Untitled (Black Cat)

Lu Yu-Ye, Date Unknown, Woodcut Print

Lu Yu-Ye graduated from the fine arts department of Nanjing College of Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in 1987. He was also a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Arts of Suzhou University. In December of 1989, Lu and a fellow Chinese artist, Ding Yi-Ping, exhibited on invitation at the Kawartha Art Gallery. They were recommended to the former director of the art gallery, Rodney Malham, by the Ontarian printmaker George Raab who had met Lu and Ding while touring in China. A goal of the exhibit was to stimulate mutual understanding and friendship and to foster the exchange of the feelings and ideas between Canada and China. 

The opportunity to travel to Canada to exhibit their work was truly a remarkable one for the two young artists. In China at the time, an artist had to be accepted by the state in order to carry on producing. If you are a state recognized artist you would receive a monthly wage and studio space. All the work you produce was given over to the state to sell. There were no private galleries and no mechanism for selling work outside of the state run system.

Lu deliberately chose the art of wood engraving because of its long history in China and its strong power of visual manifestation. His pieces are simple, abstracted, and graphically bold. He was strongly influenced by European art of the 20th century, particularly Surrealism and German Expressionism.