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On June 15, a group of Chinese oil painters gathered in the National Art Museum of China with their artwork on display at two exhibitions—”In Time: 2012” Chinese Oil Painting Biennale (the Biennale) and the China Youth Oil Painting Exhibition (CYOPE).
These two exhibitions were said to be the largest exhibitions of their kind in recent years. The paintings displayed various styles and showed the different ways in which Chinese oil painters approach oil painting.
“Since the 1990s, Chinese oil painting has competed with other genres like contemporary video, installation, and performance arts,”said Zhang Qing, curator of the Biennale. “We aim to examine, research, and discuss contemporary Chinese oil painting and other art forms through the Biennale.”
The Biennale presented 158 works from 32 painters and the CYOPE showcased 143 paintings. Each painter expressed their vision of the theme, “In Time,” and their understanding of oil painting as an art form.
“The Biennale highlights the respect for oil painting’s modernity,” said Xu Jiang, Chairman of China Oil Painting Society and President of the China Academy of Art.“Modernity here is not a temporal concept. It is the time in which things happen, in which current events awaken.”
Recording reality
“Oil painting for me is just a form of art; it is the content that matters,” said Zhang Lujiang, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011, Zhang went to Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong Province and spent 35 days in an on-site study of Xian Village, an urban village surrounded by high-rises within the Pearl River New Town.
“In my painting, I didn’t exaggerate what I saw,” said Zhang about a painting entitled King Land, a term that refers to land that has been bid out at the highest price in the real estate market. The buildings on the “King Land” are typically the most expensive in the city. Zhang’s painting shows the sharp contrast between the towering luxury buildings in the area and the shabby low-rise housing units nearby.
“The painting is shrouded in shades of gray and ambiguous aura, reflecting the painter’s understanding of anxieties of people in the process of urbanization,” said Zhang. “It focuses on the changes in the urban environment and its impact on people’s lives, offering an accurate, bird’s-eye view of the unique atmosphere of contemporary China caught in the rapid process of urbanization.”
Zhang recorded his experience of the onsite study in a documentary film. “I think oil painting itself can be a still documentary,” he said. “It is vivid and has its own power.”
Li Dafang, a 41-year-old painter, shares a similar perspective with Zhang in his three paintings featured in the exhibition—Morning Stool, Xiao Xia Backpack, and Little Yu’s Wooden Tower. The paintings resemble still photographs showing scenes of daily life in the small towns of northeast China. The rough landscapes, tangled thickets, abandoned factories and cityscapes that appear in his works are all distinctly northeastern.
“I focus more on the depiction of objects and human emotion. I hope that my paintings could reveal the universal in the details of daily life,” said Li.
The exhibition curator described Li’s works of art this way: “Looking at his paintings is like watching a play, which doesn’t require much explanation. Honest narrative will do, as people can easily observe through the depiction of forests, machinery, smokestacks, and ladders. His canvases contain a story without a beginning or an end.”
The works “go beyond my expectations of oil paintings,” said a student surnamed Du from Renmin University of China who went to visit the exhibitions. “They look like works taken by a veteran photographer.”
Memory of the old times
Jelly Times, a term coined by Yu Hua to describe her oil paintings at a Shanghai Art Museum exhibition in 2007, has become one of the primary artistic techniques in subsequent years.
“I was born in 1984 and one year later, fruit jelly was introduced to China,” said Yu.“Jelly has been with me for my whole childhood.”
“Jelly is made of water, sugar, fruit juice and additives. It includes all this stuff but looks transparent. It is just like the life of my generation,” said Yu. “Many of us refuse to grow up because childhood was so short while adulthood seems to be endless. We experienced a lot but we still try to stay pure and transparent, so we always feel isolated while at the same time we are eager for freedom. It is a conflict.”
Yu said the paintings on display are a reflection of inner isolation and thought. She named the group of paintings Tales of Two Castles.
“Deep inside me are two castles, one with a wall and the other with a moat. When I confront myself, I see the walls of the first rising before me, with countless peaks that I must conquer,” said Yu. “Once I have ascended to a certain level, the road evens out, and then I feel a sense of satisfaction. The path is full of pleasure as well as invisible traps, so I must remain on guard, and keep learning, in order to fulfill my potential. In this inner world, only I alone can solve my problems.”
Compared with Yu, 25-year-old Tian Yuanyuan’s memories of the old times are more people-oriented. Her collection of artwork, called Foam Memories, includes four paintings of foam products like facial cleansers and birthday cakes.
“I use foam to reflect the conflict in young people—we try to protect ourselves with a foam cover but at the same time we are very curious about the outside world,” said Tian.“That is why we dare to try almost everything. When we look back upon our youth, what we most cherish is not only the years that have passed, but also our curiosity and courage.”
East and West
Though originally a Western art form, oil painting has unavoidably merged with traditional Chinese painting styles. Huang Shaopeng’s painting is a replication of Shussan Shaka-zu, or the Shakyamuni Buddha, originally painted by Liang Kai from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Originally an ink painting, the work depicts Shakyamuni Buddha stopping an eagle from eating doves by offering his own flesh to the predator.
“I was deeply moved by the story,” said Huang, who prefers painting spiritual subjects. “The combination of Chinese brush painting with oil painting is not new in China, and it is not a conflict at all.”
Fang Shaohua, a professor at the Fine Art Institute of South China Normal University, showed a collection of his five paintings titled Bamboo Without Regulations. Like bamboo, the title suggests art shouldn’t follow strict rules, but rather grow wildly. The paintings represent bamboo growing in varying climates and conditions, such as rain, snow and wind.
“I learned Chinese painting when I was a kid. I was required to follow the rules set in The Mustard Seed Garden, a well-known guidebook of ink painting compiled during the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and regarded as the Bible of Chinese painting,” said Fang, who added that he disagrees with the excessive rules put forth in the manual.
“Those regulations are more like restrictions than instructions,” said Fang, who said it is one of the reasons he named his paintings Bamboo Without Regulations.
“I didn’t follow the rules of ink paintings, but I still use a brush to paint. I would like to show the charm of ink painting in a different way,” said Fang. “We can’t say oil painting is Western and ink painting is Eastern. They definitely can combine very well.”
These two exhibitions were said to be the largest exhibitions of their kind in recent years. The paintings displayed various styles and showed the different ways in which Chinese oil painters approach oil painting.
“Since the 1990s, Chinese oil painting has competed with other genres like contemporary video, installation, and performance arts,”said Zhang Qing, curator of the Biennale. “We aim to examine, research, and discuss contemporary Chinese oil painting and other art forms through the Biennale.”
The Biennale presented 158 works from 32 painters and the CYOPE showcased 143 paintings. Each painter expressed their vision of the theme, “In Time,” and their understanding of oil painting as an art form.
“The Biennale highlights the respect for oil painting’s modernity,” said Xu Jiang, Chairman of China Oil Painting Society and President of the China Academy of Art.“Modernity here is not a temporal concept. It is the time in which things happen, in which current events awaken.”
Recording reality
“Oil painting for me is just a form of art; it is the content that matters,” said Zhang Lujiang, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011, Zhang went to Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong Province and spent 35 days in an on-site study of Xian Village, an urban village surrounded by high-rises within the Pearl River New Town.
“In my painting, I didn’t exaggerate what I saw,” said Zhang about a painting entitled King Land, a term that refers to land that has been bid out at the highest price in the real estate market. The buildings on the “King Land” are typically the most expensive in the city. Zhang’s painting shows the sharp contrast between the towering luxury buildings in the area and the shabby low-rise housing units nearby.
“The painting is shrouded in shades of gray and ambiguous aura, reflecting the painter’s understanding of anxieties of people in the process of urbanization,” said Zhang. “It focuses on the changes in the urban environment and its impact on people’s lives, offering an accurate, bird’s-eye view of the unique atmosphere of contemporary China caught in the rapid process of urbanization.”
Zhang recorded his experience of the onsite study in a documentary film. “I think oil painting itself can be a still documentary,” he said. “It is vivid and has its own power.”
Li Dafang, a 41-year-old painter, shares a similar perspective with Zhang in his three paintings featured in the exhibition—Morning Stool, Xiao Xia Backpack, and Little Yu’s Wooden Tower. The paintings resemble still photographs showing scenes of daily life in the small towns of northeast China. The rough landscapes, tangled thickets, abandoned factories and cityscapes that appear in his works are all distinctly northeastern.
“I focus more on the depiction of objects and human emotion. I hope that my paintings could reveal the universal in the details of daily life,” said Li.
The exhibition curator described Li’s works of art this way: “Looking at his paintings is like watching a play, which doesn’t require much explanation. Honest narrative will do, as people can easily observe through the depiction of forests, machinery, smokestacks, and ladders. His canvases contain a story without a beginning or an end.”
The works “go beyond my expectations of oil paintings,” said a student surnamed Du from Renmin University of China who went to visit the exhibitions. “They look like works taken by a veteran photographer.”
Memory of the old times
Jelly Times, a term coined by Yu Hua to describe her oil paintings at a Shanghai Art Museum exhibition in 2007, has become one of the primary artistic techniques in subsequent years.
“I was born in 1984 and one year later, fruit jelly was introduced to China,” said Yu.“Jelly has been with me for my whole childhood.”
“Jelly is made of water, sugar, fruit juice and additives. It includes all this stuff but looks transparent. It is just like the life of my generation,” said Yu. “Many of us refuse to grow up because childhood was so short while adulthood seems to be endless. We experienced a lot but we still try to stay pure and transparent, so we always feel isolated while at the same time we are eager for freedom. It is a conflict.”
Yu said the paintings on display are a reflection of inner isolation and thought. She named the group of paintings Tales of Two Castles.
“Deep inside me are two castles, one with a wall and the other with a moat. When I confront myself, I see the walls of the first rising before me, with countless peaks that I must conquer,” said Yu. “Once I have ascended to a certain level, the road evens out, and then I feel a sense of satisfaction. The path is full of pleasure as well as invisible traps, so I must remain on guard, and keep learning, in order to fulfill my potential. In this inner world, only I alone can solve my problems.”
Compared with Yu, 25-year-old Tian Yuanyuan’s memories of the old times are more people-oriented. Her collection of artwork, called Foam Memories, includes four paintings of foam products like facial cleansers and birthday cakes.
“I use foam to reflect the conflict in young people—we try to protect ourselves with a foam cover but at the same time we are very curious about the outside world,” said Tian.“That is why we dare to try almost everything. When we look back upon our youth, what we most cherish is not only the years that have passed, but also our curiosity and courage.”
East and West
Though originally a Western art form, oil painting has unavoidably merged with traditional Chinese painting styles. Huang Shaopeng’s painting is a replication of Shussan Shaka-zu, or the Shakyamuni Buddha, originally painted by Liang Kai from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Originally an ink painting, the work depicts Shakyamuni Buddha stopping an eagle from eating doves by offering his own flesh to the predator.
“I was deeply moved by the story,” said Huang, who prefers painting spiritual subjects. “The combination of Chinese brush painting with oil painting is not new in China, and it is not a conflict at all.”
Fang Shaohua, a professor at the Fine Art Institute of South China Normal University, showed a collection of his five paintings titled Bamboo Without Regulations. Like bamboo, the title suggests art shouldn’t follow strict rules, but rather grow wildly. The paintings represent bamboo growing in varying climates and conditions, such as rain, snow and wind.
“I learned Chinese painting when I was a kid. I was required to follow the rules set in The Mustard Seed Garden, a well-known guidebook of ink painting compiled during the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and regarded as the Bible of Chinese painting,” said Fang, who added that he disagrees with the excessive rules put forth in the manual.
“Those regulations are more like restrictions than instructions,” said Fang, who said it is one of the reasons he named his paintings Bamboo Without Regulations.
“I didn’t follow the rules of ink paintings, but I still use a brush to paint. I would like to show the charm of ink painting in a different way,” said Fang. “We can’t say oil painting is Western and ink painting is Eastern. They definitely can combine very well.”