Thank you Melanie and Kevin for the interview. to view more about Image please go to
  http://www.soulfulpen.com

Xiaoqing

1. Let's talk about your childness in China.How did you first felt that artistic life will be YOUR life.I have in mind this beautiful photo of you like a child, with a sketch-book in the hand. the art is something that artists have in blood before know it?? Tel us about your first step in artistich scene, your studies, your first emotions for a paint of you hang on a wall.

I grown up in a university campus in Beijing, most of my childhood neighbors were professors and scientists, they are kind of serious and uptight. The first time I realized how different artist’s life is was when I met a group of artists in my first art teacher's studio ( his name is Zhang Ken and he is my hero forever), I was so amazed by the way they look and talk. I still remember they were talking about “alienation”, an alien word for a 12 years old . I had a dream about got two hairy pig looking ears on top of my head, my own understanding of alienation after so inspired by their conversation. I tired to stay in that studio as long as I could everyday , because I knew one day I would be one of them.

My father taught me how to use a Chinese brush when I was little, he can draw very well. It took a while to learn the right way to hold and use the brush like an old master. I got the point after I finished tons of smooth ink circles without my hand and arm touching the paper. I still have a thick callus on my middle finger form those practices. The art education system in China pretty much adopted the old Russian art educational style and combined it with thousands of years of old Chinese tradition.

I went to art school in Beijing when I was 16. We had classes teaching the basics of traditional Chinese water and ink painting and how to work on rice paper and silk. We also studied art work from all over the world. We did real life drawings with ink and brush, using anything as subjects, from people, to animals and plants. We went to study animals in the zoo and drew flowers in the garden.Summer Palace and Forbidden City were our favorite classrooms. Every spring and fall we took a month-long trip into nature where we painted only the landscapes. We often painted under the Great Wall, not the tourist part, but the ruins on the wild cliffs. It sounds fun but it was hard work, and the professors were pretty strict. You have to do whatever they say, without question. We were like soldiers. I had a wonderful time at art schools in Beijing.

I can't remember any emotions for my painting hang on a wall the first time, but one of my childhood friend did told me his emotions when he saw my work on our schools show room's wall. It was a portrait of a cute girl, and he fall in love with that girl right away, and he thought I was that girl, I was about 13 at the time and I looked totally like a boy.

2. You art is  full of typical oriental inspiration. Martial art, chinese food, oriental plants and, must of all, men and women. How much your oriental roots had help you to create you own personal vision of the world?

If you go to China., you see the beautiful gardens with exotic flowers and plans, gold fish and lotus. Martial art is in all kind of movies and TV shows. Sometime I feel like It's very hard to make something new and interesting, just open an old Chinese book, the art from two thousand years ago looks so different and unique, how can I make anything better than that? I'm very proud of our culture and history, I got that root in my blood and I have an endless source to inspire my work and it will never dry out.

I believe the place someone lives can really effect the way he thinks and sees. I used to think European artists must have special training of the way they see colors, because I never see the same color palate used for the Chinese artist or in Chinese painting, but I changed my mind after I travel to Europe one winter, the dark cloudy sky and white marble walls and heavy green forest are exactelly the colors in those artists work, we don't use them because we never experience them, we have the different landscapes and the views.....

I hope I can travel more and see more because my work changes all the time after my trips to different places. Explore the world is a way to open someone’s heart and mind, have a big heart and open mind can keep someone young and creative forever.

3. Men e women again. We already talked about it,but maybe love & hate are a for real endless inspirations. In your art men and women fall in love, hate each other, making love, dreams.What’s your feelings about human being? Do you are a kind of people happy to know everyday new people, or maybe you feel better with less people around.

We always question about our feelings and there are always no easy answer. “why I love him(her)?” is a hard one, but “why I hate him(her)” is much easier, because you used to love him(her). Life would be very bored without love stories. Female and male all need love and each other. I will keep paint this subject for a while and see what happens.

I'm so blessed that I am a human being, would be so sad if I am a fly or carrot. Human being is so complicated, that's why I want to make my work complicated, there are so many feelings and secrets to tell.

I have read something interesting recently by a novelist named Susan Sontag in her early diaries after she spent her first night with her female lover when she was 20 something” I know what I want to do with my life…I want to sleep with many people –I want to live and not die… and the last thing I want to do is worship knowledge or people who have knowledge”

I had pretty much the same feeling regarding her first two wishes when I was younger, but my wishes changed now. I want to get more work done, I want to be healthy and happy.  

And I do keep the same feeling about Sontag's last wish, I admire intellectual, talented, knowledgeable people, I wanna be around by more of them.

4. You both work and live in America and China. How much the two culture are far for real? In lifestyle and art scene.

China and American are so different in so many ways. Took me years to figure out how to fit in two worlds and still feel like an outsider in both side some time.

For example, a popular restaurant in China  means huge space and huge table and huge dish, the more crowed the better. But in US, the style and the atmosphere plays very important roles for a good restaurant, and when the table all booked, the boss would never add more seats or allow more people in. Chinese almost think crowded means happy and exciting so we really don’t mind eat with another there layers people under our table. Chinese kind of like sheep, enjoy hang out with a big group and doing the same thing all together at the same time. Most Chinese hate their own think or act too different. American are more like lion, everybody has their comfort zone and territory, their privacy is very important and they don’t wanna be bothered if they think they are doing something very important for themselves. We call that “selfish”, they call it” independence”

I'm very happy to be able to live in Beijing and  New York, I love both two cities. The art scenes are great in New York, you can pretty much find everything you like if you love art. Music, Movies, art fairs, shows. a friend from Russia who came to visit me was surprised to see me stay at home all the time, she says that she would spend at least 20 hours a day just wondering around on the streets of New York, which she did during her one week vacation. Art in Beijing.. is pretty amazing too, although the night life is still not as crazy as New York.Artists and art gallery are pretty much gathered in the same districts. Unlike expensive New York, most artists in.Beijing get huge studios and the show spaces in the galleries are very large too, so most artist make huge paintings and they work very hard and fast. Those young artists are like well trained armies, very ambitious and full of energies. No wander there are waves of new work done by Chinese artists appears all over the art market with in the past few years.

5. Once you tald me that you wanto to come in Italy, but your passport was blocked. In newspaper, tv news, we often read and listern about China like a very repressive country. During Olimpic Games journalist was stopped to do free news. But, when i was in Beijing, i did't found all this “constrictions”. I was in a rock festival, and it was full of young people, crazy dressed, colored hair, free to kiss and skate and dance. Normal young people doing young stuffs! So, did you ever feel not free in your country? Like woman and like artist.

The fact was, my passport wasn’t blocked, my way was blocked by the Schengen visa issued by the European countries. As a Chinese citizen, I do have problem free travel to most foreign countries, but it has nothing to do with “repressive” of my country. Chinese can get their passport pretty easy, a simple application and several days waiting. The problem is most foreign embassy in China still don't want to give Chinese a visa without give us a huge hassal( showing bank savings, invitation letters, air tickets, the prove of this and that, hundreds pages of documents for one application and less 10% can be approved eventually). Because they are worry if they open their door, all the Chinese will move to their country and never go back( after all those troubles, lot of people do stay because it will be too hard to come back again) , they still think China is a very unpleasant place to live. Well, to be honest, things were pretty bad 20 years ago, we had no freedom back then. I remember when Gerorge Michael had his first tour in Beijing back 80^th  the whole place were packed with police men and nobody would allow to make any noise or stand up, of course poor Gerorge was totally confused by a silent audience , he might thought his music was too “classic” to Chinese. Everything is different now, I feel totally free in my country and I wish all the other countries can treat us like free people.

I'm glad that you had fun in Beijing Seb, you were at the right place at the right time. Can you believe teacher in the school would cut off the boy’s long hair right in front every body back the 90^th and nobody would allow to listen pop music in the school back the 80^th.  I was born in the dark 70^th, we thought all the American kids were abused and labored by the evil capitalism government when all the American Mom warned their kids to finish their food because all the Chinese kids are still starving. Chinese kids are pretty much doing the same thing like American and European kids. Rock &roll, video games, internet dating. But, playboy magazine is still not available in the store in anywhere of China( not sure it’s a good thing or bad thing since all the American parents are try their best to set up blocks on their home computer), the Chinese government is very strict about” public” porn, although you can get a full body service for as low as $20 in a “hair saloon”

6. Let's talk about technics. Tell us about a creation of one of your paints. From the idea to the final canvas. Are you alway happy 100% about your pieces? Or sometimes happen to look at it one/two years later and think “i want to change all!!”. And tell us something about the tools. Do you use particolar color, pens, or maybe typical oriental paint tools like ancient brushes or i read on the web about this Egg-Tempera process.

I 've worked with Egg Tempera, watercolor, silverpoint and pastel in the past 10 years. Recently I start to try oil painting. For me each new medium is a new adventure and I enjoy play with new things.

Most people have no idea how toxic art mediums are and how hard to get a perfect piece done. I had coughing problem after working with pastel for several month although I wear mask and gloves al the time. The dust form the pastel could cause lung cancer. And oil medium is even worse if you don’t wash your hands all the time and keep all you windows open even in the cold winter. I almost give up egg Tempera because it's so slow and I got blue legs after sitting there paint for hours everyday. I have a big respect for those hard working artist who make tons of work every year, it's a hard labor and need a lots of effort and pushing.

I usually start with a drawing before I make a painting. I prefer draw on the panel directly, hate tracing paper, but have to use it when there is a dark under paint. After drawing, I painting the images with a thin layer of Chinese ink, then add more layers of brown and green and white, kind of traditional Italian work. Off course there are struggles all the time. The beginning part and ending part are always fun, but the long middle section is always a challenge. Sometime I can't even face the fact that I have to change it all, it could ruin my mood, but there are always a surprise waiting for me if I do change it all. One of my professor told me  when I was in graduate school, it's a good thing to make mistake, because it make you think more and you are getting better and better after all your mistakes. I try to use the best brushes and paint and other art supplies, it means a huge credit card bill every month but it worth every penny in the end.

7. Do you feel to be part of an artistic “scene”you know, in last year people called pop-surrealist a lot of different artists (artists that do their stuff before the born of the “pop-surrealist” name!). How do you feel when somebody call you a “pop” artist (i hate the word “pop”

Pop does sounds like a bubble gum and not too serious looking for the “high art” people , but it's a huge art scene and part of the modern culture. Because it's well liked by young people so it has a big market, a large group of crazy followers. I have no idea why I ended up to be part of the pop-surrealist. Maybe because I have cute girls in my work and they are always pop. I do like lots of pop work and artists. I'm very happy to be able to show with artist like Ray Caesar, lori Earley, Shepard Fairey.. and work with gallery like Jonathan Levine, Roq la Rue and Copro Nason.

Pop changes all the time, pop now doesn't means pop forever, actually for me pop almost means “short live”, I really don't mind how people call me, I believe good work is timeless and I hope I'll have other names when pop is not pop anymore.....

8. Who is that fox? It like a sign in your paintings.
Fox in our old fairytales is actually a spirit in fox form representing a provocative sexual female, very attractive but dangerous sometime. It's someone lot of women want to be but hate to have their man encounter with.

It's hard to use animal in the art work. Bird and snake are everywhere, rabbit and cat are too cute, tiger and loin are hard to make fun of. Not so many artists pay that much attention on fox, it's not a good folk in the European or American culture, but I love it.

I had a collector who I never met before came to visit me , the moment she stepped out of her car, I saw a cute fox looking face and the way she moves just like the fox in my painting, the only thing she missed is a big red tail, and her husband calls her “ my fox lady” after she bought some of my works. I find out woman who really likes my painting always looks and acts like a fox in the fairytales, so who is that Fox?

9. last question. Maybe the hardest one, why you choose painting to show us your vision why not photography, books, theatre?
Finally, a easy one. For me, painting is easier than all the other mediums. A brush, some paints, a table, lots of freedom and no need to worry about others. Photography need models, lights, equipments, darkroom or tons of work in front of computer. theatre takes a crews of work. I prefer work a lone, think alone and take responsibility alone. But it could be fun to work with other mediums or with other artist who has the same vision and interest like me, I do enjoy being with other creative people, they always get funny dirty jokes to laugh with.

3 places that I like in Beijing.

1. The ruin of Yuan Ming Yuan( The old Summer Palace) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace....
The Old Summer Palace, known in China as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness  simplified Chinese: 圆明园; referred to in many books as Yuan Ming Yuan), and originally called the Imperial Gardens (simplified Chinese: 御园; was a complex of palaces and gardens 8 km (5 miles) northwest of the walls of the Imperial City in Beijing, built in the 18th and early 19th century, where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty resided and handled government affairs (the Forbidden City was used only for formal ceremonies).....
Known for its extensive collection of garden and building architectures and other works of art (a popular name in China was the "Garden of Gardens", simplified Chinese: 万园之园; the Imperial Gardens were destroyed by British and French troops in 1860. Today, the destruction of the Gardens of Perfect Brightness is still regarded as a symbol of foreign aggression and humiliation in China.....
The Old Summer Palace is located just outside the west gate of Tsinghua University, north of Peking University, and east of the Summer Palace. The postal address is:28 Qinghua West Road,Beijing100084

Part of the old fountains in that Garden was designed by an Italian missionary named Giuseppe Castiglione( 1688-1766), he worked for Qing Emperors for 51 years and died in Beijing An European artist who could do amazing Chinese ink and water painting., someone I truly admire. He designed dream like European and Chinese style marble architectures, fountains with wired looking animals. The garden has large lotus pounds and huge man made lakes and all kind of flowers and plants. I used to go their every weekend with friends when I was a teenager. It has beautiful peach blossoms in the spring, people go boating in the summer, artists making landscape painting in the fall season, snow fight in the winter. It's the few places in Being that you can find wild swans and foxes and other animals would not wondering around in the city. They've done lots of renovations and destroyed some wildness beauty in that place, but it's still a very special place to go.

2. Houhai.( the back lakes) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Hai....

This area of  Beijing contains some of the most extensive old hutong neighborhoods and the three lakes of Xihai, Houhai and Oianhai. A man made canal system in the central of Beijing, part of the forbidden city wall's protective river. A popular hang out place for young people and tourists in the night. Full of bars and restaurants. You can get on a boat with red lanterns with a group of friends, having a cup of flower tea or beer while drifting on the canal. You will pass several little bridges and see some pretty pavilions on both shore sides. The only problem is, it could be very crowded in the weekend, your boat gonna stuck with other 20 boats under the small bridge, then it will be like a bumper cars fight, the brave one go first and the chicken one stay bumped forever, the good thing is, the cute musican that you hired would sitting still on the head of the rocky boat and play her PiBa( a mandolin looking traditional Chinese instrument) like nothing happening.

3. Xidan Book City The biggest book store in Beijing ( close to Xidan subway station)  A 6 store building packed with books in the middle of the city. You can pretty much find everything in their collections. I bought ton s of book with amazing reasonable price, everyday is 20% off plus more if you buy more. I like the art book section a lot , they have some beautiful traditional style books, something printed on the bamboo or wood or silk. I wish they can make the place more comfortable and cultural looking, not like a whole sale garage. I got bad flu every time after I been there. Because it’s always very crowded and for some reason everybody coughing pretty bad there. so get a flu shot and bring a big bottle of water before you go.