Tales of home｜2023/2024
Zhu Wei | Guest-Invited Painter
Since 2019, Mr. Zhu Wei has acted as our Guest-Invited Painter for four consecutive seasons. His works have accompanied our artistic growth and enriched public perceptions of the dialogue between music and visual art.
For this new season, Zhu Wei presents Spring of the City, a series of sixteen abstract oil paintings on wood centered on the theme of Homeland. In the early spring of 2022, we visited Beijing’s Sub-Center, where we observed the revitalized Green Heart Forest Park, the tranquil Grand Canal, thriving new theatre construction, and renewed industrial heritage sites. We reflected on northern China’s austere yet vibrant spring, local residents’ quiet perseverance, and the city’s steady, enduring transformation. Though short, this visit deeply inspired Zhu Wei, prompting him to translate his layered impressions into abstract painting.
Having shared that experience, I felt an immediate emotional resonance with this series, which vividly revives the subtle, intangible sensations of that day. Artists and musicians uniquely preserve fleeting moods, atmospheres and perceptions, turning indescribable moments into tangible color, texture and rhythm. Independent yet intimate, their creations dwell deeply within personal memory and feeling — a quality fully embodied in Zhu Wei’s works.
These paintings unfold the distinct charm of Beijing throughout the year: fresh spring greens, lush summer pagoda canopies, golden autumn streets, and crisp winter snowscapes. They evoke bustling urban nights, the warm earthly aroma of traditional courtyards, and quiet mountains embracing the Great Wall in late autumn. These unique tones and rhythms interpret the city’s vicissitudes, fortitude and openness, forming the character of our beloved homeland.
Every viewer brings unique interpretation, and all are meaningful. What endures is the sense of comfort, tranquility and joy these works inspire — the same spiritual warmth of returning home. Beyond physical dwellings, art in all its forms offers humanity a broader, eternal spiritual sanctuary.
We are deeply grateful to Mr. Zhu Wei for these insightful works. May they inspire our musicians to uphold the mission of building a shared spiritual home through music, and guide every audience to discover inner light and spiritual belonging within the power of art.
Ren Xiaolong
General Manager, China NCPA Orchestra
