High Life

品 32 #13 2017 年 10 月 “What I’ve done is the result of my thinking on Neo- Orientalism. I combined both east and west to my thinking.” Mio’s paintings are forceful, plentiful in atmosphere and with a profound composition that demands an audience. The painter’s cultural background and artistic roots show through in the formof strength and avisual clashing of elementswithin gracious and meaningful works of art. The structures of those works are modern and western, but his material selection demonstrates his sensitivity towards ancient Chinese culture evoking the sentimentality brought on by the paintings. Mio made Neo-Orientalism a kind of cultural attitude and artisticmanner integratedwith bothwestern and eastern influences. His integration brought about a revolutionary cultural perspective that penetrated the stigmas of the two civilizations, with an impact like the merging of two oceans. It revealed a dual aesthetic of thriving onwhat is “today” and nostalgia of what is “yesterday.” After over half of a century’s vicissitudes and endless exploration of the practice of art, Mio still stands high, overlooking the collision of Chinese and western cultures, thinking about the future of Chinese art. “Neo-Orientalism, in viewing Oriental culture from a western perspective, seeks to absorb tradition, restore it and in doing so transform the artistic language,” he says. “It uses the calligraphy, masks, brush strokes and colors typical of Oriental art. “Yet, ideas are expressed according to western art concepts. It uses the most effective media, materials and methods suchasdisplacement, separationandreconstruction with many layers of meaning. Neo-Orientalism has become part of the international art lexicon and will help to dispel the conflict between Oriental and western ideas. It is a new vision that seeks to challenge today’s shallow modes.”