Ghost in the machine

Abstract artists in China might not be that well-known, but that doesn't mean that their influence isn't rising. Traditional artistic techniques utilizing the brush still reign supreme, but different processes and methods of painting are also beginning to surface.

Xie Molin, 33, is a rising Chinese abstract artist. The painter from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 2003 before studying at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland from 2005 to 2007.　

Xie's acrylic paintings for his one-man show at Beijing Commune feature only three colors: yellow, black, and white. He told Metro Beijing he chose a monochrome style for most of the paintings to purify colors, which strengthens visual effect. "With a single color, viewers can pay more attention to the whole structure as well as the lights and shadows in the painting," he explained.

Every piece was created with a machine connected to computers he designed with an engineer. Xie input designs into the computer, which would then send messages to the machine that paints on the canvas. "It is an axis-controlled machine. I drew the brush path in the computer first, and then the computer controlled the machine moving on the acrylic paint," he said.

Beijing-based artist Wang Yifan is particularly intrigued by Xie's works and his use of technology and machinery to make his paintings. He told Metro Beijing the exhibition "expresses a calm style" connected to Xie's "self-discipline and tension."

Xie's popularity as an abstract artist is rising in China and abroad. He remains modest about his growing stature internationally, however.

Lü Jingjing, manager at Beijing Commune, said Xie's growth as an artist was characterized by "the Chinese spirit of self-sufficiency."

"It was not only his machine-generated paintings that attracted us, but the style of the art itself that we thought was interesting," Lü told Metro Beijing.

One major element of abstract art is its lack of rules, especially when it comes to how painting is applied to a canvas. American painter Jackson Pollock's brush hardly touched his canvases as he stood over them letting the paint drip onto the surface, while UK artist Desmond Paul Henry created paintings in the 1960s by attaching an analog bombsight computer to a motor that guided brushes over canvases.

Taiwan native Huang Ching-chia, who works at an art gallery in Beijing, said she feels abstract art has mainly been the focus of younger artists.

"I found it impressive that Xie used a machine to create the art instead of using his hands. Such methods can express a kind of repetitiveness within his artistic vision," she said.

As for Xie's future artistic endeavors, he plans to continue experimenting with machine-generated paintings. "I will try to make paintings with more varied and attractive visual effects not only limited to abstract art," he hinted.

Art communities, like the one in Heiqiao where Xie created his latest paintings, help Beijing's artists and the city's art scene thrive.

But Xie still has concerns.

"We lack good museums, which set the standards for art through exhibiting and collecting. Protecting and improving artist studio districts instead of tearing them down for commercial use is also important," he said.

When: Until September 29

Where: Beijing Commune, 798 Art Zone, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district

Admission: Free

Contact: 8456-2862 or visit www.beijingcommune.com

Xiang Xiangping and Jiang Jie contributed to this story