To think is to exist. Being able to think is to enjoy life, though it might demand much required effort. That seems just like man exploring ultimate truth. Or is it?

　　In the “Black and White’ series of Erjun Zhao’s art, are groups of soul searching human figures, female, and male in particular, seemingly deep in thoughts, wondering, exploring and questioning. We may assume quite surely, if we know well how she has strived to reach this end, that it is the artist who is searching her own soul through these figures and, sometimes through her self portraits: who am I? Where was I from and where am I going? The eyes, body languages, the whole atmosphere coming out of the paintings, all expressly direct to the endless soul searching process. The questions are so bluntly and continuously asked through her work for all these years, which gradually begin to confront and haunt many of us when we stand appreciating them. Actually she delivers a common concern as to where we were from and where we are going. Posing at us both historically and philosophically is something both simple and complex:  the meaning of life.

　　Easily we, as observers of her art, become involved and engaged in the exploration journey, which is started by her Adams and Eves. Hardly can a viewer be indifferent to the overwhelming power of her artwork. Surrounded by the naked souls, we, the appreciating individuals, can not help but start approaching the spiritual side of the human race. From gazing to pondering, from being an outsider to becoming so compassionate, that is why so many viewers have been attracted to Erjun’s artwork.

　　Some experts say, in dream there is no color. Actually black and white are so rich in layers that Erjun has used them all to express her feelings and emotions with her brushes. She skillfully uses what she has learned through the years in China and in America that one thinks she achieves the effect effortlessly. Implied in her manifesto is the notion that black and white may be so contrast to each other, however in between there is such a vast space of sharing, mixing and blurring, just as if between the land and the heaven, the space is for imagination to fly freely. Close your eyes and colors being fading off, but not escaping is the thought, or the imagination. Is it daydreaming, or is it the real thing? Exploring between dream and the truth is all we do. So free spirited is Erjun in her art world that she expresses her thoughts without reservation. That is the myth and power of her black and white.

　　Living is a process. We live with our pursuit, with passion, with what not. However, in times, we see the world around is at the risk of losing its faith, its morality, its sense of responsibility. The world is losing its soul. Many are indulging themselves in excessive enjoyment of material, so much so that they are expensing out their soul.  What is the purpose of living in the world? No matter what religion you believe in, or even if you are an atheist, you can not escape to answer this simple question.

　　When forests are disappearing, when ice is melting and Nordic bears are drowning, when more and more of us are living in narrow spaces of high-rises of cement and steel, when cheating and fraud becomes order of the day for the creative art world, where is our conscience and reason? When dreading on human nature becomes an absurd game in art market, when civilization is mocked in so called avant-garde art with ballooning prices for pretentious fame, when rebelling to modernity becomes an excuse for commercial gains, art is so alienated by itself, the call for retuning to nature in the names of post modernism or post-post modernism become so hollow and hypocritical.

　　However, artist Zhao Erjun persistently, sincerely and honestly depicts in an artistic way her call for soul. Her pursuit of the soul of art in a highly commercialized environment has become a call for human nature and compassion, which surpasses the limits of her own religious belief. She may not be the first artist to be concerned with human nature and soul searching. Yet the way she uses her art expression to address and stress the strength of spirit has indeed stricken a worthy note.  Erjun’s Adams and Eves, far away from the noises of the material world, are struggling to find spiritual emancipation. In them we see the better part of ourselves. As long we have not lost entirely our capability of questioning our aims in this world, as long as we are still in exploring the truth of life, hope exists in our heart and our world. When the human race collectively is positively challenging the rationale of our behavior, striving to reach a higher end for all, we are still hopeful, today and for tomorrow.

　　Erjun’s paintings, with their innocence and honest, with the passionate pursuit of spiritual destination, have called upon people of the times for humanitarian concerns. Thin and weak might be her single voice, yet it demonstrates her mighty courage in seeking for the echoes of us all — a call for humanity.

    
　　                                          Dr. Jinglu Julia Yu, General Manager,
　　                                         Shanghai Grand Theater Fine Art & Design Co., Ltd.
　　                                         Professor, Shanghai  Institute of  Visual Arts of Fudan University
　　                                        In San Bruno, California