MAO XUHUI

This retrospective was curated by Dai Zhuoqun, who chose more than 200 works in a range of media, including oil on canvas, paper, and wood, ink on paper, drawing, and mixed media on canvas from every period in Mao’s artistic career. Based on Mao’s content or style in different eras, the show is arranged into four sections: ‘Life / Representation,’ ‘Power / Parents,’ ‘Will / Scissors,’ and ‘Mount Gui / Sketching.’ The exhibition attempts to showcase Mao Xuhui’s tireless creativity over the last forty years from as many perspectives as possible.

Mao Xuhui: Life Painting, Will, and Eternity – Dai Zhuoqun

Mao Xuhui has left a distinct personal imprint on the art world at two key moments in early Chinese avant-garde art. The first moment was from 1985 to 1989; he founded the Southwestern Art Research Group focused on new figurative painting in Kunming. He also organised several editions of the New Figurative Painting Exhibition, which became an important part of the ‘85 New Wave, an avant-garde contemporary art movement in China. In 1986, Mao represented the New Figurative Painting Exhibition at the Zhuhai Conference, and in 1988, he attended the Huangshan Conference and submitted an article entitled Artistic Issues are Human Issues. The artistic ambitions of this period were constantly changing, and Mao had to find something meaningful in the chaos; in his paintings, he tended to depict his personal awakening and the intense vitality of southwestern China. In 1989, Mao Xuhui participated in China/Avant-Garde as a representative of ‘life painting.’ His work was subsequently shown in a series of new art exhibitions held around the world related to China’s New Wave and avant-garde movements.

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