Memories catalogued in cartoonish classics
By Wang Jie |
June 15, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ARTIST Lin Hairong takes "memory" as the subject of most of her paintings, and the theme is to the fore in her current exhibition "A Slow Song -- Lin Hairong 2012 Oil Painting Exhibition" at Longmen Art Projects at Sinan Mansions through August 12.
Even when dealing with realistic figures - including Cleopatra or infamous Japanese spy Kawashima Yoshiko - Lin tends to make them look poetic and theatrical, creating consistency.
Lin is able to depict the mood of her works precisely, either with empty scenes or - the very opposite - through the use of props and furnishings.
She is renowned for making a composition graceful and well-balanced and can be seen to be expressing her admiration for the solemn nature and moderation of classicism through cartoonish images.
Born in 1975 in Heilongjiang Province, Lin is a postgraduate from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. She says that her love of novels, arts, songs and personal items informs her work.
"That might explain the unique scenario in my paintings," she says. "I refer to a lot other materials to create the background. It could be an old picture of my family, a scene that I read in the novel or even a song that I heard."
"Oriental Floral Rug" is a piece with strong theatrical style. Two girls are sitting in a room and twining wool into a ball. Other than a comfortable couch and colorful carpet, there's basically nothing else in the space, not even a container for the wool or other items that most realist painters would insist upon.
"I'll tell you why I painted that piece," Lin says. "I purchased a very beautiful wool carpet in Tibet, yet I seldom use it as it is too beautiful. So I keep it in my paintings."
In Lin's work the background creates an indistinct, hazy mood and neither the characters nor objects have too much light or shadow, giving a sense of simplicity and innocence. The painter also uses gray to moderate contrasts and black, dull-red and dark-green to emphasize flat tones.
"After recombination and reproportion, Lin's female images look funnier, yet still classically refined. The cartoonish image could be seen as a metaphor for woman who is a consuming subject and consumerist at the same time," commented art critic Wang Lin.
"Lin's canvases have a unique quality in that they appear quietly elegant, like the ruins of a magnificent castle flowing through history," Wang adds.
Lin is now a teacher at Chongqing Normal University and divides her time between Beijing and Chongqing.
"I think I am the kind of person who keeps dreaming, only that I dream on canvas where I can conjure up what I can't in life," she says.
Date: Through August 12, 10am-6:30pm
Address: Bldg 23, 515 Fuxing Rd M.
Tel: 6472-2838
Even when dealing with realistic figures - including Cleopatra or infamous Japanese spy Kawashima Yoshiko - Lin tends to make them look poetic and theatrical, creating consistency.
Lin is able to depict the mood of her works precisely, either with empty scenes or - the very opposite - through the use of props and furnishings.
She is renowned for making a composition graceful and well-balanced and can be seen to be expressing her admiration for the solemn nature and moderation of classicism through cartoonish images.
Born in 1975 in Heilongjiang Province, Lin is a postgraduate from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. She says that her love of novels, arts, songs and personal items informs her work.
"That might explain the unique scenario in my paintings," she says. "I refer to a lot other materials to create the background. It could be an old picture of my family, a scene that I read in the novel or even a song that I heard."
"Oriental Floral Rug" is a piece with strong theatrical style. Two girls are sitting in a room and twining wool into a ball. Other than a comfortable couch and colorful carpet, there's basically nothing else in the space, not even a container for the wool or other items that most realist painters would insist upon.
"I'll tell you why I painted that piece," Lin says. "I purchased a very beautiful wool carpet in Tibet, yet I seldom use it as it is too beautiful. So I keep it in my paintings."
In Lin's work the background creates an indistinct, hazy mood and neither the characters nor objects have too much light or shadow, giving a sense of simplicity and innocence. The painter also uses gray to moderate contrasts and black, dull-red and dark-green to emphasize flat tones.
"After recombination and reproportion, Lin's female images look funnier, yet still classically refined. The cartoonish image could be seen as a metaphor for woman who is a consuming subject and consumerist at the same time," commented art critic Wang Lin.
"Lin's canvases have a unique quality in that they appear quietly elegant, like the ruins of a magnificent castle flowing through history," Wang adds.
Lin is now a teacher at Chongqing Normal University and divides her time between Beijing and Chongqing.
"I think I am the kind of person who keeps dreaming, only that I dream on canvas where I can conjure up what I can't in life," she says.
Date: Through August 12, 10am-6:30pm
Address: Bldg 23, 515 Fuxing Rd M.
Tel: 6472-2838
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