Shen Lei was born in November 1977 in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, professional painter, now lives in Xiangtan, Hunan For a long time Social position Member of China Artists Association Member of China 70 Oil Painting Commune Member of China New Classic Painting Association Standing Director of Hunan Provincial Oil Painting Art Committee Standing Director of Hunan Provincial Youth Artists Association Vice Chairman of Xiangtan Artists Association Director of the Academic Committee of the Exhibition Department of Hunan Contemporary Oil Painting Institute Artists National Art Fund of Hunan Province Literary and Art Talents Support "Three Hundred Project" Selected Artists In Recent Years Important Exhibition Experience Works "Wheat Field" Participated in the 13th National Art Exhibition into Beijing Works Exhibition Works "Tour" Participated in the 4th China Oil Painting Exhibition into Beijing Works Exhibition Works "Small City Summer" Selected for "Chinese Spirit - The 4th China Oil Painting Exhibition" Works "Township" Selected as Visible Poems - The 2nd China Oil Painting Landscape Works Exhibition, and won the Excellent Work Award The work "City" was selected for the 12th National Art Exhibition The work "Double Yellow Line" was selected for the 3rd National Oil Painting Exhibition The work "The Spire of Luoyuan Square" was selected for "Research and Transcendence - The Second China Small Oil Painting Exhibition" The work "Small Town · Shouwang" was selected for the "Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition in the Eyes of Artists" The work "Song of The Small City and the Roof" was selected for the "First Art Phoenix Youth Oil Painting Exhibition" The work "Xiaocheng • The Girl with the Telescope" was selected into the "2012 Jinling Hundred Oil Paintings Exhibition" The work "Small City Summer" was selected for the "Wutu Wumin Oil Painting Exhibition" The work "City" won the Highest Award qi Baishi Art Award of the Fifth Hunan Art Festival The Collection of works The National Art Museum of China Shandong Art Museum, the Sons and Daughters art museum of Zhuzhou Art Museum, The Qi Baishi Memorial Hall of the Phoenix Art Museum, Wu Guanzhong Art Museum Taihangshan Art Museum Hunan Provincial Museum of Chinese Painting
"Tour"
《City》
"There's Snow in the South"
《Heng》
"Wheat Field"
The Gentleman
That sincerity and freedom
Xiangtan Daily all-media reporter Gu Orange
In May this year, Shen Lei was one-fifth of the five-person oil painting exhibition "Harmony and Difference" held at the Qi Baishi Memorial Hall.
In the collection, Shen Lei himself wrote a passage of text, which began by mentioning all the joy of Sisyphus's silence in Camus's eyes. Camus concluded that absurd people knew that he was the master of his own life. And Shen Lei's conclusion is that I think therefore I am, I paint therefore I am, and there is really no need to doubt their existence and value.
After reading Shen Lei's simple and casual words, then reading his oil paintings, or reading Shen Lei's oil paintings, and then going back to read his simple and casual words, you will find the beauty of sincerity and freedom, so unstoppable.
Shen Lei's paintings are rarely colorful and vocal. A boy with a hooded sweatshirt on his head and a backpack on his back, walking alone; a black and white man looking back at your cat or dog; a pair of white sneakers; a snowman sweeping snow; a bird that flies by; a boy and a girl playing the guitar... They are surrounded by quiet gray houses, street lamps, benches, trees and, preferably a large expanse of snow, forming a plain and quiet picture.
Shen Lei himself once said that the subject matter of his paintings was basically similar, mostly his own experience, extracted from yellowed memories. What you see seems to be people, trees, animals, buildings, etc. in a small city that is unchanged, but in fact, the things in the paintings are always changing, and each painting hides different emotions. Because painters will have different moods at different times, the expressions that were previously expressed may be more objective and may now be more subjective. Just like living in the same family, childhood, adolescence, and youth, you will have different feelings about this home; and facing the same scenery, different people will paint different feelings. The difference behind this is because of emotions, experiences, growth, etc., and cannot be simply explained by words such as "nostalgia".
Speaking of this, I want to talk about Shen Lei's views on painting.
"Strictly speaking, I don't like to use words or anything to illustrate my work. I can express some of my feelings in words, but I don't elaborate on how my work is. Shen Lei said.
Shen Lei believes that painting is visual art, pure, visual expression, not mixed with anything else. For example, many friends ask him why he likes to draw snow, and the answer is actually very simple, because the snow is clean, and he likes this feeling. Shen Lei's treatment of art is like this, as long as he sincerely and freely faces his inner things and completely follows his own vein.
Just as the gods gave the stones, they were there, and Sisyphus was pushing the stones endlessly, unable to escape. What consciousness we use to go through this process lies in ourselves, and we ourselves are the masters of this cycle. Joy, pain, excitement, negativity, despair, happiness... These are our free wills. It's not like making a commercial product, you have to do customer visits, you have to constantly improve. Art, you only need to express your own things.
With this sincerity and freedom, how the audience will see their own works, Shen Lei actually does not care so much. Painters have their own ideas when they paint, and when they are finally presented to the audience, they should not use their personal point of view to influence others. For the audience, everyone is one of many, and everyone has their own unique view of the work. It's just that when a good painter presents something personal to himself, he can't conquer everyone, but naturally there will be some people who resonate with it.
"You mean that your work will not deliberately cater to the audience, but will be a spiritual guide?" When we tried to sum it up this way, Shen Lei hurriedly said, "No, it has nothing to do with this." ”
Shen Lei believes that "pandering" is a secular term. When you say "pandering," you're already focused on whether to pander to your audience. However, when others commented that "Shen Lei's works cater to the tastes of the audience and do a very good job", Shen Lei will not refuse, because this is the opinion of others, not Shen Lei's view, and has nothing to do with Shen Lei himself.
Therefore, Shen Lei only presented the works that reflected his inner world and emotional changes in front of everyone, and the rest were handed over to the audience.
What was the fate of Sisyphus mentioned at the beginning of the article? Of course he was still pushing the stone. Absurdity is everywhere, always reminding us of the cruelty and imperfection of this world, Sisyphus transcended the suffering of nothingness, beyond the boulder in front of him, even in hell without giving up the hope of life, and has overcome fate in itself.
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