Sound Bites: Duxi
art4d.asia
Date : 03 JULY 2015
text art4d.asia
Who: Duxi, Artist
What: Oil painting on canvas, lithography, statues and acrylic painting on paper
When: Since graduating from the Department of Oil Painting of the Fine Art Academy in 2003 - present
Where: Every spring and autumn I work at my studio in Beijing. In summer and winter, I go back to work at my studio in my hometown of Kunming in southern China.
Why: There have been 3 generations of artists in my family, so my family supports my painting career. I find the meaning of my life by visualizing contents and thoughts that I'm into. I love my job and I'll keep doing it.
Where do you draw inspiration from? Historical stories, global news, old movies, awesome games, classic western paintings, classic eastern paintings, Ukiyo-e, and anything that fascinates me.
What makes you stand out from others in your field?An artist's progress is a path of self-practice of working hard despite the gifted talent. The key is that I spend 15 hours a day creating, also continuously exploring myself. I don't care about criticism, sticking to the art form I like is the true expression of art.
Where do you go, or what do you do, when you get stuck on a project? I'll watch a movie or a documentary, look at the works of my favorite artists, or go to flea markets, but most of all, keep record of everything interesting around. For example, taking photos or doing quick sketches for future references. Therefore when I get stuck, those will remind me of the forgotten inspiration that once struck me.
What design tool can you not live without? For me, it is the brushes and paints that have been there the longest.
What project are you most proud of? Once I was very proud to support myself by creating paintings after graduating from school, then I was content to collaborate with galleries to support my family, to buy a house and a car. Yet right now, I am most proud of living a simple life, saving money for my new works, even though they might be only experimental with no market value. Also, I'm able to put ideas into practice and finally broaden the variety of my art, this is something that I take pride in.
How would you define creativity? The way I see it, creativity is turning every fascinating inspiration of daily life into imagination and transforming it into works that are visible and touchable.
What are you working on currently? I've been doing oil on canvas works to realize my virtual parallel universe. I began by creating paintings on paper, working with lithography and also statues in recent years. I'm planning to do some video art and short animation as well. There will also be installation art included in my statues. The theme of new media creation and my old paintings will be consistent. I also want to do more exhibitions to show my aspect of art via more various artworks.
What is your favorite thing about the city that you live in? I live in two cities, one is Beijing, the cultural center of Asia and northern China, a place full of opportunities and challenges where I can witness and participate in the best cultural events; the other is Kunming, located in southern China, the most beautiful big city with the most beautiful weather, where I can never leave because of the art circle I know best and the most comfortable environment for me to create in.
Duxihttp://www.artand.cn/duxi
- See more at: http://798.io/1yb
