YU Xiaofu (???) (Born 1950)

Graduated from Department of Fine Arts, Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1978, Yu Xiaofu was admitted into Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Studio and became a professional artist. He is currently a professor in Shanghai Institute of Oil Painting and Sculpture and Shanghai University. A staunch advocate of traditional art skills, Yu Xiaofu specializes in oil paintings on canvas. His early paintings were heavily influenced by Russian realism artists such as Repin and Serov. Later he became interested in the group of Les Nabis and Cubism, as well as the Romanian artist, Corneliu Baba.

Yu Xiaofu’s paintings are always profoundly involved with historical connotations. He enjoys painting grand narrative scenes consisting of famous historical figures and himself, meanwhile placing great emphasis on brush skills and composition. In his recent painting, My Spiritual Homeland, he arranged himself standing beside Carl Marx, Anselm Kiefer and Joseph Beuys in a junkyard setting, signifying his strong faith in traditional humanity spirit in the modern disoriented society. His other major paintings include Gadameilin, Displacement, and The Piano Series, some of them being housed in The Pacific Asia Museum, CA.