Contemporary Arts and Ideas-Oil Painting of Li XinPing

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Title: Nia Ya (circa 2004)                                                 Title: Meridian (circa 2006)
private collection                                                            private collection                                                        

The Art of Li XinPing (b. 1959),BeiJing,China

As a movement, Symbolism is hard to pin down. It encompasses a range of styles and many different artists. In nineteenth century France it included Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School, Odilon Redon and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and the idealists, George Seurat and Paul Signac and Divisionism, Vincent Van Gogh by himself and Pierre Bonnard, Mauric Denis, and EdouaredVuillard and the Nabis.  Symbolism has been described as Ideist, for its unique ideal will be the expression of the ideas; Symbolist, for it will express this idea by means of forms; Symthetist, for it will present these forms, these signs, according to a method which is generally understandable; Subjective, for the object will never be considered as an object but as the sign of an idea perceived by the subject, and consequently Decorative, for decorative paintingn in its proper sense, as the Egyptians and, very probably, the Greeks and the Primitives understood it, is nothing other than a manifestation of art at once subjective, synthetic, symbolic and ideist.

The artists may understand that art could be at one and the same time, decorative and the perfect expression of ideas.  This understanding has found contemporary expression in the work of Beijing artist Li XinPing.  Li's work is undeniably decorative.  It is also beautiful, refined, lyrical, composed, elegant and thoughtful.  It embodies many aspects of the program articulately by the Symbolists including the use of colour for emotional significance, distributing values harmoniously and transforming the subject into an expression of the artist's own visionary experience.

In Li's early work the theme or subject matter would reflect a specific time, place and dimension, but now he works in the opposite direction, and uses a specified dimension to reflect the theme.  Li mines China's glorious history and her rich culture to reinterpret the character of this ancient and modern civilazation.  His work embodies four broad theme- Harmonies and Melodies, The Perfumed Garden, Seductive Visions and Celestial Bodies--and presents each in a sensual feast fo the senses.