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I hope the images carry some message, but a vague one…there’s a trace of abstraction in my paintings even though the subjects are all rather concrete.
Ren Hui, 2006
Born in Nanjing in 1957, Ren Hui describes himself as a “low-profile person.” At the age of twenty, he joined the army but refrained from registering as a Communist. Army life did not suit him well. “I was not a good soldier,” he says, “as I wasn’t proactive enough.”
After three years, he left the army and found work as a steel-cutter in the Nanjing Ocean Shipping Fitting Factory. A factory worker’s uniform fit him as poorly as a soldier’s, and he spent much of his time reading classic novels and writing unpublished articles. In the mid 1980s, Ren Hui left factory work for good. He embarked on a long bicycle ride across central China-from Nanjing to Tibet-taking photographs and visually documenting the life he saw around him.
When he returned from his trip, Ren Hui stopped wandering and started painting. Artwork gave him the sense of purpose he had lacked in other lines of work. “I feel more at ease when painting,” he says. At first he created woodcarvings and paper cuttings. Later, he developed the method of dot painting for which he is known today. Painstakingly created from layers of paint applied in various densities, the circles that fill his paintings reference the dot matrix that underlies a photograph.
Ren Hui’s subjects range from friends and family to political figures. “My work reflects life,” he says, “We have family, friends, ourselves, history, culture, trees, flowers, buildings, demolition-all of which are reflected in my work. This is our life.”
Ai Weiwei-China’s famous artist, curator, and social commentator-compiled an exhibition of Ren Hui’s work in 2006 for the China Art and Archives Warehouse in Beijing. This exhibition, along with others in Germany and the United States, introduced Ren Hui to an international audience. He currently lives and works in Songzhuang Artist Village, a community of avant-garde artists on the outskirts of Beijing.
