artist's statement

Whenever I return to my homeland, a small town in Inner Mongolia, my heart is immediately taken by the inherent beauty to this land.

Walking along the boundless stretches of mountain grasslands, observing flocks of sheep traversing the undulating landscape, or by turn, small patches of dried grassland and the minutiae of nature - clear small pebbles, small white flowers - and, especially meeting and talking with the fieldworker's, with their unadorned faces and plain, simple clothes, I experience a deep sense of serenity.

I am impressed with the magnificence of this landscape’s inhabitants, including the grazing sheep or cattle which notwithstanding their humble position in this land exude a confidence and dignity.

I paint the miraculous and sacred Mongolian living in this magical land. And I ask myself, “What would be the essence under the unadorned face of this Mongolian, with plain clothes, inhabiting the plain streets, the simple houses and shops, of this small, grasslands town?

When I visit countries abroad and in particular, their museums and galleries, and, from reading many art books, I am continually drawn to the works of the early Renaissance; masters such as Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Hieronymus Bosch, Bruegel the Elder and Pisanello. I am deeply moved by these artists’ intentions and creative spirit, as much as my admiration for the Mongolian and the grasslands. Can the Mongolian living in the grasslands, in my eye, have some likeness, some essence, with the Renaissance people in the masters' works?

I hold dear the old Chinese saying that "nature has the same structure with man". And my artistic philosophy is the same as Giorgio Morandi - that I believe more in art for art's sake than in religion, social justice or national glory.

Xue Mo