Clouds, when I look back, close behind me,

 

Mists, when I enter them, are gone.

 

-Mount Zhongnan, Wang Wei, Tang Dynasty Chinese poet

 

 

 

The misty and ethereal mood and tone of Wang Wei's poem Mount Zhongnan is what Zhao Shushi especially loves. Ms. Zhao, born in 1980 in Xi'an, is now living in Beijing as a professional painter. Ms. Zhao's study abroad in New Zealand and France has enabled her to have a profound understanding of Western art and culture. But eventually she has returned to her roots to discover the oriental spirit and poetry in her painting to find what she has always been searching for.

 

 

 

As a child Zhao Shushi studied Chinese painting and calligraphy from her father. When she was six years old, she began to sketch and do watercolor paintings under the instruction of fine arts college teachers in Xi'an. After graduating from the university in Xi'an, she wanted to become an art teacher but she had the opportunity to study in New Zealand. As a 21 year old in a strange country, she, like many Chinese students in New Zealand, chose business as her major in the hope of obtaining an immigration opportunity after graduation, although her original plan had been to conduct further study in fine arts. Frankly, in those years, her family deeply regretted that she had discontinued her study in the fine arts.

 

 

 

After completing her study in New Zealand, Zhao Shushi gave up her opportunity to immigrate to New Zealand and she decided to follow her heart and further her study in fine arts in France, the world's cultural center.

 

 

 

The strong cultural atmosphere and nourishing cultural environment of France enchanted Zhao. Francebecame her spiritual home and always called her back. Feng Jicai, a renowned Chinese writer, had explored the mystery of French culture and his conclusion was that it was "the supremacy of spirituality" However, this was an oversimplified explanation of the magic of French culture. France's unique cultural atmosphere can be seen in its paintings, sculptures, music, architecture, philosophy and aesthetics. Also, France is famous in its wines, perfumes and fashions. France's motto of "freedom, equality and fraternity" rings true in the innovative spirit of the French nation.

 

 

 

In 2005, following the Sino-French Culture Year, the first Biennale de l'art Contemporain Chinois de Montpellier was held in Montpellier which aroused an upsurge of interest in Chinese contemporary art in France. Zhao Shushi, who had just arrived to Montpellier, was fortunately invited to participate in this so called "cultural revolution of China in Montpellier" as a translator. She took the opportunity to get a good understanding of contemporary Chinese art for the first time.

 

 

 

By virtue of her fine arts and business educational background and the recommendation letters of her lecturers in China and New Zealand, Zhao Shushi was admitted on merit, without needing to take the entrance exam, to study for an art and cultural marketing degree at the University of Montpellier 1. In 2010 she was awarded the Master's Degree in Art and Cultural Marketing with honors.

 

 

 

The charm of Montpellier comes not only from its modern prosperity, but from its cultural legacy. Montpellier, "the Sunshine City" in the south of France has the famous University of Montpellier, which was founded by Pope Nicholas IV in 1289. It also has the Fabre Museum which is well known for its rich collection of medieval paintings including over 300 paintings of Raphael. "During my university years, each week we spent at least a whole afternoon in the museum with our tutor (the museum's curator)" Zhao Shushi told the reporter, "after the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the perspectives of the paintings had undergone continuous changes. Thereafter, Romanticism became the dominant style of French painting which can be seen in the roar of the Lion of Romanticism, Delacroix. The Realism of the works of Courbet, Daumier and Millet and the countryside landscapes of Rousseau and Corot presented the social life of the times fully. There were no longer just objects but not impressions of those objects with the artists' feelings about them. With Impressionism the paintings of Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and other great artists captured the colors and movements with great sensitivity while the paintings of Cezanne, Van Gogh and Matisse broke more traditions and created a brand new chapter in world art.

 

 

 

In the summer of 2012, she finally finished her first series of paintings called "what if" In his literary theory work on natural landscapes and literature, Wen Xin Diao Long- Wu Se, Liu Xie suggest how literature should "summarize the diverse in succinct language while fully presenting the image and contest" that the reaction to life and to nature should never be a mechanical imitation, but a choice of what to retain and what to discard to best reflect feelings. In Zhao Shushi's works, the slightly tilted traditional Chinese furniture shows a natural image under a simple background. The method of "summarizing the diverse in succinct language" offers an artistic effect on the psychology of the audience for them to know what is offered and understand the creative intentions of the artist by just a slight change. When Bai Xianyong returned from his study in the west, he created the hugely influential work, the Peony Pavilion for a young audience. He commented that" back the, there was this trend and we had enormous interests in western literature, arts and films. When I went to the US to study in New York, I experienced culture shock when I got there. I've been through a mind journey of reflections and eventually discovered that the most splendid peonies are blossoming in our back garden" Zhao Shushi shares the same feelings.

 

 

 

Zhao Shushi, passionate about Chinese classical literature and philosophy, always stresses whenever she talks of her work that the Chinese culture has been indispensible to her. The profound and diverse Chinese cultural forms are behind her creations: “in nearly a decade’s time I spent overseas, I only returned to China twice. But I was never separated from the Chinese culture throughout that time. My father wrote to me often and sent me boxes of books containing the Lunyu (Analects), Shijing (classic poetry), Tao Te Ching (Western Art Historian and historian of western philosophy). I might have been envious of my classmates for the parcels of food and other gifts they received from home, but from the moment I started my own creative work two years ago, I have been harvesting the fruit from what my father carefully planted for me over those years”.

 

 

 

Lin Fengmian, who shares the same passion for philosophy, created the works “groping” and “the desire for life” which have very similar spiritual intentions. Perhaps also inspired by the philosopher Schopenhauer, he attempts to tell metaphors through the language of painting. Arts, just like philosophy, not only impacts on the people in general, but also brings charm through daily things at all times. Truly Zhao’s father is a man of true vision and wisdom.

 

 

 

Zhuangzi says that “those of excessively refined appearances have an inelegant soul” Wu Guanzhong says that “arts emerge naturally. Time is the most truthful judge in what to retain and what to discard. The arts market is a mirror. But God only helps those artists who devote themselves to truly creative work, not those who busy themselves looking only in the mirror” Wise minds think alike. In Zhao Shushi’s works, an artist dedicated to creative work is presented. Some of the artists with western background are perceived to have an inclination for freedom and individualism and their works present a strong sense of these traits. Zhao Shushi holds no objection to this. But in both her personality and work, she has a different focus: “art work will eventually be put on show in galleries for everyone to appreciate and to serve the audience. It is understandable that the audiences may fail to read the mind of the artist. But as an artist, what I want to see is that they can understand themselves, their egos, and enjoy an echoing feeling and connection of minds with the works. For the audiences to find themselves in the work is more important”

 

 

 

From Zhao Shushi’s work it is not hard for us to see how thoroughly she has studied the cultural objects she painted and how she has explored the natural state of the objects in a particular environment in a special relationship with people. She pursues the exploration of the objects’ “spirit”. She mentions that “the static objects presented in the paintings are objects that I feel about, those that I truly like. I did not purposefully limit time, elements and materials of the content of my work” Yet for that lack of purposefulness, she endows the static objects with life and dynamism in art as a true temperament.

 

 

 

Art and books are about content and change over time and further readings. The same book brings different interpretations and feelings over different times. So does art. As life experiences change and we age, our perceptions and understanding of the world also change as we reread books and further rethink the art objects.

 

 

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