Li Xianting

... was born in Jilin Province in 1949. In 1978 he graduated from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts where he had studied traditional Chinese painting. From 1979 to 1983 he was an editor of "Meishu" (Fine Art Magazine). There, at the time of the political and economic opening, he supported a profound reform also for China's arts and culture scene. Li Xianting supported not only the "Scars Art" (dealing with social injuries suffered during the Cultural Revolution), Chinese "Nativismus" and other modernist forms in art, it was him also who published, despite resistance from a number of communist art officials, the first positive review of the "Stars" exhibitions in the national arts magazine he worked for. Li was later forced to leave the officials Artists' Association, but still today he is considered one of the most influential art critics in China.

Interview with Li Xianting (October 29, 2013 in his house in Beijing/Songzhuang town)

Here you find the Chinese text of the interview (an English translation will be provided later).