Gulistan Art 古丽·斯坦

My name is Gulistan. You may think it’s a strange name because it isn’t Chinese. My name is Uyghur.

I teach art (oil painting and design) at Capital Normal University Elementary Education Institute.

If you want to know more details about my professional life, please see my resume.

You can email me by visiting my contact page.

Mankind cannot escape from the restriction of time and space
But the soul can fly away
About time…
About space…
About the soul space of mankind
Standing side by side and forming a “series of notes”
And questioning deeply the essence of “existence”

-Gulistan

Journeys

When I travel, I have the goal and purpose to observe the place and look attentively at the life happening there. I use my eyes to observe, my ears to listen, and my soul to feel the connection with the history, the surroundings, and the people of that particular place.

When I go to a different place and see the art and architecture there, it makes the world come alive for me, with motion and action.

Music and Dancing

To travel
I move between painting, music, poetry and dance
I depict the restless heart of music
Staring at Giotto quietly
Collecting the peace of soul in the ancient fresco
The holy spirit of Bach’s music guides my soul
I’ve found quietness in the way of chaos

– Gulistan, from “The Shape of My Psyche”

Music is a very important part of my creative life, but it is important in my personal life as well. Music is a very vast landscape. It has the magic to take your soul to heaven in an instant. Duke Ellington once said, “What is music to you? What would you be without music? Music is everything. Nature is music (cicadas in the tropical night). The sea is music, the wind is music. The rain drumming on the roof and the storm raging in the sky are music. Music is the oldest entity. The scope of music is immense and infinite. It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.”

Jazz music is my source of impromptu inspiration, because it is based on improvisation… Louis Armstrong, who opened the door for the art of solo performance during the early days of jazz, is known to have said, “Never play anything the same way twice.” Moreover, “Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.”

This impromptu performance conveys the feeling of blues through the music; it gives the chance for the musician to create spontaneously. This is in contrast to pop music, in which only the written notes are played.

Because of music, I want to dance. And because of Jazz music, I know Swing, which is an early form of Jazz. To get a feeling for this music, I want to share with you the songs “Minor Swing” by guitarist Django Reinhardt and “Ain’t Misbehavin‘” by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra, available from archive.org.

Exhibitions

When a musician creates new music, he or she will present it to the public. Likewise, when an artist creates a new work, he or she will present it in a public exhibition.

In the image to the right, you will see me sitting beside an artist from France who has the question “qui?” or “who?” painted on his chest. This question is one always asked by artists: “Who are we?” The other questions that artists explore are: “Where did we come from?” and “Where are we going?”

This is the mission of artists in the world.

I try to give an exhibition of my work every year. This gives me the chance to review my work over the past year and to keep in contact with other artists in my community. It is important to hold these exhibitions in different places and different cities to give more exposure for my own work and to expand my ability to learn from a larger group of people.

For example, last summer, 13 artists including myself joined together in Qingdao for an event entitled the “Exhibition of Works from Excellent Established Artists”. We all came from different places such as Shandong, Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, etc. Because of the exhibition, we had the chance to come together and talk about art, exchange ideas about trends in contemporary art, and discuss possible future collaborations. In a way, such a joint exhibition is like a scientific or trade conference that occurs in other fields of work.

The exhibitions aim to attract artists from around the world, to further spread the cooperation and exchange of ideas. Each year, several big events are held to invite international artists to come to China. There is typically a major exhibition at the National Art Gallery, and government- and private-sponsored programs for artist exchange. Last year was the year of France, and this year features Italy.

A solo exhibition is also important for an artist. It is more challenging, because it forces the artist to produce a large body of work, to create high-quality pieces, and to form a theme that ties all of the works together.

These days, I am working hard to prepare for a solo exhibition of my latest work in Shanghai at the end of April 2006. The paintings are already finished. Now is just the time to organize the event, to work out all the details with the gallery hosting the exhibition, and to publish a book of my paintings to go along with the exhibition.

Here is an article about me in Xinmin Evening News:

从心灵走向心灵

——女画家古丽·斯坦讲述她画布上花之国度

古丽·斯坦在维吾尔语中是“花之国度”的意思，看着美丽娇小的她穿着中国红的长裙从绿荫掩映的春天画廊走出来，真让人有种见到花之精灵的错觉。温柔轻软的嗓音，诚恳动人的微笑，还有黑曜石般的眼睛中智慧的光芒，这便是笔者对这名女画家的最初印象。待她将我们引入画廊，看到她的画，我们又对她有了新的认识 ——

乐音，沉淀在画布上

古丽的画很素，无论是色彩还是线条。不像很多先锋画家用色彩的感官冲击震撼受众，她的画安静地摆在那里，似乎沉醉在自己的冥想中。然而那份淡定却能俘虏所有仔细品读这些画作的人。乍看之下的朴拙，其实深蕴着一层层复杂的色彩变化，引人入胜，欲罢不能。“我画画的时候一定会放古典乐，我的创作不能缺少音乐。”古丽深爱着音乐，还有自幼习得的舞蹈，这些都是激发她灵感的触媒，画中的每一笔都糅进了音乐的起伏和舞蹈的灵动，使她的每幅画都承载了厚厚的积淀。她的系列作品中也有很大一部分与音乐、乐器有关，古丽对这些符号特别敏感。如布面油画《海顿的钢琴》，是从一个朋友将要丢弃的照片上得到的灵感。古钢琴模糊的影像在古丽特有的构图和色彩渲染中似乎缓缓倾泻出巴洛克风格的旋律。

符号，凝固时空记忆

中世纪，是古丽神往的时代，黑暗中迸发出光明，狂乱中蕴藏着理性。那时的画家用虔诚的信仰创作，质朴而纯真。后来画者的技巧虽然越来越高超，但在古丽看来，反而缺失了先辈作品的动人气质。“好像一个人佩戴了太多首饰，别人看她，关注的往往是那些首饰而不是这个人本身。”古丽自己就很少修饰，穿着简单利落，她的画也是如此。在创作过程中，她会有意淡化技巧，让画面上的符号接近本真。古丽的《印迹系列》《记忆的性质系列》《行走系列》《有关时间的系列》《向中世纪致敬系列》中都有突出的绘画符号：钢琴、鞋子、手、书本……这些符号的描摹看起来很随意，但古丽却倾注了大量心力，它们是她的学识、她的哲学在画面上的反映，叙述了古丽的记忆和对时空的思考。

画路，修远并快乐着

具有维吾尔血统的女画家，有着自己的审美与创作原则。她随考古队来到人迹罕至的新疆丝路遗迹时，“比看敦煌时更加感动”。很多画家都说在她的画里很明显能体味到西域风情，还有画面和色彩处理上女性独有的细腻。她不愿被贴上单一的“标签”，也不会去追逐所谓的“流行”、“另类”。表面的，乃至符号化的“女性”之类的主题作品很少能给人共鸣与感动。“如果只是把画画作为宣泄或者游戏，那肯定无法表露真心。”古丽是一个用心画画的人。虽然知道艰辛，仍旧义无反顾地选择这条路，关注着心灵本质。她期望以时间为经，空间为纬，找到契合自己一贯风格又能让大家接受的那一点。“从心灵走向心灵……彼此透明。”

记者 黄伟明 实习生 姚伟嘉 文

Here is an another article my exhibition from CN Arts:

“古丽·斯坦2006上海个人展”

今天下午在上海春天画廊开幕

中国艺术品网2006年7月1日报道：“古丽·斯坦2006上海个人展”今天下午在上海春天画廊开幕。 上海美术家协会副主席王劼音、中国艺术品网总经理陈强以及来自各界的来宾参加了展览开幕。

古丽的绘画没有传统油画技法的束缚，没有流行题材的局限，亦没有视觉语言符号化的追求，她似乎是在一个无拘无束，完全自由的境界往来穿梭。这里，承载着她对生命的体验和感悟，在记忆的尘埃中时隐时现，它们是她心象的呈现。

古丽把自己融入画面，任由意念在流逝的时光中潆回，沉积为肌理与色彩的微妙变化，这变化最终蕴集为一个意念的时空。在这无限的时空里她捡拾着记忆的碎片，悉心拂去岁月的尘埃，倾听那无言的诉说，在心灵的最深处与之回应。于是她把时光制成记忆的印签珍藏在画面里，纤弱却不乏顽强，敏感而蕴涵丰富，真实而美好。古丽的画被赋予了生命一般，静静的停留在那里，似乎在等待着被发现……。