In the afternoon, she had her hair permed at Jane & Joan Hair Salon before spending hours dancing and sweating at a disco with a couple of her best friends. Under the starry night, she returned to her room, took off her lace short-sleeved blouse and hip-wrapped skirt, showing her silk briefs and the bra that she had requested someone to order from Shenzhen (or possibly Hong Kong), stretched her back in front of the mirror, and then stood in a sensual S-shape.

This is the girl next door created by Zhu Xinjian. She could have been in Nanjing, Hangzhou, or Suzhou in the 1980s and 1990s. Zhu, who was strictly schooled in fine arts, abandoned the squareness of painting picture-story books and turned his concentration to the girls on the streets, using his ink unconstrained but exquisite, decadent but dedicated, and looking but caring.

What the girl next door took off is her short skirt, but what Zhu Xinjian removed the ideological shackles imposed in the 1950s and thereafter. He frees the girl from the blue ants and transforms her from a flat surface and straight angle into a three-dimensional, somewhat exaggerated breast and hip, complete with lipstick, perm, stockings, and high heels. As soon as the girl next door threw away the piece of red cloth covering her eyes, she became our routine and our life resumed itself.

Here has returned common sense.
professor of history at City University of Hong Kong
--Professor YANG Bin
Zhu Xinjian was born in 1953 in Nanjing. He settled in the countryside and later enrolled in the Nanjing University of the Arts. After graduating in 1980, he remained at the school as a teacher, then went on to work at the Nanjing Painting and Calligraphy Academy. In 1988, he resigned from his official duties and moved to Paris, becoming a freelance artist. Upon returning to China in 1993, he focused on traditional ink painting and created many works. As one of the representative painters of the “85 New Wave” and the "New Literati Painting," Zhu Xinjian's painting style is full of vitality, with straightforward and bold content and childlike innocence in his brushstrokes. His paintings are often accompanied by a humorous calligraphic style of words, which complement each other and show a sense of spontaneity. From flowers, birds, insects, and fish to reckless heroes, Zhu Xinjian's creations have a variety of themes, but the female figure is his main subject.
The upcoming exhibition will mainly present Zhu Xinjian's "Beauties" series, vividly portraying women in charming and alluring poses, seemingly erotic yet containing profound and accessible meanings. Zhu Xinjian uses the most traditional Chinese brush and ink to express modern emotions. His naive brushstrokes and depiction of alluring women imbue his works with a sense of worldly cynicism and vulgarity. The figures in his paintings have evolved from "women with small feet" to "sexy urban ladies," exuding both sensuality and allure, often depicted using graffiti-like strokes, making them an alternative within the relatively conservative Chinese ink painting school of that time. However, these controversies not only failed to hinder Zhu Xinjian's artistic career but also propelled him to fame, with the "Beauties" series becoming his signature works.
Lucie Chang Fine Arts is honored to collaborate with "Ban Zhe Tang" and curator Hu Ruohui to host Zhu Xinjian's first solo exhibition in Hong Kong at our gallery, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the artist's passing. The exhibition will open to the public with a grand opening on October 25, 2024, at 4 p.m. and will continue until January 7, 2025. Additionally, a symposium will be held on the afternoon of October 26 to discuss Zhu Xinjian's life and analyze his works. Lucie Chang Fine Arts warmly invites art enthusiasts, collectors, the press, and the general public to attend the exhibition, where we feel the spontaneity and sincerity of Zhu Xinjian's works together.