Li Weiguang

　　(China)

　　Realistic representation has become the mainstream in the art development in China during the twentieth century. At the beginning of the encounter with the Western art, realistic paintings served as an important sign as they gave rise to controversies as people compared them with traditional paintings. In the entire modern art development, the technique of realistic painting survived due to the domination of social realism.

　　Such a long history of development has made the Chinese realistic paintings present various forms of technical and idiomatic progress, which are unrelated to the thoughts that rested on the mimesis theory. During the development of the contemporary art in China, various possibilities of the realistic representation came to the surface. The variation of realism emerged as multiple realism, as these various forms of realism could no longer be contained in the realism discourse.

　　Li Weiguang is one of the Chinese painters who have introduced realistic representation to the contemporary art in China. The depiction of life in his paintings does not truly record reality. One can say that he is a photorealist because he makes use of photography.

　　Li Weiguang specifically makes use of old photographs. He presents the old pictures about lives in the poor region of Mixian, the Province of Guangdong, where he was born. Liu Weiguang’s emotion is reflected in his expressions and relies on the memory of his childhood.

　　For his expressions, Li Weiguang develops the technique of realistic painting and uses it as his idiom. The colors in his paintings are no longer realistic and become brownish. These nuances emerge from impressionistic, short brush strokes.

　　20世纪的中国，写实主义表现手法已经成为艺术发展的主流。当中国的艺术开始接触西方艺术的时候，人们把写实主义绘画与中国的传统绘画相比较，引起了很大的争议。在整个现代艺术的发展过程中，由于社会现实主义的统治地位，使写实主义绘画的技巧在现代艺术的发展过程中得以保存。

　　在这一漫长的历史发展过程中，中国写实主义绘画呈现出形式多样的表现方式以及独特的发展进程。这体现了中国写实主义的发展没有停留在对西方艺术的模仿。在中国当代艺术的发展中，写实主义的多种表现方式流于表面，没有实质的内涵。这种变化使多种形态的“写实主义”相继出现。这些变异的“写实主义”不再包含在写实主义的范畴中。

　　李伟广是一位把写实主义表现手法引入当代艺术的艺术家。他作品中描绘的生活并非对现实进行直接纪录。你可以说他是照片写实主义者，因为他在创作中参考了照片。

　　李伟广喜欢用老照片。而且是反映其出生地，广东梅县贫困地区生活的老照片。在他作品中表达的情感是基于他的童年回忆。

　　在表达方式上，李伟广发展出一种写实主义绘画的方式并使之成为个人独特的绘画语言。他作品中的颜色舍弃了真实生活中的颜色变成褐色调，他用印象派式的短笔触去表现这些色彩上的细微差别。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　著名国际独立策展人Jim Supangkat