Liu Xiaodong, born in Jincheng, Liaoning Province, in 1963 was admitted to the Middle School affiliated to China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1980. Four years later, he entered the Oil Painting Department. When he graduated, he became a faculty member in the Middle School until 1994, he passed the National Master’s Entrance Test for the Oil Painting Department. Since 1995, he has served as a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Art, Oil Painting Department. When it comes to experiences in learning and life in CAFA Affiliated School, Liu Xiaodong said, that it was a mind-blowing period. His knowledge of the world known at that time laid the cognitive foundation for his life.

Interview Time: April 2, 2014, Interview Location: Liu Xiaodong’s Studio

Journalist: Zhu Li, Transcript: Ye Yuanfeng/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Zheng Lijun and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

The 60 Anniversary Exhibition of the Middle School Affiliated to CAFA opened in the National Art Museum of China on March 29 . CAFA ART INFO along with the school was ready for a series of alumni interviews , and we took the opportunity to interview you. We wanted to hear you talk about stories that related to the School and views aboutbasic art education. Starting from 1980, how do you represent the period from Liaoning to CAFA Affiliated School? Can you offer us some examples?

Liu: I was a freshman in senior high school in my hometown in 1980. By accident, my father saw the enrolment information for CAFA Affiliated School published in the newspaper, he let me have a try. I unexpectedly passed. I never before had travelled far but knew the School’s enrollment rate was extremely low .

You were still worried about the exam, although people thought highly of your paintings in your hometown. Is it said that you spat while in the color test?

Liu: As I was young with no experience of such a serious examination, I was very nervous, so I felt discomfort. The supervisors probably thought I showed great perseverance and did good job. Though I did not finish, as a result, I was still matriculated. This is impossible today, as people cannot be responsible for such things.

When we were in school there was a different standard and scientific method to select students now. If there was something wrong, we could not find out who was responsible. In fact, the whole society is developing towards this destination. However, a man can still undertake their due obligations and even control one’s fate.

In 1980, I did not finish the test as I vomited. It was in Shenyang when Xu Renlong and Zhang Zhixin who worked in the library admitted me in those days. Perhaps they were impressed with my behavior at the time. They must have considered that they needed me. Thus they have changed my fate. In the past, people would occasionally make a judgment. It was simply decided on whether a child had talent in drawing. Who dares to say now? This may be related to today’s art standards. Nowadays, you may not be a great artist but do well in painting. Artists not only refer to the painter, but also other people in industry that succeed. The step-by-step painter was instead marginalized. As a result, the current situation shows that the standard is more diverse with completely different appearances.

A few years ago, CAFA had to rent the airport to mark examination papers, not like deciding in a cabin in the past. As times change, some parents won’t agree with the conclusion. So currently the basic teaching stage is the only way to measure every student using a scientific ruler in a systematic way, to decide whether a student is suitable for art or not.

Liu: it was the first year that enrolment was resumed in 1979. The number of applicants was very low. Until the second year, the school only recruited 23 students. They were indeed proud of entering such a school with a low enrolment.

Liu: At the time, the School’s atmosphere was just like a family. The teacher was very serious and responsible, and the self-learning ability of students was very high. They were all unsatisfied with the knowledge learned in the class. They were constantly absorbing in knowledge after class. Also, China had just reformed and opened up, foreign modernism flooded into the entire literary and art field. Those years, all were enthusiastic with idealism and full of passion to read and understand the western culture.

I still remember that some things happened in a courtyard in Long Fusi. In the winter, the playground was stacked with coal, sometimes with lamb, mutton and cabbage. In the fall, we could eat jujubes picked-up by ourselves. All students and teachers lived and ate together. Everybody was simple with the same living standard. That period was really anera of family education, not the same as now as everything relies on management and stability.

When we were in school, there were basically 3-year students. Sometimes we went to the country side, working and painting together. The experience in retrospect was certainly unrepeatable.

Liu: All students in the School have. As we were young at that time, and it was during a key stage that we formed a world view. The Cultural influence developed during that time will remain with you forever and I think everyone in high school is also very significant.

Liu: Currently, many of my friends we have known each other since we were young. We often contact each other. Wang Xiaoshuai and I were not too familiar in the first year, in second year we slowly strengthened our friendship, during the third year we became good friends. He follows this session and later entered the film school while I was already admitted to Academy of Fine Arts. For many years, we have continue to meet together. I feel this is a special experience.

What is the most far-reaching impact that learning for 4 years in the Fine Middle Arts School has had on your whole study and creating career?

Liu: At the time in school I formed a view of art. Afterwards, I have actually been enriched by its content. Once formed it is difficult to make a big change. The understanding of the age is that the world basically lays the foundation for the understanding of my life.

Liu: In fact, when I graduated, al the middle school teachers liked me, wanting me to come back as a teacher, and of course I was willing to. As I was just a graduate, and had no sense of distance, it was clear to me what children of all ages were thinking about. Therefore, I expected to share my own methods with the students, so they could avoid detours and find out an easier direction. So, I feel that being a teacher is a pretty good experience and I was devoted.

Liu: Generally speaking, students graduating from The Fine Arts Middle School are universally well-qualify. But we can’t lump them together. Their knowledge is relatively comprehensive, and however, other students sometimes are a little extreme. Each has its own merits. The Fine Arts Middle School children are a bit like our family, it does not matter which generation it is, we all can touch their heart.

Liu: Basic skill is of great importance whatever you do, though genius exists in art. The more he learns the better his future becomes. The basic skills can help an artist go longer and wider. Whether he plans to be an artist or not, cultivating basic skills is very good for one’s personality.

Liu: In the past, the enrolment was relatively low, and the students were proud of entering the school. Nevertheless, many don’t need to take the exam. But now, many students entered the fine arts middle school just to go to a good college. In this new period, the entire situation has changed and caused certain competitive situations for the school. Previously, there was only the Fine Arts Middle School, or rather only a few art colleges had an affiliation. Thus its competitive edge is definitely high. Nowadays, nearly all schools are pursuing an increase in their enrolment rate, the teaching level does not compare with the situation before.

The whole art education environment is changing, so does CAFA. The pride and myth has gradually been broken. The university offers general education, not elite education. Compared with the past, five students used to follow a teacher but this has raised to fifty. The effect is certainly different. This is not something a headmaster can decide. Our country is always equipped with resources according to enrolment otherwise the school is impotent. Faced with such a great turning point, the enrolment rate growth has become a requirement. Compared with the cruel training in outside pre-exam classes, the Fine Arts Middle School enrolment rate is weak. I have no a better advice about teaching adjustment. Since the school requires students to be overall developmental. In fact, it is contradictory. However the contradiction between general education and artistic education cannot be solved.

Liu: I think China is in a normal era. In such times, working at art must be hard and with a low-success rate. In the age I lived, the whole education system had not recovered completely and less people had special talent. At that time, each student turned into a bit of a famous artist.

Now, children have an excessive nutritional education and all are chasing the education for fear of falling behind. Through the multicultural times, the success ratio of artists is relatively low. Students are controlled by the ideal of being an artist all the time which will be painful. In the developed countries, a few people intend to learn art. Because maintaining the cost of living is high, and they all know art belongs to the genius. If you are not, you’d better keep the distance early and not suffer from art.

So in a word, China is gradually becoming a normal society with a general education level and labor costs are increasing. People that are willing to work at art have to think it over carefully, including parents. This is not easy and plain sailing. Because the society really does not need so much genius. Society cannot give all people a chance. This is not related to whether you do your best. It is up to unstable nature of art. It relies entirely on the personal intention. You should put your will and thought into society, and make society accept you, this is very difficult. So as the art students grow more and more, I require every child to know this. If you fail, don't blame the school, your parents or even yourself, you should consider the reality.

Liu: The school is 60 years old and I’m 50. I have always regarded the school as my home since I entered the school when I am 16 or 17, and it is where I have been growing. I never left the campus, and after graduation from the university I came back here as a teacher. In general, my all feelings and world outlook were formed here. As I hoped, my hometown is growing better and better, my parents are more and more healthy, I have always thought that there is no doubt that the school is best . I never deny this.

So the students graduating from The Fine Arts Middle School, whether engaged in art or not, they are of high-quality. This is more important than to be a artist as they will become an artist when they are useful and needed by society. They will show their ability in every position. He must have a solid foundation because he used to be in the Middle School, so I am full of confidence and offer love to them.