An Artistic language between East and West

Ren Rong’s first solo exhibition on Modern Art was held at Jiangxu, China during the “New Wave Art Movement” in 1985. The exhibition marks Ren Rong’s determination to be an artist. He decided to further his art studies in Germany for Germany has long been known as an important centre of arts and culture. Many international art fairs have been held in the area of River Rhine and Cologne. During the years in Germany, Ren Rong has learned about the development of history, culture, philosophy, music and photography in Germany. As a Chinese artist and living in the west for more than 20 years, Ren Rong also realizes his enduring passion and love towards Chinese culture.

Ren Rong loves to discuss the different facts of Chinese culture. He is also fascinated by current events and incidents. In his art, the background and setting can be the depiction of the Parliament of Germany, or some scientifically related scenes. By incorporating his meaningful symbol “People- Plant” with other pictorial elements, the connections evoke different readings and interpretations.

From traditional Chinese Papercutting to Mixed Medium

Papercutting is originated in China with 1200 years of history. The Shandong-born artist Ren Rong has been surrounded by Chinese craft art, stone carving and inscription since childhood. Ren Rong remembers that during sometime in 1982, he read the Magazine “Art” and saw French Fauvist artist Henri Matisse’s works of Papercutting corals. Such evoked his memories of childhood. Later in the Academy, he then composed the art pieces with papercutting techniques and mixed media. He started doing large scale of works on human figures in 1985. The Chinese tradition of papercutting has become his inspiration of pictorial aesthetics. He synthesizes different types of medium to create an overall silhouette that manifests the aesthetics of papercutting. He uses scissors, carved knifes and pigments as tools, and utilizes different types of paper, textiles, leaves, old wood boards, cardboards, iron, metal stripes to emphasize textures. Colors are emphasized in Ren’s works to create visual impacts. Critics have termed Ren Rong’s art “Synthesizing techniques of Paper Art”.

The Symbol of Journey

 “People- Plant” has been Ren Rong’s favorite symbol. Ren Rong notes that the symbol contains the elements of both human and plant. The contour of the symbol is simple, yet with movement. It rhythmically flows as if the artist’s experiences and journey of life. At different times, one perceives and thinks differently. Ren Rong loves to explicate the symbol for each time he realizes the symbol can be perceived in different ways. He explains: “I always manifest laughter, tears, and cries in my works. All my emotions are deeply embedded in the symbol.” Art Critic Lou Zhong also notes that “People- plant” is an original art form with deep meanings. “It symbolizes a group a crowd. It represents the voice of thousands of people, or everybody’s voice.”

Ren Rong’s works convey the interconnected ties of cultures and traditions. His art invites us to reach traditions and wander between cultures.