JP/19/CARLA

JP/19/CARLA

Bali in the paintings by Yu Xiao Fu

Carla Bianpoen
Contributor/Jakarta

Chinese modern and contemporary art has been taking the art world
by storm since China's remarkable transformation to a diverse
market economy in the past few decades.

Names like Gu Wenda, Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijiun
and Yue Mingjun are now household names, their art surpassing any
expectations that one may have had before, and reverberating in
Indonesia since the early years of the new millennium.

But quite different is the art of Yu Xiao Fu, which will be
shown from Sept. 6 on, in a three-day exhibition at the
Mercantile Club. Reminiscent of a juxtaposition of Western modern
art styles, one would recognize in his works features attributed
to expressionism, impressionism, cubism, the abstract and the
surrealistic.

This may come as a surprise, since the 55-year-old Yu is only
five years older than the renowned contemporary installation
"hair-artist" Gu Wenda, who now resides in New York.

There is a ten-year difference with his younger colleagues,
whose art styles became known as Political Pop and Cynical
Realism.

According to Indonesian curator and art critic Agus Dermawan,
Yu Xiao Fu's style emerged as a reaction to their newly acquired
freedom at the time.

Yu Xiao Fu did not wish to go with the flow. It must not be
forgotten that Yu, who is a graduate of the visual arts
department of the Shanghai Drama Institute in Shanghai, a city
said to be the gateway through which Western art was introduced,
has remained there as a teacher who is now serving as the dean of
his alma mater.

Yu Xiao Fu has kept to painting with oil on canvas. He won the
Art Prize of the Shanghai Fine Arts Exhibition on show at the
Shanghai Art Museum in 2001.

The exhibition of 40 paintings is titled "The Philosopher,
Thinking on the Canvas."

It is inspired by the island where dozens of foreign artists
have been before. Like them, Yu Xiao Fu has been touched by
Bali's atmosphere where even simple everyday themes appear to be
special, mingling with meandering memories of countries he once
visited.

Yu's Bali has, therefore, a touch of China, Russia and Europe,
says Dermawan noting Yu's Rembrandt-like palette.

Yu's excellent technical skills are matched by an imagination
that blends reality with the illusionary. This includes a
painting depicting Affandi and Picasso in a becak in Bali (where
these three-wheeled vehicles are nonexistent).

Yu Xiao Fu, said to be one of the ten greats in oil painting
in China, came to Indonesia at the invitation of art collector
Rudy Akili, who urged him to paint Bali. The exhibition will be
opened by another art collector, Deddy Kusuma.

The Philosopher, Thinking on the Canvas
Solo exhibition of 40 paintings by Yu Xiao Fu
Mercantile Club, BCA Building, 18th Fl, Jl. Sudirman kav. 22-23,
Jakarta
Until Sept. 8

Opening cocktail and dinner attended by the artist
September 6, at 6:30 p.m. (open to the public)
Contact: Rosna 0811133821, Lusi 08161919546
or 352 3133, 231 0001