In the lecture, Xu Bing talked about some of his previous experiences in New York, his works and the influence of his life experiences on his works. He talked about the impact of the environment on an artist, such as when he was in New York, he was very sensitive to Chinese traditional culture. I think that sometimes the more an environment is missing, it will become what I want most in the subconscious. People are always jealous of what they don't currently have.

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While discussing the work, Xu Bing also said that when he was in the New York, he wanted to explore how to create works in English, just as he used to write in Chinese. But after a different attempt, Xu Bing found that the two languages are really different. So after that, the English square word appeared. Xu Bing is very smart and flexible in use tradition. He does not copy the tradition, but has incorporated tradition into his work, even in his life. This is very worthy of my reference. Xu Bing said that when he saw traditional Chinese ancient art works in the Metropolitan Museum, he felt why there was such a beautiful thing in ancient times. The temperament revealed by the work and the sense of tranquility are missing from the present.

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‘A valuable part of a culture in contemporary society is often wrapped up by things you don't like or even hate.’

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Xu Bing believes that artists must have the ability to penetrate things you don't like and discover the value of art. For example,I like abstract art works, and I like to break through the rules and regulations to create the content I want to paint, so I have little interest in realism painting. But I can accept it, I will find out the valuable part of it. This is very similar to my starting point. I did not think I study traditional patterns because I like history or are interested in the meaning and background of traditional patterns. Just because I have a resonance with traditional patterns, my intuition tells me the value of traditional patterns. So I have to do a comprehensive research and after breaking through things that are not of interest, maybe it will rise to another level.

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Something that belongs to you can’t be thrown away even if you want to throw it. If you don’t belong to you, you can’t work harder. Xu Bing also said that it would be nice to play with our own ideas and minds. Once the artist thinks too much, thinking about how others think, or being trapped by our own research direction, these will be reflected in the artist's work. So I think that we should clear all our thoughts before we create, don't be restricted by anything, just enjoy painting.

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‘Spirituality will appear without any conceptual reference.’

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If the artist has limited ideas and aims when creating, then the spirituality will not appear. Or the artist should transform their own limitations in this era into their own unique features. So although I have research and development directions, actually I didn't think about them when I was creating.