Plans for a third "Stars" exhibition in 1982 (hand-written draft by Huang Rui)

Due to the official campaign against "spiritual pollution" (that also targeted Western cultural influences) the exhibition has never been authorized by the government.

Translation of the article an Ma Desheng:

Sketch on Ma Desheng (column „Youth and Arts“, by Ma Licheng)

A friend has told me: „God has crippled his leg, but gave him a powerful brain and an alert spirit “. Look at his pictures, foremost his wood prints. Strong contrasts of black and white. Concise, rigid and sturdy strokes, burning from his red-hot longing, just like van Gogh’s. This is how a painter’s passion for the innermost of life unfolds! “Six Square Meters” is one of those impressive topics we got to know. The person is almost floating through the picture, exuding intrinsic idealism that touches us to the bone and makes us ponder.

This image could be a portrait of the author’s own life. A narrow lane in Beijing, a secluded courtyard, an earthquake shelter, ten square meters made from iron sheets, planks and bricks, is where Ma Desheng lives with his two brothers. A scaffold nailed together from wooden boards takes up half of the space, while three narrow beds fill the other half. Ma’s brothers work shifts, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. This is the environment in which Ma Desheng creates his images.

But he is optimistic.

One afternoon, he steps into the courtyard with his aluminum crutches, holding a package of pork he has just bought for 30 fen. He is paying no attention to the visitors who are already eagerly waiting in his shelter, but only shouts out seemingly excited: “Just a moment. The butcher has wrapped up the meat in a picture by Wu Guanzhong [one of the founder of modern Chinese painting]. … After a short moment he holds the image in front of our eyes – a page from a color supplement of a magazine: „Look here, that is it, the recent painting by Wu Guanzhong have changed a lot …

He loves literature and old Chinese philosophy. He uses his tiny salary to buy literary works to read. He has himself written some short stories. The immersion into literature and philosophy helps him to get an even more intimate feeling for the rapidly changing realities of life and to arouse his imagination that provided a strong historical dimension to his images.

32-year old Ma Desheng particularly loves the words of a famous scientist: “In science, one has to follow any possible path. And when you find out that a path does not lead anywhere, then it becomes a new scientific discovery.” He is such a person who dares new explorations in this way. … And he is searching for a path to blend Chinese and Western visual art …