A medal for ingenuity

Artist Xu's The Variations of Chalk Cliffs on Ruegen is currently on display at the Chinese Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. The series is inspired by Chalk Cliffs on Ruegen (1818) by German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840).

Xu borrows the theme of mountains and trees from Friedrich's original, but chooses painting styles from different countries and centuries.

His works feature the artistic vein of the landscape paintings of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), along with Italian Renaissance from the 15th century, Persian miniature from the 16th century and Japanese ukiyo-e from the 19th century. He also adopts the "realistic" depiction of Chinese painting and adds the art of printmaking to his composition.

"I like to do a comparative study of different cultures for my art. Cultures are characteristic of countries, and civilization is what we have in common. These make starting a conversation a lot easier," says the artist, who was born in East China's Jiangsu province in 1963.

Xu found a "commonality" between Friedrich's works and traditional Chinese landscape paintings. He also observed that the German artist liked to paint ruins, a popular theme in Italy and Britain for a long time.

In China, poetry and paintings have often documented history. "Art blurs borders. Art is for all," he says.

Huang says Xu's paintings were his top choice for the jersey badge for more reasons than one.

"The series not only excels in depicting contemporary art in traditional Chinese ink, but also upholds profound Chinese philosophy. I believed it was the right vehicle to take our art to the world audience," Huang explains.

The artist doesn't hide his excitement at being chosen. "Oh, I was thrilled. Sports and art may be different in terms of motion and stillness, but both are spectacular in the passion they portray," Xu says.

"In the traditional Chinese way of thinking, art represents the balance between two extremes. From the perspective of ancient Greek art, it is a combination of strength and beauty."