Artist finds muse in city’s ladies
Print Edition
FOR artist Bai Ying a powerful feminine energy pervades Shanghai, and it’s the city’s women who inspired a series of ink-wash paintings now on display at the Xuhui Art Museum.
In Bai’s images, female subjects painted in light rouge and black are captured in relaxed, unguarded moments — some are shown reclining or engaging in private chats, while others are lost in thought.
“Shanghai is undoubtedly a feminine city. This has never changed, despite everything it has been through,” Bai told Shanghai Daily, citing the cultural prominence of renowned Shanghai author Eileen Chang (1920-95) as well as old calendars featuring Shanghai beauties in qipao and the “Mandarin Duck and Butterfly” genre of romance fiction which enraptured the city during the early 1900s.
“Women make up the symbols of the city. They are refined and elegant,” Bai said. “Light rouge is the color that best expresses Shanghai women — it’s subtle, tasteful and restrained, with a touch of grace and charm.”
More than 20 ink-wash paintings created by Bai since 2007 are now on view in “Quest, Transcendence,” the first solo show for the 45-year-old Shanghai University professor.
For Bai, the museum’s renovated three-story building is an ideal setting for his works.
“It’s a typical Shanghai villa, with ... wooden stairs and red brick walls. It’s aligned with the city’s temperament, and is what I grew up with and what I try to express,” he said.
The son of an architect, Bai became interested in art as a young child and began sketching at age 5. In 1990, he was admitted to the College of Art at Shanghai University. Like most art students in China at that time, Bai was deeply influenced by the “85 Art Movement,” a movement that popularized Western art and techniques in China.
But despite his personal leanings, Bai says he was handpicked to study Chinese painting by one of the university’s then deans. Bai called his program of study “an arranged marriage,” but quipped “well, I guess there can be true love in arranged marriages after all.”
Four years of study ultimately showed him the essence and the limits of Chinese painting. This knowledge helped him blend Chinese brush techniques with Western figurative and coloring approaches.
“While Westerners have stricter and more diverse approaches to figure painting, Chinese painting is much freer, leaving much space to explore,” he said.
Teaching basic art classes on anatomy and perspective for six years at the university after graduation helped Bai hone his skills as well.
Bai compares himself to a director, staging dramas in his mind which he then must transfer onto rice paper. According to the artist, each painting requires lengthy preparation in his studio to work out the plot and details of each scene.
“All the figures and settings are fictional, and I try to fathom them from the perspective of a man. I live in the same city with them, going through the same things, and experiencing the social pressure as they do,” he said, adding that he tries to be an objective observer at the same time.
Nevertheless, Bai concedes that the women on his canvases also reflect his own state of mind to a certain extent. “Whether they are subdued, upset, narcissistic or tangled in a mess; there’s always a part of me inside,” he said. “I borrow their bodies to express my mind.”
He describes his ink-wash images of women as a new type of “belle painting,” — an major genre of traditional Chinese painting featuring noble ladies.
“Like ancient belle paintings that reflect the ideas and aesthetic values of ancient scholars, my works show the lives of modern urban women,” he said.
Body language figures centrally in Bai’s work and helps convey the emotions of his subjects, he explained.
“Moved by the exaggerated body language, visitors can reach their own understanding about the paintings, which I find very interesting,” he added.
To leave more space for the imagination, Bai purposefully depicts women from the back on many of his canvases. “Without faces, the visitors will instinctively focus on body language and try to imagine the emotions hidden behind,” he explained.
It’s been over a decade since Bai first started painting women with Chinese ink-wash. Now he is exploring new possibilities for his art. His latest works feature an increasing number of figures — some of which are men.
“Just like good dramas have twists and turns, I’m also experimenting with all kinds of combinations,” Bai said, adding that he’s enjoying the journey so far.
“Quest, Transcendence”
Date: Through May 17
Address:1413 Huaihai Rd M.
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