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| The Profile: Xu Bochu, a native of Chengdu, is a sculptor, painter, print maker, potter, designer, and art professor. His art works were exhibited many times in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Russia, Japan and China. He studied at Sichuan College of Fines Arts and Southwest Normal University in Chongqing in the 1980s. Granted a scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Education, Xu Bochu went to study sculpture, pottery, print making and media arts at the prestigious National University for Applied Arts in Vienna from 1989 to 1995. He has been an art professor at Southwest Jiaotong University since 1996. |
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As far as the public was concerned, arts and sciences belong to totally different worlds. Yet, to his own determination, Xu Bochu, a gifted artist, devoted himself to the challenge of exploring the mysterious territory of sciences.
Xu Bochu got the “Permanent Residency for Artists” in 1995 because as the first Chinese artist he was honored “The Outstanding Graduate Project” awarded by both the university and the National Department of Art Education in Austria. Not at all to his any regrets, he gave up the PR together with the enormous financial aid and chose to come back to his motherland.
Xu Bochu: Initially I went to Vienna in 1989 to participate in a pottery exhibition in Chanhans Gallery, and I wanted to take the chance to have a good look at Europe. At the exhibition, my artworks called the attention of the Ministry of Education, especially the prestigious sculpture Professor A. Hrdlicka of the National University for Applied Arts. My enthusiasm for learning grew and grew irresistibly as soon as I stepped on the campus, where the studying environment instantly impressed me. The teaching ideology and training methods, especially their ways of fostering the talented, which integrate arts with society, are totally different from those in China.
Austria is a small European country with very long history of Austro-Hungary and very changeful landscapes varying from mountains, hills to plains. The natural surroundings embrace people with a strong atmosphere of Paradise, inviting continuous inspiration and creation. No wonder why so many famous musicians have been fostered there. Beethoven lived in Vienna for the most of his life, moving more than 30 times in the picturesque and poetic city. Whenever I went back there, I was overwhelmed by its fathomless charm. The natural, aristocratic and aesthetic Vienna always purifies my heart and soul.
（Source: chinaculture.org）