Though I'm not totally religious
For me
Art is a religion more or less
It's a process of finding your goal
The Shanghai outbreak was kinda out of the blue
So I wasn't well-prepared
All three of my books was painted
But I still felt quite anxious
I felt a strong need to work
My friend settled me down in Qingpu Industrial Park
As a temporary studio
A huge work was made there
It took about 450 hours
This year we have two exhibitions
The one in Lhasa Tibet has opened
The other one will be in Qingdao mid August
Up till now I'm working on a tight schedule
Last year in Tibet
I visited a lot of temples on the way
Looked at the murals
Went to the glacier, the holy lake and the Everest base camp
Rushed all the way there
Just to meet the Everest at sunset
The sky turned purple and blue
Stars shined over us, we were so excited
In the dark sky
The reflection on snow illuminated Everest
About 9 pieces of work
Depict Everest at night
From 1988 to today
Most of the "Shi Shi" series are named by numbers
Except the ones created in Tibet
Two have their own subtitles
One is "Tan Cheng" and the other being "Jin Gang"
While painting "Jin Gang"
I thought about the power of it
To represent the majesty of Tibet
The creation of "Shi Shi" throughout three decades
Can be divided into three stages
Each ranges about 10 years
For me now
It's about finding new possibilities
Including heading exhibition in Tibet
It's me trying to find a new perspective
People ask me often
That you've been painting crosses for all these years
Like nothing ever changes
But for me
Every single painting is still full of passion and hope
I don't draw sketches however big the painting is
Actually to make a painting more alive
To let chance happen
Within the rational grid
Constantly
The longer you work on it
The closer you get
To the final truth of the painting
I'm 60 years old, but I seldom celebrate my birthdays
Because I don't want to be reminded of my age
Of course I have older artist friends
In 2017 I had an exhibition in New York
Katz through the gallery
Invited me to his 90th birthday
As a man in his 90s
He's still full of creative power
In many western artists
Anselm Kiefer
Sean Scully
Alex Katz
I saw their strong passion for creation
Age is not a constraint
It's precisely when an artist is most mature
And is capable physically
So we need to work harder
For about 10 hours everyday
Sometimes you are like a watch repairer
I also have occupational diseases
Ten years of painting fluorescent colors has broken my eyes
Woodcuts (period) left me calluses and wounds on my hands
It's also part of the experience as an artist
When your body can't take anymore pain
Art becomes an innovative force
I don't know the hole card of my art
But I know an artist has to work hard
You have to know your strengths
When you finish an art work
You feel exhausted
Even falling apart
Then your work is definitely attractive
Every work of mine exhausts me
When I finish one painting
A new one starts on the next day
I've been trying to find "god" in painting
Or you may call it "spirit"
You have to be fully devoted
To be able to find it