Broad Pavilion

194 X 130 cm    ac    2010/7/17

After visiting the Broad Pavilion and studying some
reference material, I was inspired by Broad’s aspiration as a private enterprise toward solving problems on a global scale and contributing positively to the 70 billion human population on our planet! Their slogan is to “Protect Life” and their products aim to enhance the quality of our life while helping our environment.

I discovered that this company is simply called “Broad,” without adding any other terms. To me this implies that Broad doesn’t want to limit itself, but rather seeks to extend its territory and enlarge its scope — to “embrace the world as duty.” Under Broad, there are such branches as Broad Air Condition Limited Company, Broad Energy-Using Company, and the new company Kejian that creates building products that are antiearthquake, material-reducing, energy-saving, aircleaning and zero-garbage producing. All these seem to have been initiated by Mr. Changyiao, the Director/ CEO, who is a man of humanistic and educational concern.

Mr . Chang is an  artist himself , a painter who temporarily gave up his artistic pursuits for his business and succeeded in building his kingdom. He worked independently, facing reality with a practical approach. With research and invention, he created his own personal brand and sold his products to 60 foreign countries, then developed businesses for eco-friendly construction products. We can take a look at his Enterprise Culture – composed of 43 sculptures of 43 great persons in human history who have influenced the world, all scattered around his “Broad City” in Shangsa, Hunan.

The subjects of the 43 sculptures include philosophers, politicians, writers, artists, scientists, economists and outstanding experts in management; from the East and the West, from past and present. These great, beneficent beings obviously represent the cultural spirit of Broad: to promote civilization and benefit humankind. To Mr. Chang, enterprise is a means, the goal is to “Protect Life.” Such kind of ideals and pursuit inspired me with an outstanding vision for an artwork. Therefore, with my “Neo-Iconography” style, I created this artwork, with a starting point of Earth and Humanity, painted as follows:

1)Protecting umbrella. I put a rainbow-colored umbrella over the Earth, indicating that Broad’s environmentally friendly products “protect life.” The beautiful rainbow represents hope, life, organics and science; constituting not only Hardware and Software but also “Soulware.”

2)The six-story Exhibition Hall of Life and the round DNA sculpture rising into the sky come from the Broad Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. The Exhibition Hall is also colored in rainbow hues to echo the above umbrella in life-consciousness. Inside the triangle representing a new pyramid of civilization there is a golden ball attesting to the honorable wisdom of looking “for the right direction for the 70 billion population on Earth.” These two shapes keep the entire painting in harmonious balance.

3)In the middle of the circle appears the head of Michelangelo’s David, which in world history, may be the best “Icon” of youth. This indicates that the contribution of Broad, the 43 great persons, as well as all the effort of humankind is directed towards benefiting the young generation. This biblical icon of David also symbolizes the victory of a young man over a giant warrior with wisdom and heart. This can be applied to our economic era as well, that an excellent, sound product with good intention can win the world market. (When painting David’s face, I also felt a quality of Bruce Lee, the Chinese kongfu master in the likeness, both strong in skill and spirit).

4)In the lower part of the circle, I integrated Henri Matisse’s Dance (1910), the Icon representing five races of humanity joyfully dancing together in harmony to celebrate our Global Village for the advent of a “World Citizen Era.” This theme was well-promoted by the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, for international exchange, understanding, cooperation and co-prosperity – the formation of “World Family, Human Harmony and World Peace” as a new global value. Thus, in this painting we also see the images of the Oriental Pearl Tower on the circle and space ships in the form of the Oriental Crown and the Sunshine Valleys surrounding our planet Earth.

It is my hope that this artwork executed under such exciting inspiration can more or less respond to the ideal destiny and great contribution of the Enterprise.