Shutao Liao
Shutao Liao, born on 25th August 1963, Zigong, Sichuan, China. He received Raffaello Sanzio Master Award, Shakespeare Award and Nelson Mandela Human Value Award in 2014, Honorary Master Member of Italian Cultural Association 2014, Honorary Master Member of Academy of Visual Art “Italia In Arte Nel Mondo” Cultural Association 2016, was honored with the Ambassador of Culture in the World. He is a world acclaimed artist, writer, poet and humanist. His recent study was focused on the decay of humanity, has authored works including Original Hometown, Mirage, Stories of Roars, Meditation at the Foot of the Himalayas, and his art collection SHUTAO LIAO - ART in the 21st Century and some others.
He has been considered the “father of Instinctive Art Movement,” widely known for his unique style, often described as “Instinctive Art”, “Neo Art Informel,” or “Psych-Symbolism”, which focuses on exploring inner truth, human experiences, the subconscious, and the decay of humanity, explores themes of the spiritual world, self-salvation, psychological dramas, and the emotional complexities of human life. His "Instinctive Art" emphasizes on the irrational ways to the fusion of consciousness, subconscious, and unconsciousness in creation, which can be defined as Neo Art Informel for that he has given Art Informel school a fresh revolutionary touch that deepens the sense to the aspect of Art Informel in this Toy-Culture era, having a special humanistic significance at this moment to the culturally broken world. He has found beauty in the truth of the tormented human flesh.
As the father of the Instinctive Art Movement, you have established not only a personal style but also a groundbreaking direction in contemporary art. What responsibility do you feel comes with being the originator of a movement, and how do you hope future generations of artists will interpret, expand, or challenge the foundation you have created?
Nearly a quarter century ago, one sunny afternoon at a park in Brooklyn, New York, a clear revelation suddenly came across my mind, that moment was the birth of the Instinctive Art. Instead of being a carefully considered art movement, it was rather a spontaneous art development beginning at the ending period of the last century towards now and the future.
If we thoughtfully look at the history of human culture, especially art, we can discover the tendency of development, that is: from outside towards inside; from the surface towards the inner truth, in other words, at first we wanted to master the ability to reveal the surface values (what we saw), then we wanted to comprehend the psychological atmosphere around the surface (what that meant?), finally we are going and will explore deeper to our true destination (to explore the existential questions: who are we, where we came from and where we go?) which are the fundamental problems all of us are facing as human beings. To my observation, it is the nature of humanity as intelligent beings to ask those questions. They are the reasons why Instinctive Art was born. Instinctive Art also means to liberate our creative freedom to the maximum by using the irrational ways, to get rid of restrictions as much as possible, to open all the possibilities of creativity as well as imagination, to go to the roots of humanity. I already have seen a lot of artists within this practice, I just raised a flag for them.
As an artist, I am doing art according to my passion as well as understanding, I can’t predict how future generations interpret my art, nor can I preview how they will react to this happening art movement, that will remain to the history to answer, but I pretty sure this Instinct Art Movement will develop and flourish in many aspects in the future.
Your concept of “Instinctive Art” has been described as transcending rational thought to reach the raw, subconscious essence of creation. Looking back, do you see this approach as a natural extension of your early struggles during the Cultural Revolution, where life, survival, and expression were instinctive acts, or as a deliberate artistic rebellion against formalized academic systems of art education that you once found suffocating?
I think this attitude towards art is mostly rooted in my rebellious nature. I always desired to go beyond reality, always desired to search, and always desired to discover something truly significant. The early struggles during the Cultural Revolution surely deepened and strengthened my feelings, which confirmed me the importance of emotions, and the significance of the existential id moments. Obviously my id couldn’t be satisfied with ordinary disciplines of any academic educational system. At an early age I just unconsciously rebelled against the suffocating art education, which was a natural reaction according to my nature. Later in my life it became a conscious manner towards art for that I was assured of where the valuable land of human culture is through enormous studies and thinking based on humanity. As far as I know, a true artist never can be taught, who grows from the heart, marked in the soul, which is a great blessing, and a fatal curse.
You often speak of going “beyond knowledge” into a realm where instinct dominates. Yet your paintings are deeply informed by myth, philosophy, anthropology, and comparative cultural studies. How do you reconcile this paradox, an art that claims freedom from intellectual frameworks but simultaneously feeds on centuries of accumulated knowledge, symbols, and traditions?
In the process of my art making, unconsciousness, subconsciousness and consciousness are completely intertwined with one another. The function of unconsciousness is to empty the mind, to be temporarily free from judgement and thinking frames, similar to meditation but it is not meditation, which is an intentional mindset to touch the inner hidden id, a gesture to rebel the existing standards of judgements, it could happen before and during art making. The mind needs to be trained. In practice, sometimes I intentionally block thinking, then suddenly reopen thoughts to trace the automatic images in my mind; following the subconsciousness means to surrender knowledge, totally trust my instincts to capture whatever emerges from the mind; consciousness gives to the final decision: what should keep and what should not, it is a judgement within knowledge and understanding. Unconsciousness and subconsciousness are for the maximum possibility of freedom, while consciousness is for the confirmation of the results. During art making, unjudgement and judgment are intertwined, and also unconsciousness, subconsciousness and consciousness exist alternately. Some parts are really thoughtful, some parts are thoughtless, some parts are the result of careful studies, some parts are just the stains of unintentional touches, some parts are neatly placed, some parts are just a battlefield of chaos. They are contradictions, yet I love the contradictions revealed on the canvas.
Depending on the instinct is my attitude approaching art, on the spiritual level, the basic feature of my art is Psych- Symbolism, I very much focus on the psychological values of using different materials as well as forms, regarding images as the symbols of the id, the reflections of the inner reality of the being, and I don’t believe using logical thinking can capture the human inner truth, that is why I jump into the irrational field to harvest my art crops.
Ultimately, I seek to create with absolute freedom, where every image transcends technique and becomes a living expression of my soul, defining the final question: who am I? It is a universal matter.
In series such as The Other Side of Memory or Legend of Night, you explore memory not just as recollection but as an evolving structural element of being. Do you consider memory in your work as something that imprisons the human psyche in repeated cycles, or as a creative material that allows us to reconstruct and transcend our lived realities?
Yes, indeed we can reconstruct and transcend memories, they are always changing colors along with the experiences of life, and they are always reshaped with our deeper understanding of life. When the past interacts with the present, they can generate new emotions and new understanding. It is like an emotional reservoir constantly redefined by the existential sky.
The past memories give us the depth as a human being, it is for sure they could be a prison as well in the conditions of negative approach. The attitude of an individual could redefine their meanings. To me an open mind is a necessity to regard them as rich assets with a deep value of humanity. Sometimes I used to transcend myself to look at those memories as a third person for reaching the universal value of human life.
You have spoken about creating in states close to meditation, allowing shapes to emerge as though they were dictated by forces beyond you, “working with god and cooperating with nature,” as you once described. In your view, is Instinctive Art a spiritual practice as much as it is an aesthetic one, and if so, what role does spirituality play in the dialogue between the artist, the canvas, and the viewer?
Instinctive Art is both spiritual and aesthetic. To me, the value of art is to reveal the true state of being, the characteristic of being is hidden and disguised. Great art has the ability to touch the being, with which we can see the truth of ourselves, such as Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings of sunflowers, in those paintings the sunflowers themselves were only the carriers of the being, their colors and forms were altered, becoming the symbols of the burning id. How to reach the hidden id is a spiritual question.
British art critic Herbert Read once said: “Art is a meaningful form.” To which I totally agree, in the condition that human consciousness interferes with art, which is about aesthetics. Strictly speaking, without human consciousness, there is no art. Nature has no art, art only belongs to mankind. In order to be an art, nature has to be stained by human impact with the true colors of humanity.
Your works frequently reference totemic figures, mythical archetypes, and primordial symbols from cultures across the world. Do you believe there exists a universal visual language rooted in human instinct, one that transcends cultural boundaries? And if so, how does your art act as a bridge between these diverse symbolic traditions?
I do believe there is a universal language among mankind which is rooted in the human instinct, that is the reason why the value of art and literature can be commonly shared all over the world. The customs might be different, but the nature is the same. Exactly from this belief, I began to study the totemic figures, mythical archetypes, and primordial symbols from cultures across the world years ago.
As you might already know, I love contradictions on the canvas, actually I intentionally look for contradictions, disharmonies and conflicts when doing art, those are the mirrors of present existing reality. Creating chaos in contrast with orderly arrangements is something I love to do. Something raw, untamed matter with surprising effect is what I want. According to visual psychology, difference means change, change means energy and power. So when I get different symbols together, they are in dialogue, exchanging energy with one another, generating new meanings in the context. They are distinguished by the difference, meanwhile, they share the same space to breathe. The situation is the same as the world we are living in today.
I intentionally avoid habitual thinking and concepts, and want to be surprised by what I am doing. It has to be guaranteed that each time to approach art in an abnormal way of irrational thinking is very important to me, which offers a truly unknown journey each time making art. The key difference between other artists and me is that most artists are evolving in one direction in each period of time, meanwhile my approach to art is to see humanity from every angle — a full 360 degrees of life. For example: “To Be or not to Be” about the philosophical meaning of existence; “Passing” about the significance of existential moments; “A New Being” about the possibilities of life; “Legend of Night” about human emotional fantasies, “Or Human” about the nature of mankind, and so on. There are a lot of abrupt changes, conflicts and contradictions, and also the totally different techniques of using materials and the different ways to approach aesthetic issues. From the surface, my artworks might look very different from one another, but the essence of all of them is the same: pointing to the truth of humanity.
Critics often describe your paintings as “storms of matter” or “bloody screams of happiness and freedom.” Struggle, contradiction, and catharsis are evident in your canvases. Do you see conflict and suffering as indispensable elements in the birth of creation, or do you believe true instinctive art can also emerge from silence, peace, and inner stillness?
Schopenhauer once said: "Life is a bundle of desires. If you are not satisfied, you will be in pain, and if you are satisfied, you will be bored." Also according to Buddhism, the major contents of life are birth, aging, sickness and death. If so, the basic color of life is suffering, and no one can be different. As an artist I have to embrace the truth of life instead of avoiding it, otherwise art would be shallow and fake, because the significant meaning of art is about the existential truth. Moreover, I truly believe the key factor of beauty is truthfulness, that is why art can transform an ugly figure into a beautiful one. Vice versa, a beautiful figure in art can be disgusting because it is fake. To my understanding, true joy can be achieved by deep understanding of suffering, this principle can also apply to the creation of great art.
“Still waters run deep.” Silence, peace, and inner stillness nurture wisdom of far-reaching practice, both in life as well as in art. It is a necessity for deep thoughts. In the situation of doing art, those attitudes should happen before and after the moments creating art, because an artist needs an active mind when creating art. But why is it still so important to nurture art from silence? For the reason that at the moment of making art, the artist is not only expressing his emotions of that specific time, but also carrying the whole package of life experiences.
You have said an artwork should be like a code, a mystery never fully understood, evolving in meaning across generations. Do you think this open-endedness risks alienating viewers who crave clarity, or is the very act of confronting mystery and ambiguity central to the transformation that art must provoke in the human spirit?
I always despise artwork which is too shallow without depth. Art has to be connected with the profound activities of the soul, and has to provoke the senses of the delicate emotions. Historic symbols are the concise psychological code of human culture, we have been intrigued by them throughout thousands of years until today. Exactly because they were simplified from reality making them exist as the most complicated cases of human experiences. I want to create an art that belongs to psych-symbolism, adding to the mysterious world of human creation. I am always in the process of evolving, always asking myself how and why? I regard it a duty for artists to challenge the boundaries of human spirit, first of all, to challenge myself, including mysteries and ambiguity in art. Clarity usually comes from a lot of struggles with darkness and uncertainty.
As the fact that to be absolutely truthful to myself is a must, I can not bend myself for understanding from viewers. I have learned from art history that misunderstanding is a part of the great artists’ lives. It is for sure there is a cost for truthfulness. A relatively full understanding of an art has to be considered in the circumstances of history, in most cases, taking several generations. Great art always foretells and belongs to the future. It is a lesson we have learnt from so many great art masters in the past waiting for the understanding which was beyond their lives’ time.
Your early thesis on Van Gogh and the dialogue between Eastern and Western culture was foundational in your artistic philosophy. Decades later, as you have lived and worked in both China and the West, how do you see this cultural duality reflected in your work today? Has Instinctive Art evolved as a synthesis of these two traditions, or as something that transcends both entirely?
It is clear to me that Instinctive Art couldn’t be evolved only by the dual cultural reflections, thinking about the fact that there were a lot of artists influenced by eastern and western cultures who didn’t develop this art attitude and style. The merits of dual cultural reflections were that they generated my thoughts, broke down the geographical barriers. I could view the whole landscape of human culture which was so significant to me. For the first time, I felt I had a chance to gain great expression in art by embracing the freedom of making.
Instinctive Art is not a synthesis of eastern and western cultures. Of course some factors from them have left traces to my art. Here I want to say that the road to approach Instinctive Art is really a lonely journey to reveal the truth of the id, to quest for the meaning of human mortal and existential life, to challenge the corrupted cultural world today, to test the boundaries of passion and imagination. I think the motive of all this is deeply rooted in my nature.
Your works are often read as mirrors of contemporary society but also as repositories of ancient myths, rituals, and collective memories. Do you see yourself primarily as a visionary, pointing toward unknown futures, or as a historian, preserving and reinterpreting humanity’s most primal narratives for a new age?
The reason I adopted those symbols from aboriginal myths as well as rituals is not for repositioning them in front of contemporary society, rather I regard them as a part of human truth.
To be a great artist, one must look to the future as a visionary; who must speak with a unique voice against all the other artists; who has to vandalize existing cultural rules and concepts; who must challenge the present aesthetic boundaries to push forward. It is better to be backed up by history. If we understand where we came from, we surely know better where we should go. I apply the ancient cultural concepts to my art which is not for representation in their original existence, but for the confirmation of the roots of humanity in today’s world.
Critics and curators often emphasize that you are not only innovating within contemporary art but also opening a new path for future generations. How do you envision the legacy of the Instinctive Art Movement? Do you believe it will grow into a collective practice embraced by others, or will it remain forever tied to your singular vision and personal journey?
As I stated above, I already observed a lot of artists applying to art in more and more instinctive ways, it might be that they were doing it in an unconscious manner. We see a lot of chaos in the art world today because of the shortage of art theory, but it will become clearer. For a new art movement, a clear theory is in need as a visionary guidance which I provided to them. The maximum freedom to express human spiritual experiences means to express with an open mind, I do believe this is the tendency happening right now in the art world. The results of this intuitive approach might be different from one another, but the inner motive is the same: to go beyond the surface value, to liberate our instinctive power questing for the true meaning of our existence as a human being. We have to go back to our roots, to discover the fundamental truth: Who are we, where we came from and where we go? It is not a choice, but a necessity. Art is the best way to approach those existential questions.
I standfast with Instinctive Art because I deeply understand art is the backbone of humanity against the alienation of science, especially in today’s chaotic world, which is a key reminder of who we really are? The practice of Instinctive Art is defining us as a human species. Its meaning is truly profound.