The Story of Beijing (1993-1995)

The creation of The Story of Beijing has connections with the liberating movement of thought that emerged in China during the 80’s; in which the army and intellectuals had different roles to play. In the end, the intellectuals were the ones that were compromised and defeated. The artist in 1989, as a member of the army, was at his daring and energetic prime and would soon graduate from the Art College of the People’s Liberation Army. The highly disciplined experience from that time left its mark on Zhu, who consequently began to hold strong reflections on freedom. The quality of how the intellectual craves for free thoughts is reflected in those of Zhu’s generation. Jeffrey Hantover notes in an article about The Story of Beijing in 1993: “Soldier and civilian alike view the new world with impassive wariness. Look closely at the paintings: in almost none of them do figures look directly at each other or at us: they are always glancing up, sideways, or out of the corners of their eyes… The real action takes place outside the frame, beyond the stage of their lives and Zhu Wei’s actors know it. The script for their lives is written by unseen others.” The Story of Beijing can be considered as Zhu’s search for the acknowledgement of his self-consciousness. A subtle personality has made Zhu’s artistic expression humorous, rather than radically visual in its approach. Moreover, the fact that Zhu has amassed years of training in classical cultures also enriches the inner symbolic power of his work.

《北京故事》（1993-1995年）

《北京故事》的创作与20世纪80年代中国大地上掀起的思想解放运动有关，军队和知识分子这两个不同角色在这场运动中发挥了各自不同的作用，而最终，知识分子成为妥协和失败的一方。1989年时的艺术家，作为军队中的一员，正处于意气风发的青年时代，并且即将从解放军艺术学院毕业，军队森严的纪律在朱伟心中留下了不可磨灭的记忆，以及对自由更为强烈的感触。知识分子追求自由解放思想的特质，也在同朱伟一样的年轻人心中萌发。1993年Jefferey Hantover在关于朱伟《北京故事》的文章里说：“军队和老百姓都以平常心来看待这个新世界。仔细查看画面上的人物，几乎没有人相互注视着对方或往外看着我们，他们总是不经意地看着一边，或向上看，或向眼角外看……然而只有外面的人知道这个答案：他们的生命剧本是由未知的人所写成的。《北京故事》可以看作是朱伟寻求自我意识被认同的宣泄，含蓄内敛的个性决定了朱伟倾向于幽默，而不是选择极端的视觉表达方式，在此之前朱伟受到的多年的传统文化素养的浸染，也极大提升了作品中沉淀的深层寓意的力量。