春花

生命树

行军系列1

Ouyang Guili is a quite, persistent and passionate fiber artist.

Major in fiber art, Ouyang also pays due attention to pen and ink paintings. As a modern art form with quite a long history, fiber art is the center of her creation. On the other hand, her pen drawing shows off her delicate techniques, while her ink painting represents a picture with modern visions via traditional Chinese painting tools and materials.

Sexuality is a dominant theme of Ouyang’s fiber works: she does not hesitate to use the image of sperms in her works. She focuses on the origin of life and reproduces the process of sperms swimming to reach the uterus. This is praise to both sexuality and life itself. Fiber is deeply connected to females’ lives, and it conceals an innermost bond with sexuality as well. In other words, Ouyang uses an appropriate approach to express the idea in terms of material and art form. Unlike most fiber artists who make a draft and then hire workers to finish the job, Ouyang completes all the procedures by herself. Being a traditional craftsman, she picks her own colors and fiber materials, structures the frames and then constructs them step by step. These artworks, unique in texture and sensation, are direct and clear explanations to the subject matter.

The subject matter of her pen drawing is often part of a flower, especially the pistil of a flower. The pistil is amplified with details fully exposed, similar to the reproductive organ of human being. The flower itself, is a reproductive organ of a plant. Ouyang becomes obsessed with such organs and intentionally exaggerates its sensuality, demonstrating specific details and structures of the pistil. Her style resembles that of the European copperplate etching. Despite the fact that her pen drawings are merely sketches, they are full in composition and meticulous in technique, which express strong creative consciousness. We can categorize her drawings as independent works.

    Although using traditional materials like painting brush, rice paper and ink, Ouyang does not necessarily follow suit in her Chinese painting. On the contrary, she blends Western skills and forms with tradition and interprets the theme of life by unsophisticated combinations and repetitive symbols. Displaying the simplicity of the ink-and-wash language, her works are powerful in visual impact and identity.

Our world is composed of both male and female. Without a female perspective and emotion in art history, the intellectual life of human being would be incomplete. In terms of material, subject and style, Ouyang Guili has shown the public a unique angle and vision of a female artist.

                                                                                  Chen Wei’an

                                                       Chief Curator of Guangzhou Museum of Art

                                                                                 November, 2013