Gengzi Diary- Spring Light is Finite, Ink on Paper, 235cmx385cm, 2020

Gengzi Diary

“Spring Light is Finite” was created in the spring of this stressful period and lasted more than 60 days. When I arrived in Chengdu for the Spring Festival on January 22nd, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread. During this long spring, I have painted all the trivial things that I could see around in the studio, not due to being bored but just to remember. At the same time, I also carefully recorded the invisible or personal experiences that occurred during this spring and should not be forgotten— “The Lockdown of City Wuhan”, “Fangfang Diaries”, “Li Wenliang's Death Due to the COVID-19”, “The Pandemic of Diamond Princess”, “Italian Pandemic”, “New York Outbreak”, “The Pandemic of the World”, “The Lost Contact of Ren Zhiqiang”, and the "The Death Anniversary of Yu Luo Ke", “Zhang Zhixin's Death Anniversary”, “Hu Yaobang's Anniversary of Death” and “Deng Xiaoping’s Death Anniversary”, among other disturbing and depressing issues of the past, the present and the future. This was a catastrophic and eventful spring. This was a worrying spring for state affairs, family affairs, and world affairs.

One of our daughters and son-in-law were in Australia, one son was in the United States, and one daughter and our granddaughter were in North Eastern Province of China. The care and worries always strike my heart. Fortunately, I was together with my wife during this period. In the days of panic with the pandemic, we lived peacefully in the springtime of Chengdu. I just realized that people in Chengdu were truly free, optimistic and open-minded. This is a warm city, and it is no wonder that Liu Bei established his capital here more than a thousand years ago. I spent a real spring here and witnessed a beautiful process from winter to spring. Although the spring is finite, it is always the spring. 

Yuan Wu

April 18^th, 2020

Gengzi Diary- Spring Light is Finite, Details 

Yuan Wu was born in Jilin City, Jilin Province in September 1959, graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of Northeast Normal University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1984 and then graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a master’s degree in 1995. He successively served as Deputy Director and Professor of the Fine Arts Department at the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art; Executive Vice Dean and Executive Dean of Beijing Fine Art Academy. In March 2017, he resigned the position of Executive Dean of Beijing Fine Art Academy.  At present, he serves as a member of the Chinese Artists Association and Deputy Director the Chinese Painting Art Committee; professional painter at Beijing Fine Art Academy and researcher at the China National Academy of Painting and enjoys special government privilege granted by the State Council.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Edited by Sue and Emily.