Chen Junyu

Director of Guanshanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen

In the field of art, every creator is a shining star, outlining the outline of the sky with unique light. 

Lu Shan is a colleague and friend of mine, but when I saw her paintings, I suddenly felt an inexplicable 

sense of unfamiliarity. Facing her canvas was like facing a familiar stranger, more like standing in front 

of a mirror and staring at myself asking questions, and the reflection happened to constitute another 

latent cognition of self questioning, which may also be a specific mode of cognition of Lu Shan's 

paintings.

There are two types of themes that I pay more attention to in Lu Shan's works: one is the tragic bird 

with folded wings, and the other is the imagery landscape full of personal feelings. To be honest, it is 

surprising to first see these works. The vague and multiple metaphors in their paintings, the complexity

 and contradictions of deconstruction and recombination, and the heavy imagery constitute an 

oppressive and direct attack on the viewer. These works, whether in appearance or expression, do not 

quite fit the role of a female author; However, the content in her paintings is far from the secular world,

 and the emotions portrayed are abundant, revealing her personal feelings and the unique individual 

sentimentality of women. This contrast precisely interprets the author's unique inner existence and 

thus gains self-worth.

It is worth emphasizing that Lu Shan invests sincere emotions in her creation. She regards painting as

 a non utilitarian individual experience and subjective emotional experience. The author's unrestrained 

brushstrokes in front of the canvas are a sensory manifestation of her absolute spirit. Although her 

works are far from narrative and concrete objectivity, it is precisely this distance that allows individuals

 to truly manifest their hearts. From the integration of senses and spirit to the reorganization of 

personal discourse rhetoric, the connection between free will and life context, they are constantly 

reinterpreted and defined. In middle age, no one's life can be forced. The situation is like a fish 

drinking water, knowing its own warmth and coldness. Reading her works completely awakens everyone

's embodied experience and personal perception of facing unpredictable difficulties and being changed

 by fate. The psychological space constructed by the works directly interacts with the viewer, and the 

inner melody contained in her writing is like an explorer in a solitary spiritual world.

Undoubtedly, in terms of her work experience, Lu Shan has been working in an art museum and has

 been accustomed to the ever-changing world of art for decades. Her creations and achievements are

 undoubtedly the result of a long-term reflection on the attitude and significance of art by museum 

staff. As her friend, on the one hand, I am grateful for her. Painting is an instinctive need for the author, 

and it has quietly opened up a space for independent expression; On the other hand, the lingering 

darkness and anxiety in her works are worrying, despite her repeated emphasis that art is an 

opportunity for her to reconcile with the world, and I wish the glory of this reconciliation to fade away. 

In this world of art, I hope she can find true peace and light.

Today, Shenzhen Guanshanyue Art Museum and Xizang Art Museum jointly held Lu Shan's solo 

exhibition, presenting these works of Lu Shan to everyone. I hope every viewer can enter her artistic

 world, feel her inner questioning and changes, and experience that unique emotional resonance. 

Perhaps, in this process, we can also find our own reflection and achieve a deep dialogue with ourselves.

February 2025 in Shenzhen

Continuing to promote cultural prosperity, build a strong cultural nation, and construct modern 

civilization of the Chinese nation at a new starting point is our new cultural mission in the new era. 

"General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and 

Development comprehensively and systematically expounded a series of major theoretical and 

practical issues related to the inheritance and development of Chinese culture, providing us with 

ideological and action guidelines for shouldering new cultural missions and striving to build modern 

civilization of the Chinese nation.

As an important practice in the field of oil painting that actively responds to the call of the times,

 the "Cultural Heritage Inheritance - Exhibition of Works of the Chinese Freehand Oil Painting School"

 has been successfully held for nine consecutive sessions since its debut in 2015, becoming an 

important academic brand in the field of Chinese freehand oil painting.