Xu Jianguo's Shanghai: A New Vista revitalizes traditional Chinese painting techniques and imagery while forcing a reconsideration of both the conceptual framework of Chinese art and the contemporary mega-city.

Shanghai never appeared so magical or so Chinese in real life. Most foreign visitors to Asia's most ouward looking metropolis are impressed by how futuristic and Westernized it seems. Shanghai: A New Vista includes the Oriental Pearl, countless skyscrapers and the art-deco structures of the Bund, but the International Finance Center didn't make it as Xu Jianguo started work on the 47 meter scroll over 14 years ago. Even these non-Chinese structures, new and old, appear Sinified in Xu's masterwork.

Xu even makes his other home, Manhattan, look like the capital of some Chinese dynasty that never was. This is visible in some of his drawings done before he turned to depicting his original hometown. If one had to select a dynasty that Shanghai: A New Vista is reminiscent of, it would have to be Song, Northern (960-1127) to be exact. The Qingming scroll, attributed to Zhang Zeduan and believed to be a depiction of Kaifeng during the Qingming festival, is a complex portrait of the architecture and boisterous urban life at the time.

In its technique and the level of detail with which it shows a giant, vibrant city, Shanghai: A New Vista seems to recall the frequently recreated Qingming scroll and also suggests a comparison between the Chinese city, past and present, in the minds of viewers. Painted on silk scroll using traditional Chinese ink painting techniques, the 21st Century scroll depicting urban life has more vibrant colors than the older one. Still, it is impossible not to reflect on the continuity both in art and in urbanism between classical and contemporary China.

Xu Jianguo
Born in Shanghai, Xu began his art career at ten when his talent was discovered by painting master Ye Zhihao. Ye took Xu on as his pupil and trained him in classical Chinese art. American art critics were quick to recognize Xu's unique ability to combine Chinese artistic traditions with Western art and techniques and modern subject matter. In the early 1980s, his work went on tour in the United States, exhibiting in Brooklyn Museum, Smith College, Boston Museum College, and other institutions. The renown brought by these exhibitions garnered a scholarship and fellowship from Bard College, where he received his MFA in 1987. For the last two decades, New York City and Shanghai have both been homes for Mr. Xu. As can be seen in his art, the urban landscapes of both are also a subject dear to his heart. Xu's unique medium, the integration of rice paper with sumi ink and watercolor with canvas, acrylics and oil paints also testify to his ability to incorporate varying cultural influences. ★