Jiamin Hu
Jiamin Hu 胡嘉岷
Born October 1983.
Jiamin paints large-scale murals and canvases. Inspiration could come from a piece of cloud or an ancient Chinese poem; a scene from an Angelopoulos movie or a fugue by Bach, the shade of a tree or a political event. Recently Jiamin has focused on the demolishment of the old buildings in China during its current massive and rapid urbanization. Though it is something quite political, Jiamin expresses it in an indirect way and focuses more on its aesthetic and philosophical aspects. “I feel the destruction breaks with the regularity of the buildings and creates something unexpected and improvised, which is linked to the essence of traditional Chinese painting; at the same time, the texture of the surface of old buildings also resembles the movement of Chinese ink painting” says Jiamin Hu. Jiamin tries to reject and resist the wild urban development – also to cherish the vestige of the past – in the realm of imagination.
In the summer of 2010 in Shenzhen, Jiamin participated in an international mural festival, as a project of Shenzhen Pavilion in Shanghai World Expo. Jiamin made two murals there along with a dozen of famous western mural painters. This has brought a degree of official recognition.
Jiamin has a world wide and professional view on art, because of self education, and because of his personal experience – Jiamin used to work as a translator and assistant for more than two years in a non-profit art studio founded by an American curator in the countryside of Yunnan (South West China). The studio runs a long term residency for international artists, who are experienced and professional, and all from very different backgrounds. Working with them widened and deepened his concept of art.
Jiamin admires all the ancient artists, especially the nameless ancient Greek artists/artisans, Yamato-e artists and ancient Chinese painting. Jiamin became interested in western art very early, on discovering a book of Leonardo da Vinci from his father’s collection, until now, the Renaissance masters (Leonardo, Botticelli, etc.) are still his favourite. Also admired are the Dutch and Flemish School artists Jan van Eyck, Bosch, Bruegel and Vermeer, then El Greco, Caravaggio and in the 20th Century, Eduard Munch and Andy Warhol.
Brian Holmes Critique of Jiamin Hu’s work : “Three paintings adorn the He family courtyard, adjacent to Lijiang Studio. Mural paintings are common in local courtyards; but these were done by the brilliant young Chinese artist Hu Jiamin…”