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Very different strokes for different artists
By Xu Wenwen |
April 16, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE China Academy of Art, founded in 1928, is one of the most prestigious in China and has nurtured many important names in Chinese modern art history.
During the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), teaching was suspended at the school, known at that time as the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. It reopened in 1978, when the country resumed the college entrance examination in 1978, and began to recruit postgraduate students.
Among the first class of graduates was Shanghai native Feng Yuan, now a well-known art educator and professor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing. His student ID was No. 0001. He studied Chinese painting, with emphasis on human figures.
A retrospective exhibition of around 200 of Feng's works is underway at the Zhejiang Art Museum. It includes recent works. They range from traditional Chinese watercolor, modern ink-wash, fine brush works and other styles.
"As a teacher, I need to try different types of painting, but the spirit of all the works is coherent," says the artist.
Feng, born in 1952, is also vice president of the China Academy of Art and director of the National Art Museum of China. He is vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and honorary dean of Academy of Art and Design of prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Some of his work is experimental. A 2-meter-high watercolor titled "Wise Men of the Century" depicts more than 100 heads of important figures, including Albert Einstein, Madame Curie, legendary Chinese writer Lu Xun and Liang Qichao, a scholar, philosopher and reformer during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The heads are in a pile under the vault of heaven, unusual composition for Chinese painting.
Using some Western painting skills, he uses watercolor and ink to make the faces vivid portraits.
A realistic modern ink-wash titled "Human World" depicts 16 heads, all in Chinese ink. They are arranged facing the viewer and facing different angles, filling the frame. Each is a typically Chinese face, each wearing a different expression; the background is heavy and dark. The painting has a powerful visual impact.
The aim is to show "how selfish desire expands in today's China," says Feng.
His "Tibetan People" series shows traditional people in pursuit of spiritual things. His "Urban People" series shows modern people in pursuit of material things.
He says his most satisfying work is "Peripateticism" (meaning a state of wandering or migrating). It's an ink-wash painting with a white space that appears to be a white bird spreading out its wings in a universe in layers of white, gray and black.
"It symbolizes a situation between liberty and illiberality," says Feng.
He says he is inspired to paint after reading literature, especially Chinese poetry and philosophy.
Splashing exhibition
Lan Zhenghui used to be a designer before he turned to Chinese ink-wash painting in which he explores his own artistic language to express his ideas.
His solo exhibition "Vigorous Splash-and-Stroke of Heavy Ink" is underway at the Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery.
Lan calls his work "splash and stroke" because he mainly uses two skills - splashing ink onto paper and then moving a brush around in strokes. The exhibition contains around recent 30 works and all are bold and abstract with splashes and bold, broad strokes. He uses gradations of ink color, from heavy black to gray and light.
"Among layers and layers, between splashes and strokes, I show relations," says Lan, who developed the splash-and-stroke ink-wash style 12 years ago.
Lan's works are medium and large, large enough to express relationships among things and ideas. The largest work is Dragon series No. 1, around 2.5 meters in length.
It features two large blocks of splashes in the middle. On the left side are light ink strokes with a relaxed feeling; on the right are heavy strokes of dark ink in a tight composition, giving a feeling of intensity.
The artist modifies traditional ink-wash materials. He adds glue to ink to make it thicker and to change the shades and textures. He makes brushes as big as mops and combines a number of smaller brushers into a row of brushes.
? A retrospective exhibition of Feng Yuan
Date: Through April 25 (closed on Monday)
Venue: Zhejiang Art Museum, 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
? "Vigorous Splash-and-Stroke of Heavy Ink"
Date: Through May 6
Venue: Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery, 52-2 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5633
During the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), teaching was suspended at the school, known at that time as the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. It reopened in 1978, when the country resumed the college entrance examination in 1978, and began to recruit postgraduate students.
Among the first class of graduates was Shanghai native Feng Yuan, now a well-known art educator and professor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing. His student ID was No. 0001. He studied Chinese painting, with emphasis on human figures.
A retrospective exhibition of around 200 of Feng's works is underway at the Zhejiang Art Museum. It includes recent works. They range from traditional Chinese watercolor, modern ink-wash, fine brush works and other styles.
"As a teacher, I need to try different types of painting, but the spirit of all the works is coherent," says the artist.
Feng, born in 1952, is also vice president of the China Academy of Art and director of the National Art Museum of China. He is vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and honorary dean of Academy of Art and Design of prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Some of his work is experimental. A 2-meter-high watercolor titled "Wise Men of the Century" depicts more than 100 heads of important figures, including Albert Einstein, Madame Curie, legendary Chinese writer Lu Xun and Liang Qichao, a scholar, philosopher and reformer during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The heads are in a pile under the vault of heaven, unusual composition for Chinese painting.
Using some Western painting skills, he uses watercolor and ink to make the faces vivid portraits.
A realistic modern ink-wash titled "Human World" depicts 16 heads, all in Chinese ink. They are arranged facing the viewer and facing different angles, filling the frame. Each is a typically Chinese face, each wearing a different expression; the background is heavy and dark. The painting has a powerful visual impact.
The aim is to show "how selfish desire expands in today's China," says Feng.
His "Tibetan People" series shows traditional people in pursuit of spiritual things. His "Urban People" series shows modern people in pursuit of material things.
He says his most satisfying work is "Peripateticism" (meaning a state of wandering or migrating). It's an ink-wash painting with a white space that appears to be a white bird spreading out its wings in a universe in layers of white, gray and black.
"It symbolizes a situation between liberty and illiberality," says Feng.
He says he is inspired to paint after reading literature, especially Chinese poetry and philosophy.
Splashing exhibition
Lan Zhenghui used to be a designer before he turned to Chinese ink-wash painting in which he explores his own artistic language to express his ideas.
His solo exhibition "Vigorous Splash-and-Stroke of Heavy Ink" is underway at the Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery.
Lan calls his work "splash and stroke" because he mainly uses two skills - splashing ink onto paper and then moving a brush around in strokes. The exhibition contains around recent 30 works and all are bold and abstract with splashes and bold, broad strokes. He uses gradations of ink color, from heavy black to gray and light.
"Among layers and layers, between splashes and strokes, I show relations," says Lan, who developed the splash-and-stroke ink-wash style 12 years ago.
Lan's works are medium and large, large enough to express relationships among things and ideas. The largest work is Dragon series No. 1, around 2.5 meters in length.
It features two large blocks of splashes in the middle. On the left side are light ink strokes with a relaxed feeling; on the right are heavy strokes of dark ink in a tight composition, giving a feeling of intensity.
The artist modifies traditional ink-wash materials. He adds glue to ink to make it thicker and to change the shades and textures. He makes brushes as big as mops and combines a number of smaller brushers into a row of brushes.
? A retrospective exhibition of Feng Yuan
Date: Through April 25 (closed on Monday)
Venue: Zhejiang Art Museum, 138 Nanshan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8707-8700
? "Vigorous Splash-and-Stroke of Heavy Ink"
Date: Through May 6
Venue: Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery, 52-2 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5633
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