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From "A Chinese Artist Takes On Beijing, Carefully" by Lingling Wei for The Wall Street Journal, via MSN:
"Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Xu Weixin has made one drawing every day. In his modest studio in New York, on visits to his mother in China, or just about anywhere he travels, he has sketched desolate Ukrainian cities, wounded Ukrainian soldiers and ordinary citizens trying to make it through the conflict.
"Xu uses an iPad application and posts his drawings on both American and Chinese social media. He’s now made more than 1,000 of them. His cause is one that few other Chinese artists have been willing to embrace: defying Beijing’s support for Russia’s war.
"The Chinese government has frequently imprisoned or harassed artists, writers and activists for challenging the authorities. The best known cases are artist Ai Weiwei, who has spent time in detention and now lives in exile, and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died in 2017 under police surveillance and after long years of imprisonment.
"Xu’s Ukraine-themed work has already run afoul of Chinese censors twice, and the 67-year-old artist is well aware that he is walking a tightrope by taking on a project of political sensitivity in China.
"'What I do is a tough balance,' said Xu, a former dean of the school of arts at Renmin University in Beijing, as he sat in his studio in front of a large oil painting he made of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A U.S. green card holder since 2017, he now makes his home with his wife and daughter in New York City. But he remains a Chinese citizen and goes back to visit his mother at least a couple of times a year.
"Xu’s studio, converted from a warehouse, sits in a diverse neighborhood of Queens where single-family homes mix with small factories. Earlier artworks arrayed along the walls showcase his daring approach, dating to when he lived in China full-time."
The rest is here.
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