1.
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/michaelasanda-1614655-tu-zhiwei3/

2.
From posters, portraits, still life and landscapes to abstract or historical
themes, Tu masters all kinds of painting, but he still feels tense about
his future creation.
Shirl Smithson (Chairwoman of the OPA) said: “As a painter myself, I
spent a lot of time in museums to see the heritage we are left with by
past masters. I am glad in today's technology dominant world and
consumer oriented society, Tu has inherited the old fashion which
enriches our spiritual life.”
“I paint for the future, not for the present.” said Tu. It reminds of
author Yu Qiuyu's words in his book “Art Engineering”: “Art creation is
about providing a place free from the daily pursuit of trivial interests
and humble desires.” It is the prospect each artist should look for.
The success of Tu Zhi-Wei also broke the curse of “The East is east
and the West is west, and never shall the twain meet”.
Almost single-handedly, Tu Zhiwei has become an unofficial
'International Cultural Exchange Ambassador' for China and the
United States. His wife, Dani, explains, "Mr. Tu has had much
personal success. He is very thankful. But for him it is not important to
buy fancy cars or a bigger house. He wants to help the poor people,
especially the young, to learn about art and maybe they can become
good painters or muscians some day. To help make that happen is a
better way to live.“
Self portrait

3.
Zhiwei Tu Art Exhibition
at Liu Hai Su Art Museum in ShangHai

4.
BODY LANGUAGE
Backs, the Great
Wall, the Moon

5.
BODY LANGUAGE
Feet, Troops and
Horses, the Earth
recreates Emperor
Qin's heroic military
forces, painted in
fiery tones,
overcoming
obstacles and
holding off
barbarian raiders
from the north.

6.
Since the 80s, Tu Zhiwei
began creating large
paintings in order to
represent the brilliance and
magnificence of Chinese
epics.
BODY LANGUAGE- Heads,
Books, Pit
depicts the high price of
stability in the Qin Dynasty
(221-206 BC) after the tumult
of the Warring States Period
(476-221 BC). That third
century BC "cleansing" in all
its horror is rendered on a
canvas stretching eight
meters in length and two
meters in width. It's like a
mural of an inferno.
The canvas is part of his
BODY LANGUAGE project to create 10 more
Heads, Books, Pit colossal canvases on 10 epic
During Emperor Qin's reign, he brutally eliminated intellectuals across the land because he feared topics from China's history, in
revolution. Books, sources of ideas, were burned to ashes and often their writers buried alive, 10 years. "Heads, Books, Pit"
including Confucian scholars. Their words were stifled, but Tu's canvas gives them voice was created over 18 years.

7.
The painting “Hands, Raft, Yellow River” depicts struggling against the Yellow River. Workers are caught on a wooden raft in
the middle of the surging Yellow River, one of China’s oldest and most well known rivers. Tu has put the focus on the physical
bodies of the workers, showing every tension in every muscle as they fight against time and tide to turn the gigantic rudder. In
a metaphorical sense, Tu has also shown the struggle against the concept of fate, and conveys a sad melody of the Chinese
people.

8.
Dancing with swords in Hongmen party in Qin dynasty 2010

9.
The story of the jade

10.
Princess Wencheng
Princess Wencheng
(died 680) was a
niece of the
powerful Emperor
Taizong of China's
Tang Dynasty, who
left China in 640,
arriving the next
year in Tibet to
marry the thirty-
seven-year-old
Songtsän Gampo
(605?–650 CE) the
thirty-third king of
the Yarlung
Dynasty of Tibet, in
a marriage of state
as part of a peace
treaty along with
large quantities of
gold.
She is popularly
known in Tibet as
Gyasa, or 'Chinese
wife'

11.
The Seven Steps Verse, also known as the
Quatrain of Seven Steps is a highly allegorical
poem that is usually attributed to the poet Cao
Zhi. The poem's first appeared in the classic
text Shishuo Xinyu, published in 430. The
famed scene describes Cao Pi's suspicions of
his brother Cao Zhi trying to usurp his rule
(Cao Pi was also jealous of his brother's
talents, particularly his masterful command of
imagery). Consequently, Cao Zhi is
summoned to the court and is issued an
ultimatum in which he must produce a poem
within seven strides such that Cao Pi is
convinced of his innocence. Cao Zhi does so,
and Cao Pi becomes so flustered with emotion
that he spares his brother, although he later
exacts punishment upon Cao Zhi in the form
of demotion. The poem itself is written in the
traditional five-character quatrain style and is
an extended metaphor that describes the
relationship of two brothers and the ill-
conceived notion of one harming the other
over petty squabbling.
(Shirl Smithson, former President of Oil
Painters of America, compiled this coffee-table
sized book of works by Zhiwei Tu).

12.
Boiling beans to make soup,
filtering them to extract juice.
The beanstalks were burnt under
the cauldron,
and the beans in the cauldron
wailed:
"We were originally grown from
the same root;
Why should we hound each other
to death with such impatience?"
Seven Step Poem

13.
Jules Kirschenbaum was a former professor of art at Drake University,
where he taught for over 25 years. His work has been shown on a
national level and is included in numerous private and public
collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Whitney Museum of
Contemporary Art.
Jules Kirschenbaum Portrait of Jules Kirschenbaum

14.
Courthouse
Drying rice
“There was not any electric power, no electric light, telephone, radio, movie in my poor village. Until 1960s, there were electric
power light in school but weak light, at home we used small kerosene lamp. I do not know when I had the first shoes - 10 years
old? I did not have bed at home until 27 years old” Zhiwei Tu

15.
Neighbors

16.
Saturday Flea Market Summer garden
“I was not planning to be an artist. I just suddenly came out to love art. I did not have plan or a little idea of thinking study in art
school. There was not any signal to let me think that way of being artist…..
After college I know art history in the World”.
Zhiwei Tu

17.
South Temple 2007 The Chicago River 1991
“There is not the fact that people live by Metropolitan Art Museum in New York so they would become good artist. Many great
artists came from countryside or far from big cities. A great artist may come from everywhere”. Zhiwei Tu

18.
Song for mountains Song for the village

19.
Text and pictures: Internet
Copyright: All the images belong to their authors
Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu
www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda
Sound: Chinese ambient music