Name: Lehua

Age: 28

City: Shanghai

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Lehua Zhang, I’m a young artist living in Shanghai.

How old are you?

28, I’m a cancer.

What kind of works do you do?

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of painting, and video works. But to be honest, I don’t have a clear definition of what kind of work I do. It’s a mixture of things. Maybe my recent energy is good for painting and video. It’s easier to do these types of works, easier to realize them. So that’s what I’ve been doing recently. I used to do live performance or installations, but not in the last two or three years.

What are the subjects of your work?

My works are usually the products of the mixed states of one’s personal life in the context of art and society. It’s a bit vague. I can’t deliver a speech like some other artists saying my work is about science, or this and that. But I can naturally mix the information that I perceive in my personal life, then have a dialogue with the current happenings in the art world. Basically, it’s within the context of modern and contemporary art, but at the same time drifting apart from the specific context…ehhh, I’m afraid it’s too vague, I don’t even know what am I talking about now.

Are you Shanghainese?

Yeah.

As a Shanghainese artist living and working in Shanghai, can you tell us more about the state of the art world in Shanghai as you know it?

Generally, there are Beijing and Shanghai as the two main cities for art in China. But when looking at art resources, Shanghai is not at the same level as Beijing. Shanghai is like a tourist city, although Shanghai may have the most art museums in China now. Just last year, there were quite a few private museums opened in town. You know, it’s just a bunch of rich people. They had their business corporation first, then they build the museums. They collected a lot classical contemporary art. Hmmm, many big events have happened in Shanghai, maybe about the same as Beijing.

But lets talk about the living standard of artists in Shanghai. It’s much looser in Shanghai. Or you can say the galleries in Shanghai are not at the same level as those in Beijing. A lot of foreign galleries still prefer to go to Beijing and thus build it as a cultural center. And then many artists follow and move to Beijing, for example the Black Bridge art village around 798, etc.

It’s different than the situation in Shanghai. You might think there is a group of artists in Taopu, or a group that’s always surrounding ShanghArt gallery. But they are still minorities. It’s a really really small group. And the rest of the young artists would even prefer to gather less as groups. There used to be some groups, but not anymore. This is my objective observation. Artists here are not as career-minded and motivated as artists in Beijing. They live a more casual life, and have less pressure for exhibitions than Beijing artists. Artists in Beijing are more ambitious. They want to stand out. But artists in Shanghai are much more gentle on that.

What has changed in the art circle in Shanghai in recent years?

I don’t think there has been substantial change. Artists progress really slowly. They do exhibition one after another. Some young artists would come out, and some others would disappear when they can no longer handle it. Just like that.

As for you personally, what changes have you had after you graduation?

When I first graduated, I told myself, I should survive first. So I decided to work as a teacher. I was a high school art teacher, teaching art academy prep classes. It takes a bunch of my time, while at the same time I can’t find the right state of mind to make my work.

They all said you will face a problem after graduation, and so I did. In fact, it’s a problem of finding your own way of making the work. You know, now you don’t have to do it for assignments, no one else is pushing you to do it. And then, after you make the work, you don’t know who to show it to. So now you really start to make works for yourself. There is no institution to tell you what to do. I didn’t even have a gallery at the time. And the old ways of making works from back in school don’t work anymore. There is no equipment support, there is no studio... So everything is like back to the very beginning, back to ground zero.

And the money you earn by working is gone very quickly after buying food and drink. So, I was relying on the energy I had left from recently graduating, making exhibitions with young artists in Shanghai. But after a while, things just can’t keep on going anymore. Because the fundamental problem of creation still remains unsolved. You don’t have a daily working routine. It’s a quite annoying thing because that means you don’t have a clear direction.

Then, in 2009, I had a solo exhibition in Beijing. Through some social networking, someone over there invited me to do an exhibition in an art space in Beijing. After that exhibition, I realized I had vomited all my big and small issues through the exhibition. I didn’t care if people understood my work or not. I just had to put all my effort into it, slowly build up a complete solo show. That was my first solo exhibition. And I didn’t sell any work from it.

After that, I kind of stopped for a while. I didn’t make any work for over a year. I was just staying at home, sending away the last class of my students. Later, I did some projects with Doulebfly (an artist collective), went to Switzerland, and some other stuff. Many times I had no money to live during the year…yeah.

So then, I set a goal for myself. I had to try to see if I could support myself solely by selling artworks, whether it would be selling the painting or something else. So, it was from then that I started to think that at least paintings sell. A graphic work is still easier to sell. What I used to not be willing to do, maybe now I can try do it and at the same time not make myself look too bad. So I did. And I started working with galleries. And then one thing just led to another.

Did you sell?

Yeah, but for very little money, just a few thousand RMB, but at least it’s selling, someone is buying it. My painting is not bad, right?

So do you now have a better idea of how to work as a professional artist?

Yeah, I’m still learning. Because we all know that it’s something we didn’t learn at school. They never taught us how to become a professional artist. They taught us how to create, how to make a project proposal, or how to look like an artist. But we never learned how to become a real professional artist.

Or maybe, the teachers didn’t know themselves. Because they were living in a different time period when they started to make art works. But our generation, living in such a peaceful environment, we can’t make things happen by just hold on and struggle. We need professional training and skills. And it takes time to learn. So we can only try to figure it out slowly.

In fact, I like to be forced to figure things out. All my learning experience, I learned by slowly figuring it out myself. I’m quite a slow and stubborn person. Some problems other people may have realized from the very beginning, but I never did. Even now, I don’t think I’m clear on some things.  I may rather spend time wondering about shallow questions like “ What is art?”

How do you look at the necessity of making art works in the context of the current state of Chinese social society? Or in other words, the relationship between art and society in China?

There are two questions in your question. One is a very big question, which is “ What’s the function of art?” I think we have to first realize, no matter what happens with the living standard of the artist, whether he’s poor or rich, that’s a financial problem. But with art itself, in the end, those that are written into art history, it’s rather a question of whether it had any influence on people, whether it updated people’s aesthetics. Or, from a sociological point of view, whether art has reminded people about the loss or chaos of society, the alienation of human beings. That’s what art and artist should do. And history has proven that’s what they have been always doing, and that’s what they are supposed to do.

And the so-called “avant-garde” is referring to a status of being ahead of time. Art should be ahead of its time. If it’s not avant-garde, it’s not carrying out the function we just talked about. Because that it’s ahead of its time, it makes people confused, or refreshes their way of thinking. So it can push society forward from an aesthetic point of view. So it can remind people, hey, we have been following the mainstream culture for a long time, and now we realize there is actually a problem. Look at where we are now. That makes us think about the problem from another perspective. And that’s better. It’s a sacrifice that artists make. They provide another value system to let others understand. That’s what art and artist should do.

Then comes the problem of China’s relationship with the western world. Chinese contemporary art has a special fucking problem, that is - China has no culture itself. I’m talking about the recent history of China. There is really no culture. So what are we going to do? Of course we copy from the west. It’s the same as any other industry in China. They all copy from the west. Some other people may be even more direct. Take for example, the design industry, it’s fucking direct copying, and making it their own. But it works. It may look indecent. But even a gangster can be someone significant once he dresses up well. Once he has the money, he can dress up like a gentleman. A long time ago, when the west was quite poor and in chaos, they were looking for solutions from the east to renew themselves too. That’s what we call “the turning of Feng shui”.

What is your life like right now? How are you balancing your art and life?

I’m still trying to support myself by selling my work. I have to do this. So I’ll really put my effort into it.

Because our understanding of art, from undergrad to now, has already been framed, such as how we position ourselves, what we do, what we don’t do. So the rest of it, let’s be vulgar, let’s say we are aiming for money, and then there is no longer a problem.

Because sometimes, money can be a driving force. Sometimes we have misunderstandings that we say some artists are making art for money, making paintings for the living room. But I think if you are still not thinking about the money problem at this point, and only thinking about how great or noble you are, then you are really making a mistake. You will make your life miserable. In the end, you are not making art. Instead, art is fooling you. I’d rather say hey, I need to make some money, so let’s make some work. Make some paintings. So when you are making the painting you are aiming for money, but during the process, you are still in the broader framing just like I said before, you are still doing something fun, that’s enough.

Do you have a 3-5 year plan? What’s your plan for the coming years?

Yeah, I need a 3-5 year plan. I need to start working with bigger organizations. I can continue with my current status in Shanghai for at most 1-2 years. I can’t be satisfied with these…I mean, they can financially support me at the moment. But this can’t be my goal. It can’t be, because the scene is too small, and ShanghArt gallery is full now. There is only one bigger institution in Shanghai, really, only one, because museums don’t have direct interaction with artists.

So, I will probably go to Beijing. I have to start looking and start building relationships with them. I’m not sure if I really have to go live there. It depends on my financial situation and other factors. I think it’s possible to go live there, if finances permit. After all, moving is a big expense. At least for now, I can’t afford a big move in my life. I will only go if I can confirm I’m going to get the resources I want, and that they need me to be there. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s necessary. But really, there are a lot of resources over there. If you want to make art works in China, and you don’t have connections with organizations in Beijing, no one will see your work. It’s always the same people in Shanghai, not to mention if you want to be international. 

What about other young artists in Shanghai? Do you communicate with them?

You want to ask about those who are doing better? 

How do you define what’s better? Are you talking about those who have representation?

In the younger generation like us, it’s hard to not mention artists like Lu Yang, who is really ferocious, always very high and energetic, going abroad to make projects, and having interdisciplinary cooperation with other institutions. To me, she is a very good practitioner. For example, she is really working with comic, medical, and scientific disciplines. She is making the effort to do it. Although in the end, it’s still just an image, because you can’t escape the frame of visual art. But it’s really a very good gimmick, because you are now really doing new media artwork. You are indeed interdisciplinary now. Then you have established your identity.

You were doing some exchange projects with overseas organizations, and many young artists go abroad to do artist residency programs nowadays. How do you see these things?

I can’t handle it. Of course I want it. I want to do artist residencies. I want to have a reason to go to Europe. Because it’s really lame to go there just for the sake of visiting my girlfriend. Then I’m only a tourist. Granted I can visit museums, which is nutritious. I have been to Spain twice, the only thing I can do is go visit museums. But it’s not a plan for the long term. I need to get into an artist lifestyle over there, make some work. I need an artist residency. I applied, but couldn’t get one. Europe is in a financial crisis now, and a lot of financial support is gone. They’d rather you give them some money to do the residency. That’s doesn't suit me. 

Interviewed in Shanghai, China. September 11th, 2013