What is the story of Xu Jianguo in history?

Mr. Xu Jianguo is a Chinese-American painter and Chinese-American artist.

Xu Jianguo, a famous Chinese-American painter, is good at integrating Eastern and Western aesthetic concepts into his works, and his traditional but creative painting style has also made him enjoy a high reputation in the American art world. In 2010, he meticulously created "Shencheng Xinruitu" in the World Expo Theme Pavilion, a six-meter-long work that took him more than ten years of painstaking work, full of his deep affection for his hometown, but also reflects his outstanding artistic standards. Xu Jianguo was born in an ordinary family in Shanghai in 1951, and he remembers spending his childhood in Huaihaifang on Huaihai Road. Huaihai Fang No. 1 Building it is along Huaihai Road, is the first building, so its window is along Huaihai Road, this, I think this brings a lot of fun to my childhood life, we looked at Huaihai Road at that time, when looking down from the upstairs, the tram drove over locally, there were a lot of people coming and going on the road, in the early fifties, Shanghai was very, very diverse, all kinds of people, wearing Western clothes, wearing Chinese clothes, in fact, more personality than the current Shanghai.

This photo is our family carnival, our family took in 1957, at that time we were still living in Huaihaifang, my father, my mother, my eldest sister, my second sister, my brother, my younger brother, my sister, the one on the far left is myself, at that time I had not yet apprenticed, just from my own interests to create, painting as my own hobby. I remember when I was a child, my mother got up and put herself on the spittoon behind the door, so I was facing the door, I remember the door in our house, because the house is older, the paint has cracks, such and such different cracks, then I just stared at it, and slowly I saw a lot of things, this is like a dragon's head, this is like a dock, what kind of person is a person, just think about it. From then on, the young Xu Jianguo began to try to record his various fantasies, and chalk became his best partner at that time. When I was a child, I was in this lane, there were a lot of tricycles coming and going, I used the chalk that my parents bought for me on this side, painted in the place, and came down to paint as soon as I had time, anyway, it was all washed away when it rained, and I painted a lot of stories of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at that time, at that time, Huaihaifang was inhabited by some literati and ink writers, and they were some very famous people, and they often stopped and said when they came over, oh, how smart this child is, let his image be very deep, this is also a kind of encouragement, until the family shouts, go back, Go back, and then go back to dinner.

As his painting skills improved, Xu Jianguo was eager to try a higher level of painting, but his idea was opposed by his family, who were not wealthy and could not afford to buy painting materials. At that time, my father was often worried about himself, he said that you can paint as food, we can't afford to support a child like you who consumes a lot of money, so he sometimes pulls his ear and says, "Can painting be used as food?" The sensible Xu Jianguo understands the difficulties at home, but despite this, he has not shaken his determination to chase his dreams. At that time, the Harbin Food Factory was producing some more high-end cakes, and the paper they used to package the cake was also very good, so people bought the cake, just ate it in three or two bites, and then threw away the wrapping paper, so they saw the paper that fell on the ground and picked it up, and cut off the end that was not stained with oil, which was also a very good square piece of paper, so take it back and put it at home, and draw a few strokes, which is very good. Xu Jianguo's dedication to painting deeply touched his father, he no longer opposed his son's learning of painting, and also took great pains to find an excellent teacher for him, from then on, Xu Jianguo really embarked on the road of painting, and this study also laid a solid foundation for his future success. I often feel comfortable when I say I'm okay today, I just take a piece of paper and put it in my hand. I felt that as soon as I opened the paper, as soon as I opened the rice paper, I felt that the whole world was far away from me, and I felt that a new world was opening up in front of me, and I could communicate with it. As long as I am honest with it, it will also be sincere to me, and I will feel that the world is very calm and the world is beautiful. In 1966, when the Cultural Revolution broke out, the 16-year-old Xu Jianguo was sent to work on a farm in Chongming, and he was forced to put down his brush and pick up a sickle. I am a person who likes to read very much, I like to read, and my childhood and youth life are in such an atmosphere, I found my own fun, but suddenly I don't let you study, let you go to the countryside, at that time I feel really lonely, I can't see the future. Due to his different personalities and hobbies, Xu Jianguo was often excluded and bullied by the rest of the production team, which made him feel more and more painful. Because they like to write poems or something, they may offend some people, so they always throw themselves with bricks, and one day when they go to sleep, they throw bricks on their beds again, and they snap over, and the next day their mood is very, very bad, and they feel that there is no point in living, so they set fire to the childhood photos they brought. He thought of dying to escape this difficult life. I unscrewed the socket myself, and just pricked it in with my hand, and when I hesitated, a person walked by at the door, and when I walked by, I stopped for a while, and after a pause, I quickly changed my mind, and I just gave up.

Sometimes giving up is not a sign of cowardice, just like Xu Jianguo's abandonment, it actually indicates the return of a strong man, a phoenix's nirvana, and he begins to believe in the future. Looking back, that period of life was also very important for me, and the experience of the farm was like a big mirror for me at that time, to see if I was strong and persevering.

In 1971, the Shanghai Theater Academy resumed enrollment, and although it had been five years of neglect of pen and ink, Xu Jianguo was still admitted to the Department of Stage Art with his excellent skills, and returned to that familiar and unfamiliar atmosphere. When the ship sailed out of Chongming back to Shanghai, I felt that this ship was no longer an ordinary ship, but took my life away from a port and sailed into another world. This photo was taken in 1974 when he was studying at the Shanghai Theater Academy, and I remember that Mr. Zheng Wei took it for himself, when we met somewhere in Zhejiang, he saw that he was carrying a lot of things, so he took a photo of himself, and during that time he had more direct conversations with nature, so the works created at that time were more colorful, a kind of sad color. Under normal circumstances, when you see a good scenery, you don't create it right away, you have to let it brew in your heart for a while, this time is to let it brew some energy, then your emotions slowly expand in that atmosphere, and then you don't allow yourself to go more than ten minutes, you quickly catch that feeling, and then leave immediately.

After graduating from university in 1976, Xu Jianguo joined the Shanghai Opera House as a stage designer, and his leisure work gave him a lot of time for personal creation. During this period, he painted a large number of excellent works, which also made him famous in the painting world, in order to be more successful in the profession, he thought of studying abroad, after repeated consideration, Bard College in the United States became his final choice. Because I think that China is one of the oldest countries, it has an ancient culture; And one of the newest countries in the United States, from these two aspects, the cultural collision between them must be very large, if I go to the United States to study, if I can do it, then I think it should be of great benefit to my pursuit of art.

This photo was taken at the airport on September 15, 1984, when I left China, my wife, my daughter and my family have been separated for three years, and my heart was very sour at that time, my daughter is so cute, and my wife is a very introverted woman, and I don't know how they will live after that. At first, she didn't support going to the United States, she didn't want to leave her, we met on the farm in 1968, and we didn't get married until 1978, and in these ten years, I remember that we only went out twice, and I was a very focused person at that time, although my heart has always been on her, and this will not change, but we don't have time to play, so I thought about paying off this debt after we got married, and then I encountered this kind of sacrifice for the sake of the career. I was also very conflicted, and I was indeed very guilty at that time, but I still decided to go.

In 1984, Xu Jianguo bid farewell to his relatives, boarded a flight to New York with a dream, and came to this country full of unknowns and ideals. At that time, I only brought 40 dollars to the United States, which was not enough to pay a month's rent, I didn't have food, I didn't bring a quilt, I brought a lot of books, I brought a lot of painting materials, because I couldn't afford it there. Due to visa reasons, Xu Jianguo failed to catch up with the registration of the academy that year, without the support of scholarships, he was forced to practice painting while working to earn money, he delivered newspapers, delivered takeaways, and even worked as a mannequin, although life was embarrassing, he still insisted on his dream of painting. It was the lowest point of my life, the lowest point of my life, in fact, the most important time, can I still calm down and create a work, if you can calm down and create, maybe you can still go on this road. If you are frightened and retreat, thinking that money is more important, that is, if you change your assumptions, I am afraid that you will continue to follow the path of how to survive. The following year, Xu Jianguo officially entered Bard College, which has a history of 150 years, and he has his own dormitory and studio, but the unique teaching method of Bard College has left Xu Jianguo confused. This school thinks that they know a lot, so they seal everything they know and put everything they don't understand on my head, at that time I felt that it was very unfair, and my classmates in our school said that it was unfair, thinking that this was too cruel to Xu Jianguo, because he was a Chinese, he belonged to Chinese culture, but now he suddenly made such a request, like he could not speak English as fluently as us. Xu Jianguo was at a loss for what the school was doing, and he even suspected that studying abroad was a wrong decision, but a normal lunch made him wake up and break down.

Once a friend bought one for himself, we now call it a hamburger, there is cheese or something, I took a bite, that taste is that I have been in China for 30 years, I was 34 years old when I went abroad, I have never tasted this taste, the smell of cheese, when it came out of my mouth, I stopped, I thought to myself, I said that I have lived for 34 years, I only know today what is called Chinese food, because I ate hamburgers. We have a lot of things that we take for granted, or ways of thinking that we take for granted, can be questioned, because if you don't compare, you don't know what. Xu Jianguo once again strengthened his trust in studying abroad, he temporarily put aside his original concept and began to explore and understand this unknown world, he believes that these two different voices will definitely be able to weave a beautiful melody.

Finding out what I am, where you come from, how you are in this environment now, and how you will develop in the future is this kind of question, which keeps appearing in my own mind, appearing in my own artistic creation, how do I find myself? In the previous period of my life, I received a traditional Chinese private school-style education, and the United States is a very open pursuit of an artistic style based on my own personality, and I have to find a combination between these two cultures, and it must be reflected in the works and in the specific form.