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Show 5P SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY THE THUNDERBIRD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1989 PAGE TO - Yu Ji succeeds in 1LS. - V Labor camp experiences serve as preparation KAREN LISH AND LISA KEENE BY to. c pcitunity to some but America ma not seem We t; e to SUSC ait teacher Hon ,x j J , it is eact!y that. Y'u Ji escaped the communnt influence to find hope m the new democratic world and has grown to love the country that allowed him to express himself m his drawings and paintings. Yu Ji was raised m upper class Beijing, China, by American-educate- d parents. He attended school m Beijing until age 17, with plans to someday become a great artist. That dream was suddenly torn away from him with the onset of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. He was forced to quit school as the communist authorities, attempting to manipulate his mind and reform his political beliefs, banished him to a farm and three years of hard labor. Yu Ji recalled, It was a cold, dark day when I went to the country. My parents could not see me off. Only my grandmother was there. She gave me a warm jacket. On the way that day I decided I will not waste my life. I wanted truth and beauty. I wanted to be an artist. The communist influence had much the opposite effect on Yu Ji from what the authorities had planned as his experiences in the labor camps made him even more Once out of the labor camp, Yu Ji decided to pursue his dream of being an artist. He attended The Central Academy of Fine Arts, studyed with some of Chinas foremost artists, and received his bachelor of fine arts degree. After graduation, he was invited to teach at the Academy. It was a great honor, he said. During the summer of 1985, Yu Ji studied in France in the La Napoule Art Program with a full scholarship from the La Napoule Foundation. In the fall of that year, he was a teaching assistant in painting in the fine arts program at the State University of New York, at New Paltz. Also in 1985, he received an award from the USChinas n Valley, New York. Peoples Friendship Association in He then expanded his full scholarship to study in the La Napoule program at the University of New Hampshire. From 1986 to 1987, Yu Ji studied at the New York Studio School in New York City with a fellowship from the Charles H. Revson Foundation. Yu Ji has two master of fine arts degrees. He earned his painting masters in 1986 at New Paltz. His printmaking masters was earned this year, also at New Paltz. Some His paintings and drawings have been shown world-wid1983. 1980 from to in shown Beijing of his earlier works were Since then, his works have been shown in New Paltz, the University of New Hampshire, Beacon, NY, Kingston, NY, and on the First Street Gallery on Broadway in New York City. In April, a number of his prints were selected for exhibition in the Works on Paper Exchange Show, a traveling exhibit gorng to Syracuse University and Ball State University. America has meant more to Yu ji than just a place where he got his education. He has gained more than college degrees in the states. I did not see a western painting m China. Once I found a and I kept it and copied magazine picture of a Da Vinci painting of Da Vinci. it, many times. But I didnt understand the essence a Real painting is not just making visually convincing image. It doesnt matter technically how good I am. I can use a camera and inside to the abstraction get the image perfectly. You must get the shifting spaces and colors. behind the image... You must see You must capture the gesture behind the image.. .Structure is really the essence of western art, he said. Here, m America, Yu Ji said he has grown to love this country and its people. He told a New York journalist a story to luustrate his love for his new country: An American girl I met on tne with I plane from China sat beside me and tried to talk English her. She was really nice. She got off before I did. She was leaving and she turned back to me and yelled, Hey! You will loc America! Its true. She was right. I love America. anti-communi- st. Mid-Hudso- e. Hongyu Jis paintings and drawings have been shown all over the world, including in his homeland China. 17 |