Seek answers from artists’ biography in downtown Shanghai
Travelling to art galleries seems to be my routine during long lunch-break hours, which is not common for an intern reporter. I often received task alerts while I’m waiting in the queue so such opportunities are very few and thus I cherish them.
I’m the only visitor in Matthew Liu fine arts today but I bumped into a foreigner when I’m reading those brochures by myself. He stared at me for a few seconds, weighing on the language he was about to choose. Finally, he landed on English and I told him I was not the worker here. Then he said sorry and headed to the office to seek answer for his consultation. Honestly, I had an insatiable desire to talk to people, especially strangers for I am eager to absorb new ideas from them. Once deterred by their refusal, I’m not afraid anymore since I’m been refused hundreds of times making cold calls during work. With this aim in mind, I started our conversation by asking whether he planned to exhibit his work here. Then he said he was simply buying a painting for his new house from a close friend instead of an artist, what I have pictured of him. I don’t think he’s an artist, either. That’s just my knack to start a talk. Planning to gather more of his views on art galleries in Shanghai from a foreigner’s perspective, he, unfortunately, didn’t show the same amount of passion in talking to me. Hence, I stopped and continued this journey on my own.
Back to those brochures, which surprised me more than the paintings today. Often these introductions only center on the exhibitor without mentioning others. Yet what I witnessed today is a collection of Western-trained Chinese artists and foreign painters. Not an art major student, I could hardly comment on the artistic value of those works so what I focused is their biography and their motivation to create such works. By reflecting on myself recently, I became a staunch proponent of the impact life experience imposed on a person’s career path. Sometimes the seed was sown without notice yet it set the tone for his or her future development. For me, I’m desperate to gain some insights from these people for I want to know how they are shaped. Though we work in different fields, the shaping process could shed light on me in one way or another. Among all the entries, I like the one who revealed the image of abandoned villages in China most. Those vivid pictures successfully delivered the producer’s concern on the society, through lens, angles, instead of words.
