FAR OUTSIDE THE WORLD AND DEEP INSIDE THE HEART: LI XINHUI AND HIS "STAR" SERIES

　　I still vividly remember the first time when I met Li Xinhui in the summer of 2005. A handsome and quiet big boy,maybe a little arrogant,smiling while holding a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. We talked for a short while,when I suddenly had a familiar feeling towards him as he had a strong Kunming accent. So I asked him if Kunming was his hometown and he surprisingly answered Yes,and I told him we're from the same place.

　　Since then we've met frequently and I was often invited to his house as well. I always say Xinhui is a really lucky man,with a Dutch wife and holding two handsome boys on his knees. Also at home Xinhui always has that sweet smile on his face. We would talk about a lot of things,and while we may have different views sometimes,we agreed to disagree and our friendship moved forwards. We gradually became close friends and he would often show me his new paintings. He always paints starts,so I've seen his stars paintings since eight years ago.

　　The first time I saw Xinhui's star paintings it gave me a very good feeling. The hazy and swirling surrealism of his 'star' series gives me a sense of unlimited reverie,and a joyful feeling that is difficult to describe. The extending flow of outwards waves of light,starting from nowhere,following its track to its original fantasy tells you that this fantasy realm appears in the outside world beyond our reach,or maybe it happens in our own hearts to which we don't have insight. The simple and pure fairy-tale colors of Xinghui's stars not only brought me back to the memories of my childhood,but also present another infinite outer landscape that we can't ever match. The rapid eruption of endless waves of energy spreads towards infinity,and the world we live in is just a tiny drop in the ocean.

　　The unpredictability of distant stars,the shining spots of these stars,meteor trails,the drifting,shining,merging is like holding a kaleidoscope during childhood you see through the prism an ethereal fantasy of gorgeous interwoven colors and lights. It brings us back to the fantasy world of our youth,the heaven in our mind,and the eternal feast of light shining on the world. In Li Xinhui's hands the magic of a happy world is very simple,and in fact all of this has its own source - like his earlier 'villain' series,which is also full of fairytale like pleasures. The work is a composition of hemp and it's thick texture presents a magical enlightening effect. Xinhui's extensive interest always results in new ideas and he is indulged in charming illusions. These stem from Xinhui's childhood memories and inspiration that drives him to constantly create a poetic image.

　　In my opinion,Xinhui can be characterized firstly by always being loyal to his senses. He is good at capturing the subtle relationships between colors,shallow and deep,static and dynamic,tangible and intangible and he's careful to distinguish slight differences among shapes,lines,colors,and composition until it forms a trance,using points,lines and surface together to form one total,intrinsically linked to near perfect,so that the star's image become a live and moveable object,making the fantasy world and the real world unified together. Also,Xinhui knows how to control the use of colors to express a simple theme,and to have a comfortable and harmonious relationship between them. He prefers the abstract way of painting,doesn't follow the current popular style,nothing weird and huge,nothing disorganized and grandstanding. Xinhui likes the clear and fixed outlines of abstract contours,and his works are simple to identify,stimulate the imagination and are easy to be captured visually.

　　On the other hand,Xinhui doesn't live in a fairy tale. There is no doubt that today the heart of each one of us feels the shock,fright,loneliness,or different forms of repression of this era. Xinhui also reflects this in his paintings,such as those of his gray tone sketch - a subway full of naked men and women,children and the elderly,people are forced to crowd in the rapid development of urbanization rushing towards an unclear direction.

　　Xinhui's "gray" star series and the aforementioned soft "Star" series are totally different. He used the symmetry of the stars combined with the stippling technique of the Aboriginals to segment the sharp edges. Aboriginal stippling was originally a primitive witch technique to deter wounding wild beasts in the desert,but I like to believe it is intentional expressed by Xinhui - the period I do not know- I suppose Xinhui must have felt like being squeezed by flowing gray stars ,surrounded by men and women that reminded him of a wild southern hemisphere. Indeed,Xinhui seems to be more concerned about the world outside. He has his own principles and views about a variety of concepts,and perhaps he likes to keep a distance from most contemporary artist and thereby unintentionally escaped the contemporary "art scene",resulting the feeling that his work over the years has not been so much 'on the scene'. Leaving the impression that his art is outside the reality of the world,that it's targeted beyond the world,that it's moved from the inner hearth.

　　Like most artists,Li Xinhui has been exploring a variety of artistic ways and materials for drawing,from concrete to abstract,from using the easel to exploring all kinds of materials,using anything that can be grabbed and presented in his work. As he said,the arrival of industrialization

　　not only brought the convenience of life,but also created more confusion and tensions; piles of garbage are submerging the city,so he changed garbage into environmental art forms to remind people,however at the end he figured that by using garbage he was also creating more garbage,so then he gave up and again returned to his easel.

　　Xinhui gives people the impression of being a quiet and pleasant person. He likes drinking together with friends,and he tends to be a listener most of the time. To characterize Li Xinghui as calm,quiet,happy,pleasant,sensitive,and introvert,I think this might be because he was born in Kunming,Yunnan. Yunnan is a beautiful province,Yunnan treats life as a festival. I rarely hear Xinhui speaking his hometown,it might because his international prospect towards the world,or his views on the obscurity of space,but I think to be an artist,whether talking about childhood or not,it is impossible for him to forget his childhood memories and mixed feelings of childhood will be present in his work. Xinhui still insist that his views contain no boundaries and regions,however unintentionally the feelings of his childhood dreams are reflected in his art works and shown to the outside world. So he is always grateful for everything he has - no matter if it's life,art or something else-,like his whispering stars in the distant sky.

　　LIU XINYU

　　2013.4.26,Beijing