Shuxing Fan
Madison, Wisconsin
Artist Shuxing Fan paints radiant classical scenes influenced by his formal college art training in the early 1970s. "My college study in theatrical set design was rigorously fine art oriented and heavily influenced by European and Russian educated mentors," says Shuxing. After finishing a BFA in Scene Design in Beijing, he moved to America and received his MFA from Boston University. With a career of over 35 years as a theatre set designer and scenic artist, his work has been seen on Broadway, on national TV, and at international conglomerates' events. Upon retirement, Shuxing took on the challenge to focus on painting again to fulfill his childhood dream. Today, he works from his basement studio which he finds to be a quiet, convenient, and creative working space. When he's not painting, he experiments with game engines to build virtual environments.
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Artist Statement
I tell stories through my art.
At five, I turned our living room floor into a giant chalkboard to draw pictures for my playmates. The drawings, primarily the elements or the scenes I saw during the shopping trip to the market with grandma, often expanded into some time-lapse drawing games with added stories from my imagination that could make my friends participate with excitement. I didn't understand the power of art at that time, but I felt the lines and the shapes in my drawings expressed myself better and creatively than just using words. This feeling later grew into my belief, which motivated me to enter a professional storytelling career for over 35 years as a theatre set designer and scenic artist.
Instead of painting on small canvases, I create large-scale sceneries in three-dimensional space to let dramatic action unfold and build the visual storytelling environment with highly selective elements to trigger the audience's echoes and imagination regarding the theatrical events on stage.
People have seen my work on Broadway, national TV, or international conglomerates' events throughout my entire career, but never in galleries. Upon my retirement, I want to take on a new challenge to focus on painting again to fulfill my childhood dream. Likewise, I want to keep telling my story through landscapes, still lives, or portraits, the images observed by my inner eyes, and the collections of my life using my studio setting and mediums. I wish my artworks could be one more perspective and contribute to the holistic scene of our lives.
At five, I turned our living room floor into a giant chalkboard to draw pictures for my playmates. The drawings, primarily the elements or the scenes I saw during the shopping trip to the market with grandma, often expanded into some time-lapse drawing games with added stories from my imagination that could make my friends participate with excitement. I didn't understand the power of art at that time, but I felt the lines and the shapes in my drawings expressed myself better and creatively than just using words. This feeling later grew into my belief, which motivated me to enter a professional storytelling career for over 35 years as a theatre set designer and scenic artist.
Instead of painting on small canvases, I create large-scale sceneries in three-dimensional space to let dramatic action unfold and build the visual storytelling environment with highly selective elements to trigger the audience's echoes and imagination regarding the theatrical events on stage.
People have seen my work on Broadway, national TV, or international conglomerates' events throughout my entire career, but never in galleries. Upon my retirement, I want to take on a new challenge to focus on painting again to fulfill my childhood dream. Likewise, I want to keep telling my story through landscapes, still lives, or portraits, the images observed by my inner eyes, and the collections of my life using my studio setting and mediums. I wish my artworks could be one more perspective and contribute to the holistic scene of our lives.
Artist Background
Boston University
Master of Fine Arts, 1991
China Central Academy of Drama
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1982
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