PRESS RELEASE

Poly 2007 Evening Sale:Li Shan, Memory of Hei Long Jiang

2007-05-23 17:46:01

Li Shan is among the artists who have witnessed the development of Chinese contemporary art from the beginning. Born in Hei Long Jiang province and educated in Shang Hai, he was attracted by his own memory of his hometown firstly when he started his career as a painter in 1980s. The Memory of Hei Long Jiang was produced in that period. The painting depicts a beautiful spring day of a small town of Hei Long Jiang. Two children are playing on a piece of lovely grassland, with a little tree beside them. It is somewhat strange that they are depicted mainly by dark grown, which has blurred their facial features and their figures. Although the buildings and the roof of a small church on the background have created the surrounding of a normal town, the uncertainty of the shapes of these children makes it clear that what is depicted here is not a real town, but a surrealistic world in the painter¡¯s memory. The small town and its lovely citizens, whose are symbolized by two playing children, are the sign of the painter¡¯s hometown. They would live in his memory forever and would not be changed by the time. The painting would make its audience hurt, because it reminds them of the cruelty of time. It would also make them touched, because it tells the eternity of human memory. As an outstanding painter, Li Shan speaks for us. What is depicted in the painting is not only Li Shan¡¯s memory, but also our own memory.