EDUTAINMENT
Edutainment > Zhu Rui - born 1970
Zhu Rui is a young artist from Yunnan. His style is typical for the Yunnan Art School - thick oil-based inks, reduction woodblock prints and the influence of folk art of the ethnic minorites that can be found in the South of Yunnan province. In spite of his young age Mr. Zhu Rui has acquired the status of a leading Chinese artist. His art works are in several Chinese museums.
First Publication: October 2006
Latest Update: May 2013
First Personal Impression
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We received our first prints by Zhu Rui in late summer of 2006. They are all reduction woodblock prints - signed, dated, titled and numbered by the artist in pencil on the lower margin as usual. The artist used a thick clean white paper - more of the quality type that one is used from contemporary Western artists.
We mention this as most Chinese art prints of the 1980s and still 1990 were printed on a paper of low quality - which of course does not allow any conclusions on the artistic quality of the print works.
But back to Mr. Zhu Rui. He works with thick oil-based colors that avid collectors know well from artists like Hao Ping, Ma Li or Yang Yongsheng. The sheets are well printed with slight but no major ink smudges on the margins. Mr. Zhu Rui's art creations have the typical touch and feel of the Yunnan Art School.
The Yunnan Art School is not a real school but a term used by art critics and art professionals to describe a certain art movement in printmaking that has begun in Yunnan in the late 1970s and early 1980s and has continued until now. The Yunnan Art School has recently become widely known outside China. We have watched this development since 2003 and would not be surprised to experience in the years ahead a kind of trendy Yunnan Wave in the art world.
Mr. Zhu Rui can be regarded as from the second generation of Yunnan artists. His style reminds us of the earlier works by Ma Li and also of works by Mr. Yang Yongsheng, who is the founder and president of the Qujing Art Institute. And as Mr. Zhu Rui is currently employed at this art institute, it is no surprise that his works show the influence of these great masters.
Zhu Rui likes brilliant colors. Art friends are remotely reminded of German expressionism of the artist groups of The Bridge and The Blue Rider. But while the German expressionists' printmaking capabilities were at least in technical terms challenged, Zhui Rui has learned the printmaking craft from scratch at one of the best academies of the world - the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).
From the Heart of Yunnan Woodblock Printmaking
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Zhu Rui was born in 1970 in Simao city in the very South of Yunnan province. Simao city is the place where young Chinese artists are said to have developed in the 1980s the technique of the reduction woodblock prints. Since then Yunnan has developed into a Chinese printmaking center that has caused worldwide attention over the last years.
Zhu Rui is from the second generation of modern Yunnan woodblock printmakers. In 1992 he graduated from the Art Department of Yuxi Normal School of Yunnan province.
In 1995 he continued his printmaking studies at the printmaking department at CAFA (Chinese Academy of Fine Arts). The CAFA is within the system of Chinese art training the ivy-league institution. It is like studying at Harvard or Princeton.
After his graduation, Zhu Rui made a remarkable career. He is is now a member of the China Printmakers Association and of the Yunnan branch of the China Artists Association. Mr. Zhu Rui currently works as a professional artist at Qujing Art Institute in Yunnan. That is the place where Mr. Yang Yongsheng is the president.
Video with Mr. Zhu Rui
We got this wonderful video showing the artist at work in his studio. Enjoy it. it is beautiful.
Exhibitions and Awards
- 1992 - "Red Rain of that Mountain" was selected to be shown at "The 5th Chinese National 3 Categories of Prints Exhibition" at Shanxi Art Museum. In the same year, this woodcut was selected for the exhibition "Yunnan Prints to Hangzhou City".
- 1995 - 11 woodblocks were shown at the exhibition of 1994's post-graduates of CAFA, in the gallery of CAFA (Chinese Academy of Fine Arts).
- 1995 - The artwork "Woman" was published in the magazine "Art Grand Sight", on page 5/95.
- 1996 - 4 woodbllocks were shown at the 11th Exhibition of New Artists and New Artworks, organized by China Artists Association, at Changsha city, Hunan province.
- 1996 - The artwork "Impression of Lalei" was published in the magazine "Chinese Printmaking", no.9 of 1996 as front page. And the artwork "Red Clouds of Summer" was published in the same magazine.
- 1997 - Solo exhibition held by the German Embassy in Beijing with 23 reduction woodblock prints.
- 1997 - Solo exhibition at Blue Gallery, Beijing.
- 1997 - 2 woodblock prints were selected for the 5th Yunnan Print Exhibition at Yunnan Art Museum.
- 1998 - "Cold Dew" was published in the magazine "Chinese Printmaking", no.12 of 1998. In the same year the newspaper "Chinese People", oversea edition no.5 of 1998 showed three woodblock prints by Zhu Rui.
- 1998 - The artwork "Life Continues" was shown at the 4th International Contemporary Print Exhibition of Sapporo, Japan, at the Modern Art Museum of Hokkaido.
- 1998 - The artwork "Blood Dusk" was collected by Shenzhou Print Museum of Sichuan province.
- 1998 - The magazine "Yunnan Document" of Taiwan introduced Zhu Rui.
- 1998 - Two woodblocks prints by Zhu Rui were published in the book "Chinese contemporary art - Print category".
- 1999 - 3 woodblock prints were shown at the 6th Yunnan Print Exhibition, at Yuxi Museum of Yunnan province.
- 2000 - The artwork "Herding Voice of Valid Valley" was selected for the 15th National Print Exhibition. And the same year 8 woodblocks by Zhu Rui were shown at the Beijing Art Expo.
- 2002 - 5 woodblocks were shown at the Exhibition "August Date", at Shifeng Art center of Kunmin, Yunnan province.
- 2003 - The artwork "South of Colorful Clouds-Red Land" was shown at the 2nd Chinese Art Gold Color Prize in Beijing, and was collected by the exhibition committee.
- 2004 - The artwork "Yunnan Impression, Simeng" was selected for the 10th National Art Exhibition. This artwork was collected by Yunnan Art Museum and attended the road exhibition show in Europe organized by the Yunnan government.
- 2005 - The artwork "Tea House Road" was selected for the 17th National Print Exhibition, at Guizhou Art Museum.
- 2006 - The artworks "Tea House Road" and "South of Colorful Clouds - Red Land" were selected for the International Print Exhibition of Pusan, Korea.
- 2007 - The print "Impression of Dongchuan" was selected for the 75th anniversary Print Exhibition in Tokyo in April 2007, organized by Japanese Prints Association.
Mr. Zhu Rui is by the way also a famous photographer. He exhibits regularly at photographic exhibitions. Many of his works have been published in magazines like "Chinese National Geography".
Collections
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- Shenzhou Print Museum of Sichuan province, China.
- Guangdong Art Museum, China.
- Yunnan Art Museum, China.
- Chinese Art - Gold color exhibition committee.
- Private collectors from Germany, the U.K. and Japan.
What Art Critics Say
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By Guang Jun, professor at CAFA (Chinese Acdamy of Fine Arts) and director of China Artists Association for Printmaking writes:
"After the 1980s there were a few young artists from Yunnan, who created colourful prints. These prints brought to us enthusiasm, purity, and even some mystery. As these artists were short of material, they used only one block, and made beautiful artworks by printing from this block more than one color. They called this technique reduction woodblocks."
"They may not have known that in the 1950s there was a famous painter named Pablo Picasso who used the same principle. But this is not important. The printmakers of Yunnan province are very clever. Zhu Rui is an outstanding young artist among them. He is not perfect. But what is estimable is his concentration and perseverence for art. I have the feeling to visit Yunnan's landscapes together with Zhu Rui when I see his artworks."
(Comment by artelino: Picasso used a comparable technique for linocuts to create a multi-color linocut print from one linoleum plate. Both the media (linoleum) and the compositions applied by Picasso are however not comparable to the challenges of a reduction woodblock as created by Yunnan and other artists from China.)
Wu Changjiang, professor of CNAFA (Chinese National Academy of Fine Arts) and director of the printmaking department of CNAFA and vice-director of China Artists Association writes:
"Zhu Rui grew up in Yunnan's beautiful mountains. His artworks are also full of nimbus. Most of his prints are reduction woodblocks printed with oil-based colors. During his creation process, every step of cutting and printing demands strict discipline and excellent harmony. Zhu Rui gives us a great images by using freely the woodblock characteristics: multivariant and creative."
Artist's Statement
Comment by artelino: Chinese people use a more flowery language compared to Western people.
"I am feeling a dulcet melody from the deep of my heart, colorful butterflies, mystic rain forests, lonely ridges and unpretending indigenuous people. All these appear spontaneously from my graver. Art should make people feel free, and art should be natural just like breathing. I am crazy for art. Why have I choosen painting? Maybe because painting is the best approach to express the meaning of life."
Publication
In 2002, his print book "Selected Prints of Zhu Rui" was published by Hong Kong Oriental Art Center of China, ISBN 962-85842-7-8.
More about Zhu Rui
31 sold object(s) by Zhu Rui born 1970 in our Art Archive
Other Pages Related to Zhu Rui
- Contemporary Shanghai Art
- July 2009: New Prints by Zhu Rui
- New Woodblock Prints by Zhu Rui
- Woodblock Printmaking by Zhu Rui
- Woodblock Printmaking with Zhu Rui
- Zhu Rui in his Studio
Author: Dieter Wanczura
.. more about Dieter Wanczura
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Current Local Time: Friday, May 24, 2013, 8:43:31 PM Central European Time
