Ding Yi

DY: No.
MC: Never?
DY: Never.

Gu Wenda

GW: No. I like doing art. I had always been full of passionate for art during these 20-30 years. And this is important to my art. I have never been doubtful if I should do this at all.

Gong Yan

GY: For example now, because apart from doing art, I am teaching in schools to make a living and engaged in organizing art activities. This requires two different ways of thinking. Maybe it is not the identity of an artist that I doubt but the scope the identity covers. Maybe you are an artist when you are creating an artwork. But you could also be an artist in a broader sense when you are organizing certain events or creating a platform for others.

Hu Jieming

HJ: Yes. Especially since someone of my age is a bit different from the younger artists today. People of my age have undergone the whole process of the opening-up of art in China. When I was in school, the education I received was totally conservative. The kind of professional knowledge that my teachers taught me was that of the former Soviet Union; we sketched, we painted, etc. After graduation, the exhibitions I participated in were also those with conservative expressions. Younger artists today do not have that kind of experience.

Huang Kui

HK: I think there’s no need to doubt. Neither is there the need to care about it too much. That’s not important.

Jin Feng

JF: China has the arts association. We do not have any contemporary art association; we do not have any certificates or whatever.
JF: Now, for artists, the resume is much more important than anything, such as what sort of shows you have participated in, what sort of things have you done. Only these things can prove that you are an artist.
JF: I think restricting artists in this framework is very boring.

Lu Chunsheng

LC: I do not only question my own profession. I think I do not know what other people in other professions are doing either. I do not know what I am doing. Sometimes I feel I am not really attending to my proper work or duties. To me, farmers who plant crops and workers who make products are doing real, honest work. I’m trying to make myself work more like them.

Liu Jianhua

LJ: Never. I’m always confident about this issue. I never doubted my identity as an artist. I love it.

Luo Yongjin

LY: No, I do not have doubts. I am trying my best to make my work more acceptable to other people, to be recognized.

Liang Yue

LY: Ever since I created my first work, people have regarded me as an artist. I never define it formally. A great number of people are doing such things. If one day I have no more imagination or I become tired of doing my work, I would quit.

Qiu Anxiong

QA: No no.

Shen Fan

SF: No. I don’t think much about my being an artist. I would rather consider myself a peasant. (Laugh…)

Song Tao

ST: I’m getting more and more non-doubtful.
DD: Why were you doubtful at the beginning?
ST: Lots of things need… for example, your interview makes me doubt even less.
DD: Why?
ST: I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we have a corresponding relationship. For example, you are Carrefour, and I am a manufacturer of supermarket trolleys. We definitely have a relationship.

Shi Yong

SY: No, never. I am actually a little bit silly. I think I can do nothing else but art. I have always thought so and have never thought of changing my occupation. Of course, my real occupation is not artist but teacher. Yes, according to our general criteria, my occupation is a teacher

Tang Maohong
T: No, it isn’t worth doubting.

Wang Xingwei

WX: Doubts? I never doubted this. I have never considered myself an artist. I have always just considered myself a painter. A painter is a more traditional concept, although it is a kind of artist.

Xu Longbao

XL: I’m just a half-artist, but of course I can be considered an artist. I am a member of the China Art Association. I have won gold and silver awards in national competitions. I consider these just honors only. Because I have doubts about my identity as an artist, I think I need to work harder. I have doubts because I think I am not intelligent enough and have not been able to create better works.

Xiang Liqing

XL: First, I haven’t regarded myself as an artist. So the issue about doubting or not doubting does not exist.

Yang Fudong

YF: Well… I think it’s unnecessary to be doubtful. I am doing what I like to do. I think it is quite good. A more direct way is to call myself an arts practitioner. This is probably more practical.

Yu Youhan

YY: For me, I haven’t. I don’t regard myself as an artist.
MC: You are a teacher.
YY: Yes, I’m a teacher. My position is amateur art lover.
DQ: But you still love art. It affects your life…
YY: Taking care of my baby is also part of my life. When he wets his diapers I have to…
DQ: Good, good, that is very important.

Yang Zhenzhong

YZ: Yesterday it dawned on me that if I were asked to be a doorkeeper, probably I won’t do the job well since I can’t get up on time in the morning. I am kind of “decadent” and can only do this sort of work as an artist. (Laugh…)

Zhang Ding

ZD: Mm… I have doubted for sure, especially now. I have been more doubtful of the artist’s identity because society is becoming more and more complicated. And then there are more and more media. Lots of times your identity as an artist determines the nature of your work, and the works are then positioned as works of art. But actually there are lots of things… or may be some artists are more creative… or maybe that person who does the work is not an artist but what he produces also fulfill the rules of modern art… maybe what he does are meant to test modern artists.

Zhang Da

ZD: Hmm… actually most of the time I prefer to work as a designer. I feel more free that way. To a certain extent, the designer is creating a product, selling a product.

Zhang Haitian

ZH: No, never.

Zhu Julan

ZJ: Um… yes. It’s still the doubt about whether it is an occupation or not an occupation. Whether you are an artist depends on whether you make art your occupation? Or what defines you as an artist? Of course I don’t think about this issue too often.

Zhang Peicheng

ZP: Hmmm… I don’t know on which day it was that I became an artist. When I was in the country, I have once considered giving up painting. You were in the country everyday, so what good does painting do? However, I loved it so much that I just couldn’t let it leave my life. I can say that I have never doubted my identity as an artist. I feel I am born to paint.

Zhou Tiehai

ZT: What kind of identity is the identity of an artist?
DQ: One who regards art as his occupation.
ZT: No, never. I regard art as my occupation all the time. (Laugh…)