We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shuai Xu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shuai, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

My current works focus largely on the invisible world, and much of my inspiration comes from my dreams. I am interested in humanity’s relationship to the cosmos, particularly as it plays out here on Earth, in the relationship between individuals and nature. Through my art, I hope to explore my interior world more deeply while expanding outward, while engaging society and beyond. I am drawn to the concept and meaning of dreams because every one of us is familiar with them. In dreams, we can experience a new world through the virtual displacement of time and space. It is through this virtual world that I draw the artistic inspiration that I need. The same is true of the night sky; I have had fantasies about the night sky since childhood, and it has also become a source of inspiration. Both my works and I are searching for a state of unity between individuals and nature, and we care about everything in the world.

Shuai, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I do some oil painting and installation art. My works focus on the invisible world, and a lot of inspiration comes from his dreams. I’m interested lie in humanity’s relationship to the cosmos, particularly as it plays out on Earth through the relationship between individuals and nature.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

On some occasions, my paintings lead me to create works of land art. Because a painting is contained within a limited space that allows the imagination limitless freedom, it gives me the opportunity to freely conceive various landscapes in my mind. In a sense, painting sometimes functions as a sketch or a study for a work of land art to me. My land art uses the land as a canvas to form a visually vast landscape which allows me to explore the relationship between human beings and nature, and even between human beings and the universe. Whether my works originate in dreams or in the vastness of the cosmos, they come from otherwise invisible worlds that are often overlooked by society at large. By making them the focus of my art, I can bring more attention to the value and importance they have in our world. I hope that my works will move viewers away from cynicism and contempt, and instead create the opportunity to experience moments of contemplation and reflection.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In society, what artists need most is to show themselves, to prove themselves, and to have more opportunities to create value

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shuai-xu.com
• Instagram: xushuai_studio