Chen Xiejun Chen Ying
"Chongming Impression - China Flower Expo Chen Xiejun Chen Ying Family Oil Painting Exhibition" is being held in the Forest Gallery of the 10th China Flower Expo Pavilion. With the theme of "Hundred Views, Hundred Flowers, Hundred Birds", the exhibition exhibits 300 works, of which you can see the natural scenery and humanistic history of Chongming. In particular, the exhibition spans the Flower Expo, allowing the experience to be a dialogue and integration of artistic expression and natural flowers and plants. In addition to his paintings, Chen Xiejun, the former director of the Shanghai Museum and the painter Chen Xiejun and his daughter Chen Ying, also recorded the history and natural features of Chongming and the creation of The Flower and Bird Island in the Depths of Taoyuan" article.
In the past thirty years, we have frequently come to Chongming, loved the natural beauty of the island, wandered in the old streets, focused on the old houses, systematically inspected cultural heritage, and gave cultural care to the cultural relics on the ground...
Sunset in Chongming - Taken by Gu Qin of Xisha Reservoir, picture from the Chongming District Government website)
Horse Ranch - Photographed in Hengsha Wetland Huang Zhijun, (Image from the chongming District People's Government website)
"Map of the Waterways of the Nearby Shanghai Port" (1918), which shows the many sand islands at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the largest of which is Chongming Island. Map source: www.virtualshanghai.net
Chongming Island has a history of nearly 1,400 years. The outcropping of large and small sandbars began in the Tang Wude years, and after several generations of vicissitudes, it rose and became an island in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, forming the prototype of today's Chongming Island. The five dynasties set up Chongming Town, the Song Dynasty set up the Heavenly Gift Field, the Yuan Dynasty promoted Chongming Prefecture, and the Ming Dynasty changed chongming county. The prefecture and county government offices were built six times and moved five times, and finally Changsha City was built during the Ming Dynasty, which contributed to the prosperity of today's Nanmen Port.
Chen Xiejun, Poetry and Distance, oil on canvas, 2011, 60×80cm
In Chongming Sketching, we look for old scenes and new victories, which is really a beautiful tour. "Brilliant Spring and Autumn - The Mouth of the Yangtze River" depicts the magnificence of "a frost horn and the sea is wide, and the sea is lined up in unison", "Soft Twilight - Island Night" reflects the femininity of "people by the water song, wild birds gather in the sand and concave", "The Way of Celebrating the New Year on the Island - Chongming Distant View" pins on the poetry of "watching the sunset of the Long River, listening to the evening singing of the return boat", "The sound of the waves is still - the river embankment is nostalgic" expresses the sentiment of "diligent in performing duties to show its true colors, guarding the island to see loyalty"... We paint Chongming, experienced spring, summer, autumn and winter, did not see the "bleakness and loneliness of autumn", it was difficult to find "the slaughter and gloom of winter", but saw the vitality of the island, and enjoyed the glorious years of ancient Ying. The beauty of Chongming is the beauty of the empathy of the four seasons, the beauty of the island, the beauty of the fishing port, the beauty of the deer singing in the forest sea, the beauty of the Wetland of Dongtan, the beauty of the scenic spots, the beauty of the former residence of the site, the beauty of the old houses in the old streets, the beauty of the ancient folk customs, and the beauty of the atmosphere of the times.
Chen Xiejun, Early Spring in February, Solid Oil, 2011, 28 × 36 cm
The exhibition dates back to July 2002. At that time, the "Shangri-La in Shanghai - Chongming Ink Photography Exhibition" was held at the Shanghai Art Museum, and in September 2002, the Chongming Xuegong was toured.
After the 2002 exhibition, our Chongming sketching and creation did not stop. From the "World Expo" to the "Flower Expo", Shanghai has carried out the historical crossing of "Once in a Century", and also contributed to the creation of the "Chongming Impression - China Flower Expo Chen Xiejun Chen Ying Family Oil Painting Exhibition".
At the exhibition site, Chen Xiejun introduced his works.
The exhibition is divided into three sections:
The first is "Hundred Views of Sangzi". Sangzi sees nostalgia, and humanities know Yingzhou. Chongming East and West Ersha began in the early years of Wude in the Tang Dynasty. In the past 1400 years, the area of the three islands has risen to more than 1400 square kilometers, and the nature is magical, and the big mulberry is silent. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the famous literary scholar and patriotic general Wen Tianxiang passed through Chongming along the river, inscribed the legendary name of "Yingzhou on the Sea"; before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang called Chongming "Yingzhou of the East China Sea"... Chongming traces the Yangtze River, wading far across the ocean, south of Shanghai, north of the Sea, with water as a companion, living by the water, flat bottom square head low center of gravity of the Chongming sand boat is a friendly messenger through history. Chongming is the key to the seashore, the "gateway to the great river", "a frost horn sea and sky wide, the sea lined up on the general platform." The army is like a water rhinoceros to Haohao, and people are like a stone tiger sitting on Huan Huan"... With great courage and compassion for the generosity of the king, Dajiangdong went to sacrifice the heroic martyrs. A peak towers over the Golden Ao Mountain, "Xiangyuan Yiqing" Qingyuan Hall. Morning class Twilight Bell Thousand Autumn Painting, River Water Stringless Wanguqin. Performing flag hunting on the martial arts field, Master Chen spoke the sound of martial drums. Zhixian Wenying built a garden, and a hundred flowers with buds and dark fragrance moved. Yi Ru also shang Huang Homeland, also in the West to go fashion.
Xiejun Chen, Ying Chen, Cirrus Clouds Shu, Solid Oil, 2020, 61×49 cm
The second is "a hundred flowers competing for beauty". Flowers have island feelings, and flowers bloom the Chinese dream. In the Flower Expo, a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred flowers compete for beauty, there are flower seas, flower paths, flower streams, flower valleys, flower beds, flower galleries, flower bridges, and flower pillars. The world of flowers has colors and stories.
Exhibition site
The third is the "ghostly song of a hundred birds." A hundred flowers compete for beauty, a hundred birds sing, there are flowers and birds, flowers and birds in the world. Chongming Island is an ecological island, which is naturally a flower and bird island. "Dongtan Ludang: Dongtan Bird National Nature Reserve" (in Zhou Huibin' "Chongming Monuments and Scenic Spots", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, September 2018 edition) has a detailed description: Chongming Dongtan Bird National Nature Reserve is particularly rich in natural and biological resources, maintaining a considerable amount of original features. Here, people can see egrets roosting freely on the backs of cows, buffalo grazing leisurely on the beach, crabs feeding happily in the mud and sand, flying in the sky, walking on the ground, swimming in the water, and shellfish in aquatic reeds and silt swamps, forming a natural ecological chain of harmonious coexistence of "sea, land and air".
Exhibit works
In terms of creative methods, we strive for the following four points:
"Highlight the island style" is one. The works we show were created over a long period of time, lasting 30 or 40 spring and autumn periods. During this period, Chongming has developed and changed greatly. Only simple, open-minded, wise, inclusive, open, enthusiastic, helpful, enterprising folk customs, island customs and island customs are unswerving. We actively melt and express ourselves in our works.
"Stretching the depth of history" is two. Millennium Yingzhou, hundred generations of humanities. Chongming water throughout the world, history through ancient and modern. Painting Chongming, not only to "look at the six roads, ears to listen to the eight directions", but also to "go in and out of history, lead to depth", to face the spring and autumn of history, touch the epic temperature, "to seriously review the road traveled, can not forget the road when coming, continue to walk the road ahead", and use the past and the present to connect "poetry and far away".
Gong Shengping, Spring in Forest Park (Image from chongming District People's Government website)
The "comparative study" is three. Painting Chongming's Hundred Views, Hundred Flowers and Hundred Birds, we insist on comparative research, diachronic comparison and global comparison and merger, in order to compare multidimensional, to compare into holograms, to compare commonalities, to compare features.
"Enhanced language characteristics" is four. We deeply understand that painting works should strengthen the characteristics of painting language and form a language advantage rich in personality. In the creation, we take oil painting as the main painting language, integrate ancient and modern, connect Chinese and Western, and start from the reality of the creative object, temper the "island painting language", "flower expo painting language" and "painter personality painting language".
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On September 5th, the seminar and donation ceremony of "Chongming Impression - China Flower Expo Chen Xiejun Chen Ying Family Oil Painting Exhibition" was held in Chongming.
Calligraphy and painting have accompanied Chen Xiejun for more than sixty spring and autumn periods, and Chen Yifei and Chen Yiming brothers are his childhood painting friends. When he was the director of the Shanghai Museum, Chen Xiejun and the Shangbo leadership team jointly planned a series of cultural relics exhibitions such as "Jin, Tang, Song and Yuan Calligraphy and Painting National Treasure Exhibition" and "Chunhua Ge Ti Best Book Exhibition", which caused a sensation in the cultural and cultural circles. From the announcement of the bid in December 1999 to the successful holding of the bid in 2010, Chen Xiejun fought for the Shanghai World Expo for 10 years. Although the work is busy, over the years, Chen Xiejun has maintained a habit of carrying sketching tools with him wherever he goes, recording them anytime and anywhere with a paintbrush.
Chen Xiejun sketched in Dunhuang
After retiring, Chen Xiejun had more time to engage in painting. Not long ago, he went to Yangzhou to participate in the expert review of the Grand Canal Museum of China, although the work was busy, but in his spare time, he still picked up sketching tools and went to Yangzhou's scenic spots to create. In recent years, the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and other major nodes have arrived, Chen Xiejun has used these opportunities to carry out a large number of creations, and held a number of solo exhibitions. Chen Xiejun's oil paintings, the oil paint is extremely thick, close to the abstract, brushstrokes like the rhythm of music. Colors produce complex and varied fantasy effects in brushstrokes or scraper agitation; from a distance, landscapes, people or still lifes are clearly in front of you. Xu Jiang, former president of the China Academy of Art, once commented on Chen Xiejun's works, saying that painters have "elephants", and using imagery as a method is the main point of Chen Xiejun's oil painting creation.
Xiejun Chen and Ying Chen, Golden Years, Solid Oil, 2020, 43.3×35.5 cm
As a participant of the Shanghai World Expo, from the "World Expo" to the "Flower Expo" in the past ten years, Chen Xiejun felt the changes that have taken place in Shanghai under the advocacy of "The City, Make Life Better"; he also saw Chongming as an "ecological island" and the urban civilization deliberately keep a distance, leaving a pure natural ecology on the edge of the city. Chen Xiejun and Chen Ying's father and daughter also recorded the countryside and nature of Chongming with paintbrushes.
Donation ceremony site
Note: "Deep in the Heart of The Island of Flowers and Birds" has been abridged and the exhibition will last until October 23
Editor-in-Charge: Huang Song
Proofreader: Liu Wei