On March 6, 2016, jointly hosted by Beijing FuJen Academy Gallery and Beijing Giri International Art District, “Concern and Hope for Livelihood – Liu Ruowang Art Exhibition” opened at Beijing FuJen Academy Gallery and the Beijing Giri International Art District. The exhibition showcased 110 pieces of the “Wolfs are Coming” series created by the artist Liu Ruowang, more than 20 pieces of the “Original Sin” series, 10 pieces of the “Dodo” series, 8 pieces of the “Mountain and Flowing Water” series, 13 oil paintings  “Landscape Series” and “Animal Series”, a huge oil painting “Shark” and so on, many works are on display for the first time.

Vice Chairman of China Sculpture Institute Yin Shuangxi, Chairman of the Northern Art District of Germany Wolfgang Gemo and Chairman of National Culture and Art Center of Italy Vincenzo Sanfo serve as the curators, the show in FuJen Academy also starts an overseas touring art exhibition of Liu Ruowang.

Li Dajun: Concern and Hope for Livelihood—the Essence of Liu Ruowang 

When seeing the work by the sculptor Liu Ruowang, both the warrior surrounded by a group of wolfs, or the ape men walking straight ahead or the people crying with open arms, and groups of ancient people with the face of terracotta warrior in the Qin Dynasty, I feel a quiet tremor in my heart, I believe that the heroism of the sculptural images arouse the impulse in the bottom of our hearts. But this heroism is not only bold and generous, so let’s just call it compassionate heroism. As a result, an idiom came to my mind: concern and hope for livelihood.

Ruowang refers to Lohannes in Latin, meaning mercy, which is a holy word in the vocabulary of the West. It means “concern and hope”. It reminds me of the name “Tang Ruowang (1592-1666)”, the missionary that visited China in the Ming Dynasty. I didn’t know the background of Liu Ruowang at that time, but seen from his works, heroism and mercy are really his temperament, so whom and what does his art face? It is both the self and the livelihood.

The power makes a hero and the beauty of “power” is the soul of Liu Ruowang’s sculptures. His sculptural language deliberately ignores the influence of the regular professional training pattern, seeking to simplify from the plainness and clumsiness, reflecting the spirit from the vitality, each statue gathers energies in the dynamic, resulting in the “movement” and the combination of “force” and “movement”, a failed chisel mark and incontinent trace, with a really simple personality, which also makes him become alienated from the current group of sculptors.

Mercy directs life. Life is the password to the world, it is the eternity of art. Liu Ruowang is a self-denying artistic addict, early maturing and independent. He is a young artist grown up after the reform and opening up in China, he was born in a poor village in western China, through his study he entered the provincial capital and then went to the capital of China, becoming an independent artist. Liu retains his beginner’s mind, and the beginner’s mind is both the confirmation of the artistic core and insistence of his way, through the world to face the true meaning of art, to form a heart of compassion, so that Liu must pay attention to livelihood. The group of wolves and dodoes together with his warriors are his livelihood.

For Liu Ruowang, art is an endless simple relief, and a real pleasure is endless while a big pain is also hidden in it.

About the exhibition 

Curators: Yin Shuangxi, Wolfgang Gemo, Vincenzo Sanfo

Duration: March 6 - April 6, 2016

Hosts: Beijing FuJen Academy Gallery, Beijing Giri International Art District

Undertaker: Beijing Zhihui Fashion Culture Development Co., Ltd

Venue: Beijing Giri International Art District, Beijing FuJen Academy Gallery, Giri Art Space

Address: No.6 Jinjia Village Middle Street, Gaobeidian North Garden, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Courtesy of the artist and Beijing FuJen Academy Gallery, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO