Yao Lu

“Looking at the history of China over the past century, we see a society which has had its culture and politics changed and remade three or four times. Many of these changes have come with conflict and trauma for all the Chinese people. Connections with a long and proud past have been shaken and severed. Today, creative and intellectually active Chinese are questioning and exploring their relationship with their own culture and history and the meaning of this history for the present and future.”

“In his works Yao Lu addresses two very important aspects of cultural inheritance in China today – the classical legacy of literature and painting stretching back thousands of years and the 20th century legacy of Communism, in particular the Culture Revolution. Each of these Chinese Landscapes refers to an individual classical painting, subtly transposing them into modern realities. Other kind of archetypes and visual iconography become the subjects for his works referencing the Cultural Revolution and the anticipation of an unknown future.” (FotoFest)