The China Project

66 right Ah Xian China /Australia b.1960 Heavy wounds series no.10 1991 Oil on canvas / 110 x 90cm Gift of Nicholas Jose and Claire Roberts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2008 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery opposite Front and verso of Guan Wei’s Wo yu (Kneeling fish) 1986, showing the window frame used as a strainer / Photographs: Natasha Harth Material choices Artists and students working in art academies in China in the 1980s were allocated a quantity of art materials for professional use as well as a space to paint. This allocation generally satisfied the requirements for official art works. 9 For ‘unofficial’ artists like Ah Xian, however, materials could be readily purchased — for a price. ‘Made in China’ art materials were not difficult to obtain if you had enough money. They were available from art supply and stationery shops, however, the cost of basic materials — oil paint, paint medium and canvas — was prohibitive. Ah Xian notes: For many years, I used plain, white, thin, cotton sheets (most commonly used as the underside of a quilt back in those years) instead of canvases, as I couldn’t afford to use real canvases. I also used some jeans fabric, which was stronger and better durable but cheaper than canvas. The blue colour of jeans was always partially ‘used’ and remained bare as a background of the painting image. 10 Finding suitable studio space was also problematic for unofficial artists: Ah Xian had no proper studio space; he always painted in a very small room. 11 Although artists in the 1980s had avant-garde concerns, they were not exploring paint for its innate physical properties. Technique was secondary to the conceptual and political nature of works. 12 As a result, young Chinese painters rarely talked about materials or technique, and there is a dearth of published information about Chinese oil painting materials. The choice to use oil rather than synthetic paints is of particular note, and these artists rarely crossed media boundaries. For example, Gu Wenda never used acrylics or watercolours, only oils, 13 and Ah Xian did not advocate the use of non-artist paints, such as house paints. 14 Guan Wei used oils before he left China in 1990, as there were no good quality artist acrylics available. 15 Following his move to Australia he had access to high quality acrylic paints, which suited his style more than oils. This is probably due to their fast-drying properties. After graduating from the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Capital University, Guan Wei became a high school art teacher. In 1986, while teaching, he produced a series of paintings, ‘Figures with acupoints’, which included Wo yu (Kneeling fish) 1986, now in the Gallery’s Collection. This painting — oil on a very thin cotton canvas — shows cracking typical of inflexible oil paint that has been kept in conditions without the benefit of stable humidity or temperature. Interestingly, Wo yu was stretched over a window frame.The painting is unframed; it retains an edging of black electrical tape used to finish the work and recalls the shape of old scroll paintings. 16 Guan Wei was one of a group of artists who migrated to Australia in the early 1990s, following the events at Tiananmen Square in 1989. 17 Many artists who came to Australia around this time continued to produce works similar to those they had produced in China: 18 Guan Wei, for example, continued his figurative work, using canvases that were the same scale as those he used for an earlier series, which were stretched on window frames. This shape has since become a feature of his signature style. Unlike Gu Wenda and Guan Wei, Ah Xian is largely self taught; he is also most widely recognised for his later sculptural work rather than his early paintings. 19 The ‘Heavy wounds’ series of paintings were made soon after Ah Xian’s arrival in Australia in the early 1990s. His work Heavy wounds above Paint cross-sections from Ah Xian’s Heavy wounds series no.10 , photographed at 200 times magnification (x200), from an area of wrinkled paint; visible light (top) and ultraviolet light (middle). The grey paint has been applied on top of the oil- rich yellow paint and both layers have deformed on drying. The ultraviolet image shows a halo of bright white fluorescence, most likely the result of oil penetrating the surrounding paint. A surface detail of Heavy wounds series no.10 (below) illustrates the wrinkled paint / Photographs: Gillian Osmond