Li Hongbo: The Variations and Wonders of Vision
by Fan Di'an
Currently Professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Doctoral Supervisor
Chairman of China Artists Association
In an era of global image information, the challenges faced by artists are actually cross-cultural in nature, and no one can avoid the visual fatigue brought by the world of image flooding, flow, and interweaving, which brings difficulties in creative creation. Chinese contemporary art has gone through a journey towards Western art, with foreign concepts and visual expression techniques being used as secret tools for "creation". However, for the new generation of art, this possibility has lost its practical conditions, and they have been abandoned in the wasteland where images are extremely diverse but have no support, where they must seek their own starting point.
Li Hongbo, a young artist, clearly realized the difficulty of engaging in art earlier, or rather, he knew that true art should be based on his discovery of this plateau. In the days when he was studying for a master's degree at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, his mentor, Mr. Lv Shengzhong, inspired him to look at the world with "two pairs of eyes"; One pair of eyes is used to perceive the global picture of contemporary art to enhance the contemporary concept of their own creation, and the other pair of eyes is used to trace back the tradition of Chinese culture and seek opportunities for creation from the local Cultural resource management. In fact, the sight of these "two pairs" of eyes is a passage between ideas and language, and once they intersect internally, magical things will happen.
Li Hongbo's gaze ultimately focused on the traditional Chinese craftsmanship of making "paper gourds". Without contemporary concepts, this popular folk craft is only an ordinary craft in people's eyes. However, Li Hongbo saw the characteristics of the form of "paper gourds" that can be stretched and deformed, as well as the spiritual value contained in traditional handicraft labor. The units of this craft have extremely simple language attributes, However, its reproduction is infinite, and in the process of increasing quantity, its visual form can undergo qualitative variation. In addition, he saw the cultural attributes of paper media, which have countless potential to carry cultural connotations in this delicate and eternal material. So, like grasping the dress of the Muse, he tightly grasped this medium and language, engaged in conceptual transformation, and thus "created" a brand new world of images.
In Chinese tradition, gourds have many symbolic meanings, one of which refers to secrets. For unknown forms of things, people usually say "I don't know what medicine is sold in the gourd", that is, I don't know the secrets hidden inside this closed form. Before opening Li Hongbo's "gourd", it was all a variety of "common appearances" that were already existing in life, even daily images. However, once the closed form was opened, visual wonders suddenly occurred, and the elongated forms, interwoven structures, and installation forms were constructed into incredible scenes. The individual became plural, and the form became situational, The simple image has become a maze like the current world, and with the help of the colors of paper, it has transformed into dazzling brilliance.
It is precisely because Li Hongbo's consciousness carries a keen sense of modernity that he injects a variety of practical concerns into the theme of his works when using simple materials and techniques. Sections of trees from the forest, classical statues, weapons from the post Cold War era... he will.
