Shanghai Daily news

Award-winning, self-taught sculptor Zhang Jianmin's deprecatory style and Buddhist philosophies have ensured his work is always enthusiastically received. His latest collection focuses on the blight of divorce on modern day society and how it can be avoided, Zhou Tao reports

In front of sculptor Zhang Jianmin's works, it's hard to imagine they are from a self-taught artist who is just "fond of playing with mud" and attributes his ability to his lack of any formal art education.
Zhang has made, since the late 1970s, a considerable number of works in bronze and resin including figures from traditional Chinese stories, historical figures, folklore, modern city life as well as abstract figures.
"Skill is from the unskilled," says Zhang.
This is the 66-year-old artist's most frequently used explanation of his two state-level prizes and seven municipal-level prizes.
Zhang became interested in fine art when he was a teenager, wanting to enter an academy of fine arts. But in the physical examination before the college entrance exam, it was found that he was color blind and was not allowed entry any arts academy.
"But my sense of image is still good," says Zhang. "I don't want to give it up."
Zhang started his "playing with mud" as a second best choice since sculpture does not highly value color. So he tried making sculptures with the sticky clay available.
"I found the mud covered rice-wine jars were sticky enough, I removed their contents and kneaded them into sculptures," he says.
Zhang recalls that he considered it a pity in his early days that he couldn't go to an academy, but it meant he retained the mentality of "playing."
"It has always been a fun game to play, like a toy for a boy," says Zhang, adding that he believes that playing is the most serious and whole-hearted state of a person. "Just take a look at those Internet-cafe-kids playing online games," he continues. "But you have to pick the right career in the first place, then, go and addict yourself to it."
Zhang entered a factory in mid-1960s working as a locksmith. "I think the work trained my hands," says the sculptor, "which is somehow good for making sculptures."
He has never stopped his pursuit of art, making sculptures with clay and reading, although in secret during the cultural revolution (1966-76). "It was because there was no entertainment in that period that I could cool down and learn something," he explains.
Zhang read a lot on Confucianism as well as the books of Kant, Nietzsche and Sartre, which were forbidden and could have brought him trouble during those years.
"I took advantage of that period to enrich myself when many people gave up," Zhang recalls.
For an artist, much work should be done outside art if the artist want to do it well. "Many artists that I met don't know what existentialism is," says Zhang. "But it is these things that contribute to the most deep-inside spirit of my works."
With the idea that an artist should have a wide breadth of knowledge, Zhang puts diverse elements naturally into his works. He never stereotypes himself by repeating prize-winning themes, he produced new series one after another.
Middle-aged couples
In his "Family Ethic" series, Zhang makes sculptures of young, middle-aged and old couples, which have been well-received at exhibitions. "It's about a social problem - the growing divorce rate," Zhang explains.
In his "Walking While Aging," an elderly couple, cast in bronze, whose faces are blurred and the man's bent back and shoulder, the woman's fatness is exaggerated. However, they hold hands and have a stick in their other hands as if they are still walking together, although very slowly.
His "Where We Once Sat" is a common bench, often seen in parks, on which a granny leans against the shoulder of her husband, both with a smile.
"Everyday we hear stories about middle-aged couples getting tired of each other and divorcing," says Zhang. "But I think a visit to the place, for example, the bench in the park when they were in love and dated, can be a great help. "I spent considerable time examining the divorce problem and why couples end up so bad. I think they exaggerate economic problems too much and refuse to fix it by saying 'our characters don't match each other.' I think a recollection of young and sweet days from their shared past can stop fighting and help to improve the relationship," he says.
The sculptor describes himself as "with frequent association" that, besides social problems, traditional Chinese cultural is a theme he won't miss.
Zhang has a number of friends who are senior monks in big temples across China, which inspired his series - the Zen. The series consisted of two statues of Da Mo, a legendary monk of Buddhism from India who visited China in ancient times. In one he is sitting quietly in the lotus position - a sitting poise of Buddhism self-refinery. This piece is titled "Zen Can Be Non-Zen." In contrast, the other piece, "Non-Zen Can Be Zen," is a lying Da Mo on the ground with a finger scratching his itching ear.
"The self-refinery of Buddhism does not lie in the form of exercise," Zhang says. "Not all people sitting in a lotus position can reach real Zen - if they are obsessed by desires. Instead, a pure heart, even during subconscious action, can get sudden enlightenment and the real Zen. It's like Einstein suddenly finds a solution to Relativity when playing violin."
Zhang himself got sudden enlightenment when he decided to give up smoking. He went out in a cold winter night to buy cigarette because he was so big an addict that he couldn't sleep unless he smoked. But suddenly he realized he was enslaved by tobacco.
"Human must not be enslaved by material," says Zhang. "To be a man, you have to be the master of yourself, not the slave of things."
Miraculously, cigarettes tasted bitter after the night that he gave up smoking within days.
"Buddha will not bless you directly," says Zhang. "The point is, you can handle any trouble if you master the spirit of the doctrine, and the good will be reflected in your works."

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