Chan Ieng Hin (Visual Arts coordinator of the Cultural Institute of the Macao S.A.R. Government)

　　Macao audiences are becoming increasingly familiar with the poignant paintings and poems of contemporary mainland artists. Shi Hu is one such artist who has made Macao his home.

　　In an era in which realism predominates, Shi Hu’s ink-on-paper paintings revel in an avant-garde abstract style, and earned him an influential reputation in his homeland and in international circles. Shi (meaning “Rock”) Hu (“Tiger”) is as unconventional as his name suggests, and he presents his work in similarly unconventional visual vocabularies and imagery. The resoluteness and courage in his work reveals the elements of his Oriental charisma as well as the strength of his individual style. He excels at the use of line, and believes that this is the essence of Chinese painting. The simplicity of line and the fullness of brushstroke provide him with a richly expressive visual language, one which combines the depth of traditional technique with an undeniable artistic appeal. The bold colours he uses derive from traditional Chinese wooden nianhua (New Year’s paintings), which make his work stand apart from contemporary Western art and lend them an indisputably Chinese air. Most importantly, every aspect of his artwork, from techique to content, is steeped in culture. Shi Hu’s paintings are usually categorized as Oriental modernism, although in fact he is the truest and staunchest guardian of traditional Chinese culture.

　　Shi Hu is not a sociable person, and indeed is rarely seen at social gatherings. Instead, he pours his energy into his explorations of Chinese culture. His devotion and perseverance in the pursuit of the origins of Chinese culture can be said to be bordering on the obsessive. He reveres the origins of tradition and believes that classical Chinese is the heart of orthodox Chinese culture. He writes poetry in classical Chinese, so that the classical form may seep into the artistic thinking of the Chinese people; he believes that it is only through this linguistic style that the uniqueness of the Chinese language and culture can be distinguished. His suggestion that “each character is a thought” has created quite a stir in the world of Chinese poetry. In this present era of globalisation, Shi Hu is deeply disturbed by the tendency towards the blind worship of Western culture. Like many traditional Chinese literati, he feels that he has the responsibility to help rejuvenate classical Chinese culture, believing that this “res-ponsibility rests even with the most ordinary of men.”

　　In this exhibition we will display some of Shi Hu’s latest works: 60 Chinese ink paintings and 52 porcelain paintings. These works can be divided into three categories:

　　(1) 26 Chinese ink paintings, done in the past few years, mostly of the female form. These paintings involve the use of colour, which is a departure from his previous work, in which he used strictly black ink and line as his medium of expression. The colour of the ink creates a rich texture, which is characteristic of his more recent works.

　　(2) 52 porcelain paintings, done in Jingdezhen (a city known for its porcelain), which are considered to be among his best works. Shi did not make any sketches before painting these pieces, so they have the simplicity, artlessness, naturalness and spontaneity of improvised creation. These works include some blue-and-white coloured paintings as well as some blue-glazed porcelain paintings.

　　(3) 23 other paintings that were created over the past year depict a series of figures and themes that are very familiar to Shi: workers, peasants, soldiers and the “sent-down youth” of the Cultural Revolution (masses of young urbanites who were relocated to rural areas to be “re-educated” by working with peasants). These pieces reveal Shi’s reflections on the position of traditional Chinese culture in the mo-dern world. Transposing his reflections into a contemporary vocabulary, Shi has tried to recapture the moral sensibilities of that tumultuous period.

　　The title of this exhibition is “The Mystical Bird,” which is taken from one of Shi Hu’s poems, but it is also the guiding image of what we believe is the essence of this exhibition. At the same time, Shi has used the image of the bird’s “homecoming” to express his indebtedness to his audience in Macao. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Shi Hu for his agreeing to make Macao’s Tap Seac Gallery the first stop of his exhibition tour, thus allowing local residents the honour of being the first to view these pieces publicly. I also hope that by viewing Shi Hu’s most recent works, the audience may come to a more profound understanding of the artist’s approach, goals, and manner of thinking. May this opportunity in turn generate more in-depth explorations of Chinese culture, and—in this era dominated by the preeminence of Western art—a calm and thoughtful evaluation of the legacy of Chinese artistic culture and the possible paths towards a new creativity.