting to approach the level of the West. For the integration in the process of learning Western literature and art, he felt that he needed to integrate the essence of Western oil painting into his own cultural heritage. His works represent the level of development of Chinese oil painting, and he still insists on learning Western oil painting and studying the rules of art.
With the rise of contemporary art concepts, Jin Shangyi believes that conceptual art and oil painting are completely different. The art of painting is done according to the rules and standards of oil painting, and it is necessary to lay a foundation and distinguish the quality of painting. As an art educator, he advocated that the Academy of Fine Arts should give students the most solid foundation and cutting-edge thinking, and he believed that the charm of painting lies in the ability to see one's own shortcomings and improve them through painting.
For many art academy students who are limited by English exams and essay writing, Jin Shangyi thinks that it is difficult for painters to write essays, so he suggests "making do with graduation". Regarding the problem of low success rate in painting, he suggested that children should not learn to draw, because learning to paint is a profession with a very low success rate, and it requires talent and later efforts to succeed. For the increasing number of art training classes in society, he believes that the training courses are to make money, and they will interfere with the enrollment of art academies.
Finally, he called on the society to attach importance to the art of painting, respect children's nature and support their artistic exploration, but at the same time, it is necessary to avoid being too commercial and utilitarian, and ensure that the true value of art education can be brought into play.