At the age of 78, Cai Ju, a famous oil painter with a good reputation both at home and abroad, has created dozens of masterpieces of abstract art, dedicated to pass them down from generation to generation, and presents in the National Art Museum of China to show the spirit of Chinese culture to the world.
Journaliste en chef Wang Baosheng Photographe et reportage
Cai Ju discusses artistic creation with artists and abstract art lovers and shares his creative experience
President, Ink-brush, 50×60cm, by Cai Ju
Cai Ju introduces the stories behind his works for artists visiting the exhibition
Wu Weishan Sculpture < Asking for Truth> Confucius and Laozi, Oil on canvas, 100×208cm, by Cai Ju
The Lawyer Mr. Miller, Oil on canvas, 50×75cm, by Cai Ju
Mr. Rafael the Opera Singer, Oil on canvas, 50×68cm, by Cai Ju
Friendship Lasts for Three Thousand Years, Oil on canvas, 80×120cm, by Cai Ju
Chinese Cultural Figures（Journaliste en chef Wang Baosheng）2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, when Series of the Unadorned Charm—Exhibition of Abstract Paintings by Cai Ju is held in National Art Museum of China. Dozens of magnificent, colorful and thrilling masterpieces are not only Cai Ju’s review and summary of his artistic life, but also the most beautiful blessing he gave to the 70th birthday of the motherland.
“No matter how long the shadow of the tree is, the root is always in the soil.” Cai Ju knows a truth: no matter how turbulent the soul is, how unstrained the youth is, how unbridled the ideal is, the loessland under the feet is where he would revert to one's origin. Ten years ago, Cai Ju insisted on returning from New York to Shanghai, a city he had long dreamed of. Over the years, more than 10 members of his extended family have lived in the United States, Britain, France and other countries, but none of them emigrated. They are all patriotic and determined to serve their country.
In the past 20 years, Cai Ju has held more than 60 solo and joint exhibitions in the United States, France, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan China and other countries and regions. After Zhao Wuji, he became another Chinese abstract artist famous in overseas mainstream painting circles, making positive contributions to the spread of Chinese culture.
2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. Striving ahead for the past 70 years, our country has made earth-shaking changes. Whether in the history of the Chinese nation or that of the world, this is an epic struggle that touches the world, worthy of being eulogized for writers and artists with passions, efforts and devotion. Series of the Unadorned Charm—Exhibition of Abstract Paintings by Cai Ju was opened at the National Art Museum of China on May 28, which is a summary and review of his artistic life, and also the best wishes for the 70th birthday of the motherland.
“I’m 78 years old. It is a compliment to my artistic creation and a privilege for me personally to hold a solo exhibition in the highest-level art hall in China.” When talking about this exhibition, Cai Ju turns particularly excited. He said that all in this exhibition are abstract art works, and large in size, for considering that the 420-square-meter exhibition hall is more than six meters high, it won’t have good effect to exhibit the works that hang at home. Therefore, since 2018, he has created dozens of large abstract paintings specifically. The 27 works selected this time, not only large in size, but also with strong visual impact, filled this hall.
“You will get secondary outcome when setting goals high and inferior results when secondarily goals are set.” Every great artist has a gradual process of improvement, enlightenment and achievement. As Cai Ju said, it takes a soul to create painting, or the painting is empty. If the works are to move people, there must be love. To produce a good work, the artist should throw himself into it. The artistic achievement of a work lies in your basis of expertise and how much inner cultivation and knowledge you can put into it.
American art historian Diane Weber once asked Cai Ju: “The realistic skills and painting peculiarity of your painting can make you have favorable position for the use of your skills in the field of figurative painting, but why did you go on the road of abstractionism?”
Cai Ju replied, “I didn’t choose the art form of abstract painting”, but was forced to go on the road of abstraction.
That Cai Ju embarked on the road of art is related to his family background and environmental influence. His career began in ink and washes and continued to grow and develop in oil painting. Cai Ju modestly said that although since the age of 14 or 15 he has been learning from Zhu Qizhan, Liu Haishu, Yan Wenliang, Ying Yeping, Lin Fengmian, Feng Zikai and several other masters, and formally acknowledged some of them as teachers, he can’t be counted as a professional painter until the age of 58.
In the mid-1960s, Cai Ju, as his father’s assistant, taught art history at the Shanghai Art Technical School, where Chen Yifei, five years younger than Cai Ju, was studying. Chen always called him “Teacher Cai”, and the two have been friends for more than 40 years. In the 1980s, Cai went to Zhejiang Art College (now China Academy of Arts), where he studied under his elder brother Cai Liang, a famous oil painter.
In 1992, Cai Ju sojourned in Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries as a professional painter. During this period, Cai Ju gradually realized the true meaning of art from Chinese and foreign masters. His painting style also changed from realism to abstractionism, and he began to use western painting forms to explore traditional Chinese aesthetic concepts. However, taking on the road of abstractionism at the end, indeed as he said, is forced by “feeling”.
Cai Ju pointed to the painting Love at the Equator and said that it painted the sea water, but the sea water was red, so were the sky and the waves, and black and red occupied the space of the picture. Why is it called “Love at the Equator”? In 2001 when there was a big fire on the Indonesian Island of Bataan, I took a boat to Bataan to paint from nature, since I often went there, and had familiar friends there. But I couldn’t get through halfway. A vast expanse of fire and grey-red smoke hung over the island, and the smell of burning smoke was so overwhelming that no one could get close to it. I can only still drift in the sea by the lonely boat, helplessly watching the fire engulfing countless trees and lives... very impressive.
Then I learned that the forests were burned down, and that a friend and his daughter on the island had died in the fire. Thinking of them, I wanted to paint for commemoration. But paint what? I thought it over and over again, but found that there was nothing concrete to express this kind of complex emotions: the love and awe of nature, the profound meaning of life, the sublimation of love and the unpredictable fate... Therefore, I had no choice but to use an abstract way to express, and integrate my thoughts and love for my dead friend and the deceased into this abstract painting.
Cai Ju said, “When I saw the “scene” of the forest fire, I had a special “feeling”, then in the heart naturally produced the “object” of the abstract painting “Love at the Equator”. I did not consider how grand the connotation of the theme was, but felt that it was enough to express my passion only in an abstract form.
Compared with the figurative painting developed from tradition, abstract art broadens the free space for artists to express themselves, and abstract painting also shows the self-sufficiency and self-discipline of art form language to a great extent. Similarly, the creation of abstract painting also needs to have the basis of life, cultural connotation, and painting skills as well, such as composition, shape, color and such.
Cai Ju said, “All my works come from life, from the need to express real emotions in my heart. Art is the beauty created by human beings, and it is the existence created by human beings consciously according to the law of beauty. In other words, it is possible to create works of art only when beauty is felt in real life.
The west advocates “formal beauty” and “pure form”. From the perspective of Chinese aesthetics, any form is nothing but a revelation and a symbol, which all express some truth and personality. “Writings are for conveying truth, poetry to express will, and painting to make conception.” Form must exist for content. I do not agree with the “irrational pure visual form” advocated by some abstract painters, the abstract art that “neither expresses thoughts nor conveys emotions”. Art must be the creation of human spirit, and the essence of beauty is free and open. A true work of art must express the exploration and pursuit of beauty, rather than stay in superficial forms to become a mere entertainment for others to have fun.
(Web edito :Zhao Jianhua)
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