Preface 

"See" is an exhibition with special combination. Despite only three persons, they are characterized with obviously unique qualities whether in art or in social experience. 

Song Guangzhi, as a teacher in Printmaking Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, unveiled his oil paintings in the art gallery of the academy last year, making the visitors’ eyes suddenly brightened. His paintings are over two meters high, the main character is always a man who is seemingly pondering. As for the key to interpreting the mood and story of the character, the focus seems to be on the little wings on the character‘s shoulders. Naturally, wings are for flying; however, the wings in the paintings of Song Guangzhi serve as a metaphor for ideology, mirroring the contradictions desires and ambitions and their contradictions with reality. While the little wings will spread out with an itch to fly as the character becoming extremely ambitious and confident, they may even droop with broken feathers when he is defeated. Evidently in "Sapphire" which is exhibited, the character of the painting deliberately puts aside the little wings for the time being. Perhaps, in the flight towards his ideal, the character happens to find the sapphire on the ground; consequently, his pursuit for his ideal is being deterred and tempted by the treasure. Having always been the main character of the prints of Song Guangzhi, the man with little wings on his shoulders is also a symbol of Song himself, as we may reasonably assert. Owning to the particular medium, I guess, Song’s oil paintings seem to be affected by neo-expressionist painting; with bold and uninhibited brushstrokes, he portrays the character‘s contradiction between ambition and reality vividly and incisively; furthermore the distance between the audience and oil paintings are likely to be closer than his prints. 

Although Zhang Bo has received orthodox academic schooling as a graduate of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, his overacting liberalism overreached himself, helping him on his early wanderings. As early as 1980s, I got to know Zhang Bo in Zhujiang River Film Studio where he was directing a film. He was then recalcitrant andunconstrained with his long hair covering his shoulders. At any gatherings, Zhang Bo is always the most outspoken. In the 1980s when the ideology was strictly controlled and restrained, Zhang Bo was an ardent supporter and participant in various aboveground or underground artistic movements (at that time, all the art activities used to be called Art Movements). In 1989, Zhang Bo joined the Southern Artists Salon, the most movement in China Contemporary Art and participated in the 1st Experimental Exhibition of Southern Artists Salon. Due to the political situation at the time, he eventually had to retreat and travel about foreign countries after the political turmoil in 1989. Many years after the political storm had died down, I met him again in his studio in Guangzhou. On the wall of the main room of his studio hangs a Chinese couplet: "Depicting the Ups and Downs of the Times with the Flute, dictating the Thunders and Storms by the Sword". The couplet is a wonderful reflection of of his art and his life. 

When he returned to China, the contemporary art scene flourishes vigorously with strong momentum akin to the stormy revolutionary movements in the past. Zhao Bo, however, remains a bystander, quietly observing the transformation. Though, as a matter of fact, Zhang Bo has also enthusiastically created some paintings with contemporary characteristics. To my surprise, his works for this exhibition differ a great deal from his previous works. I understand that this series of paintings similar to the traditional Chinese "Landscape" ink paintings is the "revelation" of the present Zhang Bo. In a stricter sense, Zhang Bo is a special artist drifting human’s ideologies. 

By the time I am writing the preface, I have not yet met Jiang Guozhe. It was during an exhibition in 798 in Beijing last year that I saw Jiang Guozhe‘s works. Although the works I saw were small, each is evident with the artist’s talent, and it was by no means hard to decipher his persistence in his principles. It was a great regret that I didn‘t have the opportunity to meet Jiang at that time. Afterwards, I once talked with Chen Bo about how the art gallery and the artists can grow together. Such a topic in essence is exploring the ultimate purpose of galleries like OV Gallery - a newborn gallery. Since many galleries before us have gathered most of excellent artists like Chen Bo, how the artists and the art gallery can grow together? This problem is nevertheless a harsh reality, which can be deemed as the key to the gallery’s strategy. Probably, deeply aware of the difficulties the newborn gallery was facing, Chen Bo straightforwardly told me that there was a talented artist who studied together with him, who chooses to live in seclusion for self-discipline and self-improvement and rarely caresabout the outside art world...  To my surprise, the man he talked about is no other than Jiang Guozhe. 

Jiang Guozhe teaches at the Painting Department of the Art Faculty of Harbin Normal University.  As Chen Bo says, Jiang is willing to avoid the limelight and is truly a perfectionist. He infuses neo-romanticism into his paintings, which reminds me of Chopin‘s piano concerto - the scene after the rain when one gazes out of the window watching raindrops dripping from the leaves, ever so slowly and harmoniously... What is more fascinating is that Jiang Guozhe, based on the romantic motif, spontaneously integrates the painting style of expressionism. Perhaps due to his persistent pursuit in his principles, some conceptual elements that dominate his creativity appears to be there, and yet are not there. This might be considered as another direction for Chinese contemporary paintings.

Huang Lingling 
Art Director
OV Gallery