Many years ago, I called Su Li as an “amphibious artist” for he does both wash and oil painting. Actually there are many other “amphibious artists” in China during the past hundred years: Lin Fengmian, Xu Beihong, Guan Liang, Pan Yuliang, Li Keran, Zhu Qizhan, Zhao Wuji and Wu Guanzhong, etc. These big names are masters in both wash painting and oil painting. Even for those artists who focus on wash painting – Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, Lu Yanshao and Fu Baoshi – the oil painting system is an important reference for their creation. Therefore, these two types of painting are indeed following up each other like a shadow no matter how far away they are on the surface. 

Some artists like Dong Xiwen, Luo Gongliu and Jiang Zhaohe are famous for directly injecting new mediums into their paintings. And it’s hard for us to name even one artist who is purely sticking to one type of creation without the influence of other forms of art. With the fusion of China and the west, we are now standing in a brand new era. This new environment is exerting effect on everyone and everything. Today, all of us are experiencing ideological transformation and become more and more aware of the other culture, including those people who used to take the extreme position. 

And speaking of Su Li again, as I said before, he is an “amphibious artist” and he is quite candid about it. We could see the obvious mutual influence between the wash and oil painting in his artworks and he takes such influence into full play to reach the best result. 

We may try to explain this with two mathematical formulas. The first one is “1+1=1”, which means, the combination of China and the west creates one new culture; the other is “1+1=3”, which means the fusion of two cultures is not a simple sum, but triggering more achievements based on the information and value of the whole body of mankind. The “3” is a new from, different from the old “1” and looking to the future. 

No one should or could doubt the reason or honesty in the pursuit of this new form. I personally believe it is in line with the new world. Of course it requires the progress of history and we are still on the way to keep reflecting on our exploration. But this is an irreversible trend and no one could deny it. 

I can tell that Su Li is an emotional artist because all of his paintings, no matter how abstract they are, are full of feelings. This is another characteristic that helps build Su Li’s uniqueness.