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Art isn’t formulaic speculation, nor is it the suffocation of a restricted circle, even less is it a game to be played among the nouveau riche or soon to be nouveau riche. Art must be concerned with people. What the artist needs is a consciousness of people. The Lv Xiao is a self-organized internet community of people interested in folk art for children. On the one hand, they emphasize the open-mindedness and democracy of a community; on the other hand, they emphasize the responsibility of art to society. |
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The Lv Xiao—Amateur and Responsibility
Art isn’t formulaic speculation, nor is it the suffocation of a restricted circle, even less is it a game to be played among the nouveau riche or soon to be nouveau riche. Art must be concerned with people. What the artist needs is a consciousness of people.
The Lv Xiao is a self-organized internet community of people interested in folk art for children. On the one hand, they emphasize the open-mindedness and democracy of a community; on the other hand, they emphasize the responsibility of art to society. In 2006, the Lv Xiao collaborated in an art project with the Haidian School for Disabled Children—members of the Lv Xiao acted as volunteer participants in small drawing groups and drew with the children. This past winter, the result of this collaboration was exhibited as a group show at the Beijing Art Now Gallery.
The initial intention of members of the Lv Xiao was to bring to light the marginal groups of society—paying special attention to children with learning disabilities. They discovered the Haidian School for Disabled Children, a training school under the auspices of the Haidian District department of education. Once the teachers at the Disabled School came to understand the Lv Xiao’s project plan, they provided tremendous understanding and support, and have spared one afternoon each week to accommodate for this collaborative drawing project.
The mere process of being with the children is a learning process—we were once like them, but as we face these children now, we feel somehow alien, we are no longer accustomed to their discourse and perspective; those things we remember with nostalgia have left us and cannot be retrieved. Now is the time to recognize them again. At the same time, children with disabilities belong to a special group. They have their own way of understanding the world, and they persist in their way of communicating with the world. As we got to know them, we realized that they were entertaining themselves; the process of drawing became a mutual exploration of a new world.
Even though members of the Lv Xiao love art, most them are “amateurs.” But, it is precisely this amateurism that has given them self-motivation and an honestly creative attitude that is greater than that of most professional artists. For them, the internet not only provided an opportunity to gather, but, most importantly, has served to unveil a world of information that’s polyvalent and open. What has often been ignored by powerful and ambitious experts receives true attention here: that is, the creators’ greater sense of humanity has been revealed.
We don’t want an avant-garde, we want “people”—ourselves. Art should serve the people, if it doesn’t serve the people, it can only become like Rococo, art produced on command. The fortunate thing is that we don’t rely on this to make a living, so we can be more sincere.
Even though this courageous and resolute attitude cannot always help people to break out of the fates imposed by a larger social background, it does raise the possibility of a fresh creativity. Even though the amateur appears to be unrefined to the eyes of audiences accustomed to technical refinement—some members of the Lv Xiao jokingly call themselves “the rough brothers”—the meaning of these works is not to curry favor from others, rather, it is an invitation to people to explore their own creativity.
After four years of gradual transformation, the Lv Xiao has slowly moved from the internet to the art gallery. In April of 2006, they received an opportunity to exhibit at a traditional gallery, and used this opportunity to further advance their concept. The reason that the Lv Xiao has used a collaborative art project with disabled children as their point of departure is that they have sensed a danger that’s widespread in society: that is, the gap between different people, the gap between different social levels and the gap between the person and his inner self.
We know that these kinds of gaps cannot be fundamentally resolved, however we have decided to make a concerted effort to promote understanding and tolerance by getting involved ourselves. In undertaking this project, we are very fortunate to have been provided free space by the gallery, and also to have received the support and understanding of the teachers and parents of the school. Moreover, we have received help from other benefactors—these include organizations such as the Beijing Art Now Gallery, Uncle Mars Promotion as well as Lu Yi Advertising.
However, there are still many issues related to our project. Due to the limitation of members’ abilities and funds, we have encountered many obstacles in executing and planning out this exhibition. This is the negative consequence of our “amateurism,” our communication with the children sometimes seems rather superficial, our curatorial and promotional attempts are not yet professional. However, we will keep on trying, continue to be amateur, continue to be conscious of our responsibility and continue to enjoy life.
