Celebrating master Chen’s ‘visual empire’ and memory
Print Edition
TWELVE years after he died of liver failure in 2005, renowned painter, filmmaker and entrepreneur Chen Yifei seems to be fading from public attention.
“Although he hasn’t left us for long, his name seems to be forgotten,” says Lin Mingjie, a noted Shanghai art critic. “But in my eyes, his concept of a ‘visual empire’ is strongly influencing his followers.”
An exhibition featuring works by Chen Yifei and his younger brother, Chen Yiming, pays homage to the deceased “master.”
According to Lin, who is also curator of the exhibition, some of the paintings are on loan from a group of private collectors with the help of Chen Yiming. “They were rarely exposed to the public,” he says.
Apart from oil paintings, the exhibition named “Yi Fei Ming” after the bothers’ names, also showcases pictures, sketches and other materials from the family collection of Chen Yifei.
“At this exhibition, visitors will find my brother’s first passport, with which he went to the United States from Shanghai on August 8, 1980,” says Chen Yiming.
Born in 1946 in neighboring Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province, Chen Yifei achieved fame as a painter while still a young man through a series depicting historical events.
In the early 1980s, he, like many of his peers, furthered studies in the US. It was not long before the paintings of the poor student attracted public attention and he was contracted to a top gallery in New York.
Chen Yifei returned to China to develop his “visual empire” in Shanghai. His business expanded and diversified to include a modeling agency, a costume design house, a publishing venture, an environment design business, restaurants and filmmaking.
His second film “Evening Liaison,” was selected for the Un Certain Regard (A Certain Glance) category at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995 — highly prestigious for someone who had only directed one film before.
When he died in April 2005, Chen Yifei was shooting his last movie “Barber.”
Chen Yiming reveals that when his brother first went to the US in 1980, he only had US$38 in his pocket. A year later, the younger Chen went to the US to follow the steps of his brother.
Like his brother, Chen Yiming is also a famous oil painter. As for his famous brother, Chen Yiming says: “Many have asked me whether my elder brother influenced me a lot, my answer is always yes. This is something in my blood.”
He says this is the second joint exhibition for he and his brother. The first was in the US.
“In the mid-1990s, my brother returned to Shanghai, but his works went beyond the easel,” Chen Yiming says. “He shot movies, established his fashion brand, opened restaurants and published magazines, and I came back in 2002 to help him with his career.”
In his eyes, Chen Yifei never gave up his favorite easel and palette.
For many people, the images of young women wearing traditional Chinese dress and playing traditional instruments in Chen Yifei’s works are their vision of Oriental beauty.
The Oriental beauties, the Tibetan landscapes and people, and the canal towns in the southern part of China were all favorite subjects of Chen Yifei.
“Painting was always his faith. He often painted at his studio even after a long day at office,” Chen Yiming recalls. “At the time my studio was next to his, and I often saw the light was on late into night. I understood how busy and fatigued he was, and I often reminded him to take care of himself.”
Chen Yiming says his brother didn’t have much sense as a businessman.
“Every penny was earned through his painting hands. But now looking back, I think it was worthwhile. After all, he did realize everything he wanted,” he says.
For Chen Yiming, his longing toward his brother is well displayed on his canvas. In much of his work, there is a sense of time slipping away.
Depth of field is a special characteristic in Chen Yiming’s works. He uses it frequently to create a vacuum around the figures. Indeed, his paintings possess a photographic element, and give out a sense that the subject is lost in thought and isolated in their surroundings.
“Yi Fei Ming”
Date: Through June 16, 10am-4pm
Venue: Bund 111 Art Space, 111 Jiujiang Rd
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