Lu Shouhui

Year of birth: 1990.
Where do you live: Dingxi, China.
Your education: Self-study.
Describe your art in three words: Paper, Expressionism, Creation.
Website | Instagram

What initially drew you to mixed media and paper as your primary materials for creating art?

Paper has existed in China for thousands of years. Papermaking is included in China’s four great inventions, so paper is an ancient existence in China.  From ancient times to the present, rice paper has been the main material used by Chinese painters and calligraphers. Some great artists have created many masterpieces using rice paper.  I choose to use paper for creation. On the one hand, it is due to the influence of thousands of years of Chinese cultural tradition. Chinese rice paper has its unique attributes and charm, its flexibility and special response to ink. This is what attracts me. On the other hand, using the same painting materials will present different visual effects on paper with different properties. The inclusiveness and diversity of paper is also a place that attracts me. Most of China’s paper paintings are based on traditional languages. Today, I want to use the most traditional materials to create a visual language that is in line with the present. Art needs to follow the times, so it is natural to use mixed media on paper. Something happened.

Lu Shouhui | On-site | 2024

Your work often explores the themes of friction and contradiction in society. Can you share how these themes are reflected in your artistic process?

In my works, I do not intuitively present the frictions and contradictions in society. Instead, when I come into contact with a certain contradiction or a certain problem, I transform them into art through some of my own specific visual symbols and concepts. Language is presented, for example, the same image is put together using two or more ways of expression to present it, just like the grafting of fruit trees, and the objects that carry these problems and contradictions are some items planted in life, or things in nature. Some things, such as various flowers, plants, seeds, trees, etc., in my opinion, these items are independent individuals. Whether they are living or inanimate, they are living individuals just like us. I use them to convey various problems that people encounter in society.

How do your personal experiences in Gansu influence the emotions and narratives within your work?

I live in the northwest of China. The geographical environment here is special. The vegetation is sparse and relatively arid. In the early years, there was severe water shortage. The land is vast and barren. Therefore, it has extremely strict requirements for the growth of plants. I have lived in such an environment since I was a child. I have decades of life experience, but I still love my hometown. I have loved the flowers and plants growing on that land since I was a child, because I think it is very difficult for them to grow. They are still alive and well under drought conditions. In the four seasons, those flowers and plants, like the farmers living on that land, work hard to grow and stay on that piece of yellow land for the rest of their lives. When I see them, I will think of us people. Human life is not difficult. Struggling through life.  Therefore, in my works, the tenacity and difficulty of life that I have experienced since childhood have subtly influenced the formation of my works.

Lu Shouhui | A Lifetime | 2024

You mention the cycles of writing and erasure in life. How do these ideas translate into your artistic techniques and visual elements?

A person’s life is very short. I have seen many joys and sorrows in life, as well as the fall of life. In my opinion, birth is the starting point, death is the end, and the end is also another starting point. This is a bit like Buddhist thought. So I say that human life has always been a return and cycle. When life reaches the end, it also returns to the starting point.  Regarding writing and erasing in life, specifically the way of visual presentation in my works, “writing” is the process of creating a work. An independent “individual” is always depicted in the picture. At the same time, in the process of depiction In my works, I mosaic a certain part of the image, or use mosaic to block it. Mosaic represents elimination, concealment and failure in my works.

Pain and happiness are recurring concepts in your statement. How do you balance these emotions visually in your pieces?

In my works, the main image will be interspersed with certain things through the body, and the incompleteness of the image is all expressing the pain of the individual. I did not deliberately express happiness, because I think the pain in life will be more profound. Colors play a role in balancing them, with red, yellow and blue as the main colors to express the positive side of life. It also coordinates the visual elements of the entire picture.

Lu Shouhui | Above the Earth | 2024

Your art highlights the struggles of individuals in a rapidly changing society. Are there specific stories or events that have inspired your recent works?

In a very short time, I experienced extreme pain. My grandmother, grandfather, and father passed away one after another. I still remember my father lying on the floor at home, lifeless. I went back to my father’s life of being treated like an ox and a horse, which made me feel very emotional. I saw various struggles from the protagonists in the novel and many people in life. People are struggling almost every moment in their lives, from birth to death, marriage, work, family, choices, desires, various daily trivialities, etc. There are struggles. The various struggles I saw and myself are all factors that inspire my works.

If you could collaborate with another artist or movement, past or present, who or what would it be, and why?

There are many excellent artists, both in the past and now. If I have to choose one, I will choose Picasso, because he was the first artist to influence me. At that time, I was still in high school, in that remote place. I occasionally saw Picasso’s picture album and bought it. His artistic concepts and works have had a profound impact on me.

Lu Shouhui | Old Tree | 2024