“Full Metal Jacket”

YU DING (Dean of the faculty of humanities, China Central Academy of Fine Arts)

 

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I was very surprised when I first saw Xu Junjie’s paintings!

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Xu Junjie is a smart designer as I remember, who is flexible in mind, fully participation and also with slightly humorous in design; he, who graduated from Art Administration Department,School of Humanities,China Central Academy of Fine Arts is also a good art manager, and with the great of acuteness observation in art marketing and management; his master Graduation Thesis discussed issues related to the art therapy with rigorous logicality, showing distinctive professional writing skills. When I knew he could paint, I laughed and called him "Full Metal Jacket". This name came to me because of the American film, which has reflecting the Vietnam War. The story was describing how a soldier who was so naive has turned into a well trained soldier, and as a human being turned into the numbness machinery. I believe Xu Junjie is the kind of well-trained man in the art and as flexible in any other dimension just as same as the "special forces."

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"Full Metal Jacket" has its own puerility and intelligent in nature with the candid, romantic and slightly humorous personality which will reveal at any time. Paintings show painters, so his paintings also show these qualities. Screen images may be imaginations in leisure time or in his childhood dreams, perhaps he always dreamed that he was there. He draws these scenes proficiently and simply with no hesitation or other distracting thoughts; it all was just a dream of "a big boy". These dreams that everyone had dreamed were mostly distorted and suppressed in the highly materialistic society in today and all have been assimilated to numb machines. So I feel frankness that it will never devoid humanity and it will last forever in the paintings of "Full Metal Jacket ".

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I sincerely wish the success of Xu Junjie’s exhibition! I wish the "Full Metal Jacket” could make good use of his talents and bring more good things to our art and our society.