Q: Before you became a painter, you were a singer/songwriter who made music that was banned for being considered pornographic in mainland China. Did this have anything to do with your inclination to become a visual artist? How does music relate to your artistic practice now? Can you explain what it felt like to be banned, the process back story, and how being banned affected you as an artist?
Ai Jing: I know the story has circulated that my music was banned because of charges of pornography, but the real story is completely different. In fact, I turned from being a professional musician to a visual artist because my fourth album didn't pass the Chinese  government censors. They found the lyrics in a song titled "Made in China" politically sensitive. The song was actually inspired by Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" from the early '90s, which inspired me to explore more social issues in songwriting. So I said to myself, "I have to write a song about my country."
When I composed "Made in China" in 1998 I never expected that the song would change my life. The song was meant to express my genuine love for China, my motherland. Unfortunately, just days before the scheduled release date in late 1998, I was informed that the album had not been approved by the censors. Their comment was: "Both the music and lyrics of "Made in China" are too obscure, and it damages the national dignity of the Chinese people to use "Made in China" as the name of the song. " I was very upset, of course, to see my true feelings misunderstood in my own country. After my album was banned, I felt very lost for a period of time. Finally I came to the realization that I could express my self in ways other than music. That’s when I began to paint.
Q: How did your New York show come about? Have you ever shown here before?
Ai Jing: "Ai want to love" is my first solo exhibit in New York. I already knew the key people who helped to make the show possible, Sally Wu (my curator) and Niki Cheng (owner of Bo Concept). Both are young women of Chinese background. They are both  the same age as me, and they live and breathe New York urban life. I chose to collaborate with BoConcept because it seemed a good venue for the audience to experience the symbolic power of "love" in a home-like setting.
I am convinced that love is the power that drives every human being to pursue a better future for the world. I chose "love" as the core of my visual art because I believe that art can demonstrate how far love can reach. The exhibition "Ai want to love" is a continuation of the series of "love" paintings that I began in 2007. I had my first-ever solo show at the Today Art Museum in Beijing last November, and the "Love in Shanghai" took place in Shanghai last May. Both of them are from the ongoing "love" series.
I was recently in a group show in Chelsea called “The Drop - Urban Art Infill,” which was curated by Alexandra Chang and Mie Iwatsuki. The show got great reviews and I received a lot of great feedback from New York viewers. It really moved me as an artist. The current solo show at BoConcept feels to me like the continuation of a conversation with New York.
Q: How does your show's title, Ai Want to Love, relate to the work?
 Ai Jing:The exhibition title comes from a combination of my ongoing endeavor "love" series and a new series of paintings that all employ the words "I want . . . ."
"My 1997" was my first song as a pop singer and gained a lot of attention in Asia. I didn't realize that "love" had been the real theme of my music until later. For me, "love" is a concept that goes far beyond the idea of romance between man and woman. It can also express wider concerns for the society. This was the case with my reaction to the
Sichuan earthquake in 2008. During this heartbreaking catastrophe in my homeland, I created a painting called "Darling, I love you" after I saw TV news clip about a mother who had sacrificed herself by using her own fragile body to protect her child from the collapsing walls of a building. Before she died, she left a text message in her cell phone for her baby. It read, "Darling, if you are still alive after this disaster, please remember that I will always love you."
Not long after, I painted another work called "Darling, I'm Sorry" in response to an incident in which 13 Chinese infants died because of baby formula that had been adulterated with melamine. My work was inspired by a news article about mother who lost her child in this way. Her heartfelt and moving words "Darling, I'm sorry" made me see how an angry protest can be full of the power of love of a  despairing mother.
Q: What does your palette of yellow, red and blue signify to you? One could read these colors as being limitless in their possibilities, or very constricted in their definitive identity as "primary colors." How do you see them?
Ai Jing: For me, different colors are like different musical notes or different music styles -- they can immediately create different vibes. I believe the colors I choose can express and trigger certain emotions very effectively.
Q: How is showing in New York different from showing in China?
Ai Jing: Since 1997, I've been constantly traveling back and forth between New York and Beijing. I've been influenced a lot by my experiences in New York, and I wanted my show here to be different from those I've had in China. When I spoke to the curator Sally Wu, I suggested the idea of having my works exhibited as if they were in a home environment. I come from a pop culture background, and I've never liked the idea of fine art being cut off from daily life. I want my art to become part of people's everyday lives, hung in the bedrooms and living rooms. I figured that presenting my works at BoConcept would create a more intimate atmosphere to welcome the New York audience. That's the idea --that's what love wants to be.
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