Xiao Hongming's freehand portraits

Author: Jia Dejiang, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Xiao Hongming, originally from Nanchang, Jiangxi, now resides in Beijing. A member of the China Artists Association, Visiting Professor at the Fine Arts College of Jiangxi Normal University, and a renowned scholar and writer. Since the age of six, he has studied painting under his father,, flowers and birds, and figures. During his middle school years, he began participating in exhibitions and publishing artworks in newspapers and magazines. During his time as a youth worker in the countryside, he published comic strips and participated in various art creation and training programs within and outside the province. His works have won multiple awards and gained high recognition in his local area.
After the "Gang of Four" was overthrown and the college entrance examination system was restored in 1977, he enrolled in the Fine Arts Department of Jiangxi Normal University, studying under professors such as Peng Youshan, Kang Zhuang, and Yan Ming. After working, he served as a teacher, editor, and chief editor of a newspaper. During this period, he created a large number of comic strips, illustrations, and Chinese paintings, which were exhibited in various national exhibitions and published in newspapers and magazines, winning numerous awards. His works have been collected by many museums, memorial halls, and private collectors both domestically and internationally. He is an artist who emerged from the "post-Cultural Revolution generation of art schools."
Mr. Xiao Hongming has long been dedicated to researching Ba Da Shanren and his art, publishing numerous influential research articles that have deciphered many historical mysteries surrounding his life and art. His academic work, Biography of Ba Da Shanren and Chronology of His Works, won the 2002 China Fine Arts Academic Book Award. The book has now been adopted as a textbook for doctoral research courses by several universities.
In addition to being an artist, Xiao Hongming is also a writer, publishing novels such as The Sacred Madman—Ba Da Shanren, Unity—Kangxi’s Conquest of Taiwan, and Red Petals Fluttering. These works have all garnered significant societal attention. He has now published dozens of academic works, art catalogs, and novels. His works have received numerous awards, including the Third Prize from the Ministry of Culture, the Third Prize from the Cultural Department of the General Political Department, the Excellence in Artworks Award from the Ministry of Education, the Third Prize from the National Cultural Relics Administration and the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government, and the Academic Book Award from the China Art Research Institute.
Xiao Hongming’s "literati painting" belongs to the category of "new literati painting." It is a form of contemporary art that has had a broad and profound impact. Although it emerged from a fondness for traditional experience and evolved from literati painting in the late feudal era, "new literati painting" carries a strong subjective consciousness and is not constrained by traditional concepts or artistic norms. It organically combines highly emotional and rational brushwork with the artist’s mindset and personality, using expressive brushwork and highly individualized image creation to express the coolness and passion of modern people after reflecting on the past and integrating Eastern and Western cultures.
Xiao Hongming’s works fully demonstrate that they maintain a cultural stance of traditional literati, the real system. Their essence is not to pursue practical goals but to seek independent pleasure in art, science, or metaphysical contemplation, and to resist, supplement, and enrich the humanistic framework of contemporary intellectuals with their independence. They have injected fresh vitality and a rich, sensory life into the contemporary expression of Chinese painting, infusing it with vivid and abundant emotional life.