Tweaking traditional art

Lyu Shengzhong, contemporary artist

He also wondered if his works had any value in China. As an artist he won applause in the West but saw little appreciation back home.

Lyu slowed down his pace of exhibiting in 2004. That year he became a founding professor of the experimental art department at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts. He saw his new role as a chance to cultivate artists who can think and create more independently.

He plunges into teaching in the daytime. But for hours at night he assumes the role of an artist.

Lyu's ongoing exhibition has several experimental creations.

In the installation, Study of Mountain and Water, he re-creates a schoolroom reminiscent of the literary and philosophical pursuits of China's ancient scholars.

Lyu says the work met his need to express an artist's independent personality when preparing for an exhibition.

"Chinese contemporary art in its infancy was often portrayed as anti-tradition and anti-academic."

It then toned down its anti-tradition gist, but as it has matured in technique, it has become weaker in ideas, he says.

"I hope that we no longer look to the West for critiques," he says. "What we need to do is draw on our own experiences and listen to the voices deep in our hearts."

Gao Peng, director of the Today Art Museum and curator of Lyu's exhibition, says the exhibition is a culmination of the artist's 30-year commitment to art but is also a beginning.

"Many artists who were once Lyu's students have surpassed him in fame. But he is still a contemporary artist of great significance and will remain so in the future."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

10 am-6 pm, through Jan 1, 2016.

Today Art Museum, 32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing.

010-5876-0600.