Hey, Zhong Shan!

by Tang Hui
February 22 2016

I have long thought that painting, or more broadly art, was Zhong Shan’s way to play.

I remember the first time I saw Zhong Shan (his original name is Zhong Li Cheng Shan), in a classroom at the Central Academy of Fine Arts more than twenty years ago; his dynamic enthusiasm left an impression on me that remains fresh to this day. Although he had an innocent appearance, in fact, after some contact it became obvious that he was a cheeky, unruly student. At that time, I was working on my ongoing graduation project and I felt that my artistic approach inspired him when he saw my work–painting can be so playful. Afterwards, he used an approach similar to my style of painting. Later, when I stayed on to teach, and Zhong Shan became a student in the Mural Department, we became good friends beyond the regular teacher/student relationship.

Zhong Shan’s parents are both doctors, his father a surgeon and his mother a physician. He once told me that when their house cat was injured they jointly operated on it – this is indeed an entertaining anecdote.

Zhong Shan is an energetic fellow. In the early 1990s we both lived in Beijing, but I lived near the northern section of the Third Ring Road and he lived in the south of the city. He would casually cycle over to visit. Sometimes, after he reached my place, he would realize he forgot to bring something and without hesitation he would ride back home to fetch it, going back and forth several times. He enjoyed long-distance walks as well; to be walking on foot through Beijing was a common thing. He is able to transform difficulties into something interesting, and he approaches art in the same way. As an artist, he does not place great attention on the development process of art; because his heart is very rich, I think just absorbing what interests him is enough. Once, I brought Zhong Shan’s class to the Shandong countryside to carry out fieldwork. I remember that one particular day we felt bored and decided to climb a mountain over night. All of us made careful preparations before departing, wrapping up our legs tight in case of attacks by snakes. When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we saw a familiar figure standing on the pinnacle. It was Zhong Shan, in a pair of cloth shoes (a kind of traditional Beijing footwear) jumping around in a rocky area we thought was quite dangerous. To this day the event has left a deep impression fresh in my memory. Zhong Shan spent his childhood in Guizhou Province, wherehiking mountains and wading rivers was just a matter of common practice for him.

I don’t remember what caused me to miss Zhong Shan’s first solo exhibition, but it is something I deeply regret. In the late1990s, making a living as an artist in Beijing was still very hard, and an exhibition was a very important event. I knew that he had expected me to attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Now, through his own efforts, Zhong Shan has become a young and promising star, and there are major collectors acquiring his work. Early works of his are more grounded in images. His strange imagination comes from his playful attitude; he is drawn to working on the things he finds personally interesting. It is because of his inexhaustible energy that he creates work with such rich character, and it is this that causes the viewer to find his art so intriguing. I believe many of his source materials in the early years were drawn from his daily life. These seemingly strange and emotionally cool images are actually filled with Zhong Shan’s ardent passion and curious mind, with him simultaneously using his creative process to explore the world.

I do not intend to use this article to summarize Zhong Shan’s work, but I cannot help but contemplate his artistic train of thought. His most prolific creative period occurred with his previous series of oil paintings. I have to admit that I know little about these works. I visited his solo exhibition in Shanghai, and noted some conceptual elements in the paintings, yet, what is important is that you see in these paintings a reflection of Zhong Shan himself. With some degree of uncertainty and unevenness, and while based on image, the works still show another side of Zhong Shan, revealing his depth of heart.

Zhong Shan’s new paintings are worth the wait; works where it is possible to sense the pain and struggle in his exploration. In the current bounty of the visual arts, he seems to have found what he needs. The LED-backlit works look like the screens of video games, with their content seeming to rise up off the surface in an illusionistic and magical way. His efforts seek the convergence of his imaginative world and new media; between the difficult trade-offs, Zhong Shan seems to be gradually filtering through his methods arduous for their extreme artesian manual labor. Time will tell if this represents progress, or is rather a stage in the development an artist.

Being such an old acquaintance of Zhong Shan, I have not done a serious study of his paintings, and because the stories about him are interesting in ways beyond his work. His art creation is just reflecting the games in his heart bit by bit; becoming a life-long friend makes it possible to have a lifetime to appreciate another person’s process of maturation. Zhong Shan is completing every stage of his creative process; this is his work and his life as a free artist. As his friend, I would like to silently bless him; I know that he has the energy and great talent to seize the next frontier, but when will this outbreak occur? When will the charge be launched? This I do not know.

Here is a scene: Zhong Shan is absorbed in thought like a day dreamer with unfocused eyes. We shout his name, “Zhong Shan!” and he wakes up with a start. Ha, ha!