Gu Wenda

GW: My view is this: when I finish a work of art, it is actually just half finished. The rest of the process is completed when the artwork is exhibited in a public place and viewed by critics and audiences. They finish the second part of the work for me. I only finish the first part. So to me, any criticism, from any audience and any critic, and from any perspective, is reasonable.

Gong Yan

GY: First of all, he should be objective. When I read the criticism, I should not be able sense whether the critic was in a good mood or not when he wrote the article. I hope he can be very objective.
GY: Overseas criticisms on Chinese art initially had an exotic flavor. But as they developed, they turned out to be more objective. After all, there are many people out there examining oriental culture. Their knowledge and understanding of oriental culture is to some extent more logical than we Chinese people. The most important factor is that criticism has had a long history in the West. Its logic and structure are quite different from that of Chinese thinking. Chinese philosophy and literature are inadequate in logical reasoning as well as systematizing. Chinese people write freely about what comes to mind. I think that overseas criticisms on Chinese art is now more objective,

Hu Jieming

HJ: From my perspective, if a critic gives me ten critical comments, among which I can find one or two which stimulate me and make me stay up all night, I will think he is a good critic.

Huang Yuanqing

HY: I do what I do, and they can say whatever they like.
For example, one of my neighbors said that my paintings resembled those of his grandson. And I felt pleased because I hope my work can look more naïve. This is the direction I pursue. Because this viewer could not possibly understand the situation of the art scene, and my art was not originally from his area, I found his comment very interesting. This is a kind of criticism as well.

Jin Feng

JF: Once when we were in the process of accepting Western Culture, we thought the opinions of critics were extremely important. They pointed out something you were thinking but had not expressed.

Lu Chunsheng

LC: Nowadays people in the arts community work in a very personal way. Frankly I feel the general public cannot easily understand their works. They are way too personal.

Li Lei

LL: He is only an interpreter. Because a lot of people cannot understand your art, or they cannot enter your art world, they need the critic to help translate. Critics have no authority to guide artists.
LL: Critics only have an effect on society. He recommends artworks to more people. He recommends them to people who do not understand this.
Like an artist, a critic becomes a critic after putting forward his viewpoints based on his understanding of various aspects of art and society. His views… because they are his views, I can choose to listen to it, or I can choose not to.

Li Shan

LS: They are not able to see into who I am , what’s my thought, my stories, my fear, my wish and ideal, how I started my career, and what I want to tell others through my works. They never care about such things, and one picture is enough for their comment. Even if those who do know me, they will have different angles of understanding, so I do not care about any of that.
LS: Only few of the articles can be called criticism. The critics are just writing articles. So long as the article is good enough, it can sell for a good price. Besides, many critics are collaborating with art galleries. This is something very deplorable. I feel very sad to learn that critics are collaborating with art galleries.
LS: Those critics do not have independent personalities and thinking, nor have they lived up to the responsibilities of critics. Their responsibility is to point out those problems. They are not pointing out problems, but puffing up , for money, Beijing has its own critics, so does Sichuan. So you just see a lot of circles and groups, and they come into being because of interest.

Song Haidong

SH: Hu Lan Ceng and he himself is a good art critic. His views on issues like Chinese ceramics, bronze, and so on include reasons for why they are good. I found what he said is not just based on theory but also his instinct.

Tang Maohong

TM: Most of the time they are not easy to communicate with.

Wang Xingwei

WX：Them? I am not capable of dealing with their comments. I normally do not contest their points of view, like those we find on the internet, whether or not I agree with them.

Xu Longbao

XL: For example, if they have made 10,000 nasty comments and then one of them is useful, then it is a benefit. We should accept it.

Xue Song

XS: There is not one genuinely independent critic in Shanghai. They all have their own occupations.

Xu Zhen

XZ: First of all, a good critic should be able to write something that people with only high school education can understand. Secondly, he should dare to voice his opinions. Thirdly, he should study continuously.

Yang Fudong

YF: 4:49 There is a quotation in the Analects of Confucius — good qualities are to be followed, and shortcomings are to be changed.

Yang Hui

YH: There are lots of critics for my work, so I will take their comments as reference.

Yu Youhan

YY: I don’t place great importance on this. I will be grateful if one or two art critics I respect can see some of the merits in my works. I even doubt whether there are critics in China. Many of their books are just collections and research work, without any opinions. They don’t point out the way art history developed.

Yang Zhenzhong

YZ: I think China is actually in short of critics. There are very few real critics. Basically there are many who just write articles.

Zhang Peicheng

DQ: So what do you think is a more reasonable relationship between the artist and the critic? They work together; how can they help each other? Or even conflicts can be useful as they can promote certain work. How do you look at this?
ZP: If a critic does his job for fortune or fame instead of promoting the development of art, then I think the noise he makes will not be sincere. It is the same for an artist. If he is motivated by benefits, then his work will lack sincerity.