A profundity of history, culture and a touch of Zen

There is an ambience, similar to a Zen touch, that wafts through Lu Zhiping’s prints.

Those ordinary objects become contemplative and brooding after deconstruction, rearrangement and even overturn.

Currently, Lu’s solo exhibition is being showcased at Liu Haisu Art Museum through November 8.

“There is a modern aesthetic taste in Lu’s prints. They offer a poetic beauty through the geometric shapes, which serves as a container where we can put in all our memories and imagination,” said Ruan Jun, vice director of the Liu Haisu Art Museum.

Born in 1947 in Shanghai, Lu is a must-mention name, especially in the area of Chinese prints. This exhibition includes several of his print series.

“Art is a boundless world,” Lu said. “As an artist, I could only choose a certain subject within a limited time duration. So I’ve poured everything inside me onto it.”

Lu claims print is “a complicated and plain media” which has attracted him — an honest and clumsy person — for several decades.

A graduate from the Fine Arts College of Shanghai University, Lu has been playing the leading role in Chinese prints, pursuing different possibilities in the art genre.

Whether copperplates or silk prints, all his works unwittingly reflect the profundity of Chinese culture and history.

“I frequented many museums, and would look for broken parts of the original artworks wherever I went. I found them still surprisingly stunning even under the erosion of time,” he said. 

“I didn’t see them as an incomplete piece. For me, there seemed to be an invisible hand that had wiped off those mediocre or additional elements, leaving only the essential part.”

Inspired by these ancient broken parts, Lu put the metal boards into the acid in hope to fuse an uncontrollable or subjective experiment to reveal traces of history.

That might also explain his preference toward the color of gray in his prints.

“In my eyes, there is rarely a purity in black-and-white hues. Gray is a bridge between the two,” he said.

“If I compare gray to a person, he is very mild and calm, and never shows any passionate emotions. As it is preserved yet enriched in the process of printing, it also has a sense of form and abstract feel. I like it.”

Exhibition info

Date: Through November 8, 10am-5pm

Venue: Liu Haisu Art Museum

Address: 1609 Yan’an Rd W.