Teaching to Support her Art ‘Habit’

Written by Wang Fangqing Tuesday, June 08 2010

Snapshot: Ni Jun

SHANGHAI, China – Ni Jun is an installation artist based in Shanghai. Her works were displayed at different exhibitions abroad, including France and India. The latest piece, "Dancing Together," was selected by Frankfurt Book Fair last year when China was the guest of honor.

She currently spends several days a week at Shanghai JianQiao College as a part-time instructor, teaching photography in the department of art and design. Previously, she taught at Shanghai Art and Design Academy, but was fired in 2008 after she showed the movie The Doors by Oliver Stone in class. An adult scene was the cause of her dismissal.

Surprisingly, as one of the very few female artists in China, Ni, a 40-year-old single woman and a heavy smoker, is not interested in showing much of her gender in her works, which is a reverse of many of her female peers in the nation.

A former student of oil painting, Ni admitted installation art is way more interesting to her.

Womenetics: What interests you about installation art?
Ni Jun: The diversity. There are few rules to follow when it comes to installation art, which gives me a lot of space for creation.

Womenetics: How did you learn about installation art?
Ni: When I was a student of oil painting at Shanghai Normal University in late 1980s, some of our lecturers were the first batch of progressive Chinese artists influenced by contemporary art. I talked to them often because I was so tired of my painting class, where all we could learn was painting rules and skills. I learned a lot about contemporary art through these conversations, which intrigued me to explore more in our library. Slowly, I got attracted by the charisma of installation art.

Womenetics: Are you fond of Western art more than traditional Chinese art?
Ni: Yes and no. When I was younger, I was absolutely into Western art because of its strong vitality. In comparison, traditional Chinese art, such as watercolor paintings, is too plain to be impressive. It lacks dynamics, and it looks somewhat the same.

But as I'm getting more mature, I find myself increasingly interested in traditional Chinese art. For example, recently I have spent a lot of time studying Dunhuang cave art, which was created 10 centuries ago. It isn't the vivid-looking Buddhist paintings that impress me, but something spiritual in it that touches my heart, connecting me to the ancient artists. The power in those art pieces is amazing.

Womenetics: Who are your favorite Western artists?
Ni: I liked David Hockney when I was studying oil painting. I liked the dark, gloomy feeling in his paintings. After I started to learn installation art, Bruce Nauman became one of my favorite artists. He has the talent to make something impressive regardless of the materials he would use. I admire his creativity and the sensitivity to all materials.

Womenetics: In China, is it easier for male artists to achieve something than female artists?
Ni: I think yes. The number of female artists is growing in China, but still very small. To get attention, many of us like to “genderize” the work. As a female artist myself, I completely understand it because that was what I did right after my graduation from university. But later I realized it would only limit your potential and creativity. This could be the reason that male artists are more likely to create interesting works.

It took me several years to make myself an “artist,” not a "female artist."

Womenetics: Do you think Chinese are getting more open-minded to art?
Ni: Yes, absolutely. I think more and more Chinese are showing interest in contemporary art. A typical example is Shanghai Biennale (an art exhibition). Backed by the local government, it keeps attracting loads of visitors each time. Though I think many of them are just curious about the event, it surely is a good thing for ordinary Chinese to get close to art.

Womenetics: Where do you usually get your inspirations?
Ni: I can be inspired by a lot of things, but recently I began to feel a growing connection between art and literature. For example, my work "Floating Labyrinth," through which I want to express unconscious changes, was inspired by Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Both literature and art are intended to explain something abstract, only in different ways.

Womenetics: Who is buying your work?
Ni: To be honest, I have only sold four pieces of my works so far. Two of them were bought by an American art agency, and the rest were bought by Chinese buyers. Since I can make a living by teaching, I want to focus on creating quality works, rather than seeking buyers.

Womenetics: You were fired by the school because of showing the movieThe Doors. Looking back, how do you see the teaching methods in local art schools? And if it happened today, would you still be fired?
Ni: It depends on the academic level of the school. If it happened in a professional art school, such as China Academy of Art, I would not, and no one would even make a fuss about it. But at the school where I'm working now, I probably would face the same outcome because these schools want me to teach skills, not art.

Unlike in the Western countries, where students go to art schools out of interest, in China, only students whose grades are too lousy to enter good universities turn to art schools to get a bachelor’s degree. I can say the majority of them have no interest in art and don't want to know about it. That's why most schools have replaced many art classes with more practical design courses. It's a pity, but I think it is inevitable in the process of China’s art development.

Womenetics: What's your next plan?
Ni: I probably will have a solo exhibition at the end of this year in Shanghai, but it's still under discussion.

Wang Fangqing (Frances Wang) is a freelance reporter based in Shanghai. For the past four years, she has been writing for a variety of English language publications, including Tobacco Journal International, Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics and Securities Industry News, reporting business trends in Asia. A Chinese native speaker, she is also fluent in Japanese and English.