Image courtesy Yingxue Zuo
Artist Yingxue Zuo, who is best known for his landscapes and cityscapes, has taken a detour with his new exhibit: politics.
“I didn’t paint anything political before," he says. "I believe art is art, and there are a lot of subjects that you can focus on."
In his new exhibition, The Voice, which runs through December 14 at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale, Zuo provides a unique perspective on modern politics.
Image courtesy Yingxue Zuo
When Zuo was a boy, his family was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. His father died in a labor camp, and the family was forced to move to the countryside. At age 15, Zuo worked on a drill team searching for coal. “It was heavy labor, and I was very depressed," he recalls. "At that time, I felt I had no hope.
“I liked to draw and paint, but I never thought that art could be a career,” he says.
This changed when a family friend suggested that he work on his natural artistic talent and pursue art as a profession. “He told me that the Chinese government is politically motivated and creates propaganda, that they need writers and artists doing this kind of work for them,” he says.
Zuo worked on improving his art, and when Deng Xiaoping took power nearly seven years later, Zuo started art school. He moved to the United States in 1986 to continue his education with a graduate degree at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Image courtesy Yingxue Zuo
Since then, Zuo has worked as an artist and as a professor of art at St. Louis Community College. He's had exhibits in China and in the United States and most recently taught classes in China this summer.
It’s through his work as an academic that Zuo started to notice similarities between the U.S. and China, and he knew he needed to act. “I felt I needed to do something, to speak out,” he says.
His first political cartoon was in response to changes in higher education that he felt resembled that of a business model instead of faculty-driven programs. His cartoon received a lot of “strong reactions,” he recalls. “They said this was great; you need to continue.”
As he started to paint more politically inspired pieces, Zuo traveled to Mexico City and was moved by the famous murals. “They were so powerful—I knew it was the right format to handle such a big issue,” he says.
Image courtesy Yingxue Zuo
The four large murals that make up his current exhibit are representative of his political concerns that have spanned his lifetime, both in China and in the U.S. They examine cultural, societal, and political topics with notable figures such as John F. Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon, and Stormy Daniels.
Zuo is still creating political work, though he doesn’t expect it to become his main focus. “I want to exhaust all my energy, and then I will change topics,” he says.
The Southern Illinois University Art Museum is open from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 1–4 p.m. Saturday.
