M68 Huang Rui

Preface to the First Stars Art Exhibition (1979)

The Stars Group (Xingxing) were a provocative art collective that emerged in China in 1977, during a brief period of political liberalization following the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong. Many of the artists associated with the group were self-taught – an arts education being relatively difficult to obtain during the later years of Mao’s rule – and were actively hostile to Maoist ideology. They took their inspiration from Käthe Kollwitz, who had sought to depict the harsh lives of working-class women in Germany at the turn of the century. They embraced their outsider status, and argued that for art to have any significance it must be actively involved in society.

To this end, the Stars Group staged an unofficial exhibition in September 1979 on the street outside the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. Their manifesto, written by the artist Huang Rui (b. 1952), was printed on posters announcing the exhibition. Two days after the opening, a hundred police seized the artworks, which ranged from ink-brush and oil paintings to minimalist sculptures. The Stars responded on National Day (1 October), which marked the thirtieth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, by holding a public demonstration and issuing a statement attacking the malicious motives of the police. Unexpectedly, they were given permission to restage the exhibition, which was attended by thousands of people.

However, this unprecedented period of artistic freedom was short-lived. The government of the new premier, Deng Xiaoping, proceeded to ban all further unofficial group activities and organizations in China. The Stars’ founding members Ma Desheng (b. 1952) and Wang Keping (b. 1949) moved to France, where they became signatories of the Chinese United Overseas Artists’ manifesto (M80), while Qu Leilei (b. 1951) moved to the UK. Huang Rui himself spent a decade in Japan – where he also became involved with the Chinese United Overseas Artists – before returning home to China.

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We, twenty-three art explorers, place some fruits of our labor here.

The world leaves unlimited possibilities for explorers.

We have used our own eyes to know the world, and our own brushes and awls to participate in it. Our paintings contain all sorts of expressions, and these expressions speak to our own individual ideals.

The years come at us; there are no mysterious indications guiding our action. This is precisely the challenge that life has raised to us. We cannot remove the element of temporality; the shadow of the past and the glow of the future are folded together, forming the various living conditions of today. Resolving to live on and remembering each lesson learned: this is our responsibility.

We love the ground beneath our feet. The land has nurtured us, we have no words to express our passion for the land. Seizing this moment of the thirtieth anniversary of the nation’s founding, we give our harvest back to the land, and to the people. This brings us closer. We are full of confidence.