MENG LUDING

Creative Inspiration

A lot of my work is related to the concept of "Yuan" (origin), which is a latent, occasional phenomenon. Perhaps deep inside, I have a kind of expectation or preparation, and when I encounter a certain event or a particular painting, it sparks in me the desire to anchor this concept. The use of cinnabar was also accidental. The first time I used cinnabar was at an exhibition, where the environment was so "toxic" that disinfection was necessary. "Yuan Su" (Origin Speed) used acrylics, but I wanted to use the water-based and more fluid colors typical of traditional Chinese painting. Shen Qin suggested using cinnabar and malachite, and there were also people who said cinnabar could ward off evil. I could feel its bright and transparent color, presenting a mineral-like sheen. Cinnabar is an ancient pigment, accompanied by many legends. It has been used not only by the Chinese but also by many ancient civilizations, carrying a certain energy that transports one into another dimension. In many of my later works, including the structure of the paintings, I hoped for an openness, where energy flows through the canvas, evoking an imagination of another dimension and space.

Around 1975, Meng Luding began his artistic journey. The propaganda posters and life sketches he copied as a teenager came from a box he found while organizing his father's old belongings. With it, personal memories long sealed away resurfaced. Or perhaps, through these stories and works, we can glimpse the unique history of an artist born in the 1960s. They were born in a turbulent era but still strived to preserve their personal warmth and aspirations, even though "change" and "repetition" accompanied them throughout their lives.

In 1990, Meng Luding left China and began his life abroad. Before that, he published two articles, The Process of Purification and Absurdity·Experience, which sparked a huge debate in the Chinese art world and had an early influence on the awakening of modernism. This awakening also stemmed from his unique youth trajectory. In 1979, Meng Luding entered the Central Academy of Fine Arts with the top score. In 1985, the work In the New Era—The Revelation of Adam and Eve, created with Zhang Qun, became a milestone in art history, precisely capturing the pioneering spirit that pervaded the 1980s and cementing Meng Luding's early fame in the art world.

This pursuit of a pioneering spirit and freedom also laid the foundation for his later work. Within a few short years, Meng Luding moved from figurative to expressive and then from expressive to abstract. Or perhaps, the works created around 1990 marked the beginning of the abstract "Meng Luding" that we are familiar with today.

In 2006, after many years, Meng Luding returned to China. He started working on his series Circle and Yuan Su. For decades, Meng Luding did not hold any solo exhibitions. Most of his energy went into the mechanical repetition of the circle, with the variables between circles determined by their size, color, and the speed and duration of the machine’s rotation. His work also shifted from abstract painting to conceptual art, seeking the average values between worlds, the moments of joy, sorrow, separation, and even neutrality — the "Yuan" points. The artist with exceptional technical skill was gradually replaced by the "Meng Luding" who controlled machines.

It wasn't until around 2024, with the release of his latest works Cinnabar and Realgar, that Meng Luding returned to abstract painting. However, compared to the purified language of the 1980s and the subsequent conceptual direction, Meng Luding has returned to the most ancient essence of painting. By using symbols representing sorcery and mysterious energies, he seeks to reconstruct art as a transcendent spirit and metaphysical tradition. However, that surreal meaning, that supreme spirit, carries the same "revelation" as his 1980s Adam and Eve.

1975, 1990, 2006, and 2024 correspond to Meng Luding’s enlightenment period of learning to paint, his time before and after leaving for the U.S., his return to China, and his latest works, respectively. They also reveal the transformation of the artist’s life trajectory and the more complex facets of his art. Meanwhile, those forgotten clues, past possibilities, and the longing, hesitation, and determination accumulated over 50 years can be seen as a continuous path of transformation and progress. They can also be viewed as the individual’s constant reflection and rethinking within the waves of a grand era, anchoring freedom in the process. This is another profound meaning of retrospection: In the painful reflections of era and individual, through Meng Luding’s steps in 1975, 1990, 2006, and 2024, we reconstruct the meaning of "retrospection" and "transformation."