10 Questions with Xiaodong Yu

Yu Xiaodong was born in Qingdao, Shandong, in 1978. He is a member of the China Artists Association. In 2002, he obtained a bachelor's degree from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a master's degree in printmaking from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2005.

He is currently a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts of Qingdao University, director of the Printmaking Teaching and Research Section, a printmaker, and a famous contemporary young artist. He is also the earliest researcher and creator of digital printmaking in China, setting a precedent for the creation and teaching of digital printmaking in the country. His works are widely recognized and collected.

ARTIST STATEMENT

"Plane and Depth" signifies a shift from a spatial definition based on clearly separated planes to a spatial understanding based on successive retreats. Wolfflin believes that "the beauty of the plane has given way to the beauty of the depth, which is always combined with the impression of a movement". Printmaking is a graphic art, but the depth of thought and language it contains makes other paintings stand out. Because it transforms a flat beauty into dynamic and deep beauty, this expression is precisely due to the special language of printmaking. The language features of printmaking art are generalization and refinement, and its artistic charm comes from the high concentration and extraction of life. From the changes in knife techniques in woodcuts to the foreshadowing of large color blocks on silkscreens, it undoubtedly shows the simplicity of this art form vocabulary. This form of graphics does not exist in real life, and it belongs to a high level of artistic generalization. At the same time, it is also necessary for artists to grasp their most essential thoughts when creating, to scatter and think deeply about some of the inspirations that they usually feel. It is best to convey them to the audience in a clever way. The visual experience brought by digital printmaking has risen to a higher level than traditional prints. The effect it creates expands the flatness to a wider and more rhythmic space because it is not limited by materials and technology—magical, virtual, or abstract.

Landscape with a Bird, Digital printmaking, 150x85 cm, 2009 © Xiaodong Yu

The artist thinks realistic and other emotional languages can be realized and reach the level of falsehood, presenting a real virtual world in the picture.
Human beings can live a double life: one real life and one imaginary Life. The two lives are very different; imagine life with its clearer perception, and purer and freer emotions.
Feel the difference with real life. Art imagines that life is richer, more perfect, and more real than earthly life. This determines the height of artistic creation, which is far above real life. The feelings we want to express are conveyed to the viewer through a series of images and symbols, and the degree of freedom of such images should be broad.

The vision of pure real life becomes rigid and numb before the vision of imaginary life. From the perception point of view, in real life, the natural elimination process makes instinctive reflections such as seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages occupy most of the people's lives, and all human consciousness is concentrated on this reflection response; people are often forced to We need to look only at those things that are useful to us, and once we identify people and things, we immediately put them into intellectual categories and leave them alone. This kind of label recognition is not watching at all, "only when a thing exists in our hungry life only for the purpose of our watching, we really watch it."

Because digital printmaking has a relative sense of time and space, the use of montage as an artistic method will bring out its characteristics more vividly. The flat still work itself does not have a sense of movement, but it can also produce a moving melody through the method of montage, that is, through the collage, combination, etc., of multiple images and visual forms such as color blocks or symbols, to achieve a visual effect: shock and association.

Lighthouse, Digital printmaking, 115x52 cm, 2021 © Xiaodong Yu

INTERVIEW

Who are you? And how did you become the artist you are today?

My name is Yu Xiaodong. I am a university teacher and an artist. I have loved painting since I was a child. Since high school, I have studied fine arts. After getting a master's degree in printmaking from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, I went back to Qingdao to become a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts of QINGDAO University. After 30 years of professional art training, I can finally work as an artist. I am committed to the creation and research of new materials, new media, and new techniques of digital printmaking. Over the years, I taught courses in silkscreen printing, digital printing, and creative thinking models at the university.

When did you first realize you wanted to be an artist?

I have made clear my ideal since I was 8 years old, which is to become a professional artist, a pure painter. This was very clear in my childhood. I have always loved this profession very much!

Nirvana 1, Digital printmaking, 55x110 cm, 2018 © Xiaodong Yu

And when did you start incorporating digital printmaking into your production? What inspired you to follow this route?

I came into contact with digital printmaking in 2002 during my postgraduate study, because digital printmaking was still completely blank in China at that time, no one had done it, and it was completely zero. My research direction is the application of new media in printmaking, so I take digital media as my research direction, because the picture space and texture I want to express cannot be realized by traditional prints such as silkscreen prints, copperplate prints, etc. Traditional prints have their own limitations, that is, the single plane sense and color space, as well as the limitation of size. My creative pictures are large. Part of it is a surreal fantasy scene, so I need a special medium to allow me to realize this idea, and digital media is perfect for it!

You were quite a pioneer in this regard, among the first to use this technique. How has your art evolved over the years?

I have used digital prints to create art for 20 years so far, and the development process is roughly divided into three stages. During the first stage, from 2002 to 2006, I used digital media to simulate the period of traditional printmaking and surpass it, such as the texture of the picture, the beauty of impression texture, the relationship between black and white and gray, and the simple and general color. I tried to surpass the effect of traditional printmaking. The second stage is from 2007 to 2016. During this period, I tried to use digital media as a more powerful and comprehensive tool. It is omnipotent, and I try to tap its greatest potential for creation. I am no longer limited to the simulation of traditional printmaking effects. Instead, it has opened up a unique digital art path, creating a new way in terms of picture composition, materials, and sense of form, consciously separating it from traditional prints, and forming its own language characteristics. The third stage is from 2017 to the present. In this stage, I try my best to forget the existence of digital media, minimize the influence and effect it brings to the picture, return the focus of creation to the theme of art, and weaken the language characteristics of digital itself. All the elements in it serve the theme of creation. The content of the screen pursues to win more with less, and strives for innovation in the composition and display of works.

Let's talk about your work. What are the main themes you pursue?

The themes of my works have also gone through several stages of change as I grow older, but no matter how they change, they all have one thing in common, which is the discussion of the environment and the value of life. Among them, the early futuristic planetary eschatology, and the mid-term today's existential values, including the current praise of theology, religion, and poetry, cannot be separated from this theme. It is an individual life's thinking about the planet, the universe, space, and time.

In your statement, you speak of a "language of printmaking." What do you mean by that? And how do you use this language in your work?

The language of printmaking art is highly generalized and refined, and its artistic charm comes from the highly concentrated and refined life. From the change of the woodcut knife method to the foreshadowing of large color blocks in silkscreen prints, it undoubtedly shows the simplicity of this art form. This language needs to be developed as a digital medium because it is not limited by material and technology. The language of digital printmaking not only contains the high-level generalization of the traditional printmaking language, but also is broader and more rhythmic, and can display various novel artistic effects such as magical, virtual, abstract, and separated in space. Most of my works have these two characteristics, pursuing the magical effect of digital print language under the generalized and refined framework of the overall picture composition.

Is there anything else you would like to experiment with? Any medium or theme you would like to introduce into your work?

Next, I plan to try larger-format creations and coherent works of moving images. I have always been interested in literary works with fantasy plots and poetry, which can continuously show a complete story in a piece of work. Large format is a challenge for digital media equipment, and it also involves more imaginative details and arrangement of layers. In addition, the single-frame continuity of dynamic images needs to be unified with a common narrative and thinking mode, which is also a new challenge. At the same time, I will continue to try the participation in various media technologies in digital printmaking and reorganize the picture space more abundantly.

The Story of the Screen Final Chapter, Digital printmaking, 115x51 cm, 2022 © Xiaodong Yu

You already have a long and successful career. What do you think of the art community and market?

I have been in this industry for a long time, and I have seen many artists rise from obscurity to fame. On the other hand, we have also seen the extreme expansion and rapid decline of the art market—lots of ebbs and flows, ups and downs. There are also many art communities that have come and gone. Since the outbreak, all industries have undergone a major turning point, and so has the art market. No matter how the external market environment changes, being an artist, you need to keep your original intention, not follow the trend, not blindly cater to the market, and insist on maintaining your own creative qualities is the most important thing. I believe that there will always be a time for the art market to recover.

Commemoration of yesterday, digital printmaking, 200x100 cm, 2022 © Xiaodong Yu

Commemoration of future, digital printmaking, 130x65 cm, 2022 © Xiaodong Yu

And what advice would you give to an emerging artist just starting to pursue a career in this field?

For emerging artists, youth is your wealth. You have enough time and energy to create things you are interested in, and young people's minds can accept a lot of new things. Your thoughts and abilities are the greatest sources of creation. I hope you can continue to innovate, don't stick to the rules, don't follow the path of others, stick to your confidence, and dare to break through, so that you can become an outstanding artist in today's era.

Lastly, what are you working on now? Do you have any new projects you would like to share with our readers?

I am now trying to make works about the environment and life, a super long format. It shows the birth, growth, maturity, decline, death, reincarnation, and even the process of the next life of tiny life in natural environments such as oceans, forests, deserts, and snow-capped mountains. There are some influences of Tibetan Buddhism in this. I hope to achieve a perfect combination of divinity and religion, life, and thinking in these new works.

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