Say It Loud

strenuous, and uninspiring.

KS: Compared to many experiences I have heard discussed amongst other former students of the school in the 1980s, you do sound unusually precocious. You were after all very young at the time.
XJ: Yes, that’s true. But I can only say it was a different era. It would not have been possible without the tolerance of our teachers. There were strict rules in the school, what time to be in, lights out… we were often locked out and had to climb over the walls to get in. Our teachers learned to ignore it. Having worked as a teacher myself for a few years, I know that today it is impossible to be as tolerant of students now. It was really a time of innocence then.

KS: So, having — to use a contemporary phrase — more or less partied your way through high school, in your final year you came to decide your future direction. That meant usually meant applying to the Central Academy. How did you come to choose the sculpture department?
XJ: As I entered my final year, I was an extremely confident person. Overly confident, one might say. I felt that since I had painted every day at school, I wanted to learn something new, something I had not yet experienced so I chose the printmaking department.

KS: Why print specifically?
XJ: My choice was made out of curiosity. I had never studied printmaking, so it appeared a fresh new field to me. Our school library was very good. Students could borrow six (imported) art books a week — of course, most of the content of these books was limited to Impressionist and before — and I borrowed six books a week during my entire time at the school because I really wanted to know art. Although I read them all I really didn’t acquire any real depth of knowledge at that time. Certainly I could not appreciate the breakthroughs that works in the China/Avant Garde exhibition represented. I experienced the show superficially. It was weird and fun, and I could not begin to guess at its meaning.

KS: So you chose printmaking?
XJ: Yes. To be precise I chose etching. This was