Double exhibition hall, two distinctive artists, select the latest works that subvert the previous representative style, and form an involuntary artistic dialogue in the same art museum, "Contemporary Shanghai Masters - Double Exhibition Series - Zhang Leiping, He Xi" opened at Liu Haisu Art Museum on November 26, 2022.
In Hall 3 and Hall 4 of Liu Haisu Art Museum, 20 (group) paintings by well-known Shanghai School artists Zhang Leiping and He Xi are respectively displayed, all of which are new works by artists. Organized by Liu Haisu Art Museum and Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts, and organized by Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts and Contemporary Ink Art Research Institute, the exhibition will be on display until December 18, 2022.
Zhang Leiping: The spirit of being willing to be lonely moved me
In this exhibition, 20 paintings by Shanghai school artist Zhang Leiping are exhibited. Different from previous painting styles, this time, she turned her pen and ink to the subject of reefs that she had not touched before. "This time I painted the reef, I wanted to borrow some power from the stone of the reef that can nourish me." Zhang Leiping said.
During the epidemic, Zhang Leiping stayed alone in the studio for more than two months, and with a brush as her company, she locked her work on the reef. "A reef is a mountain under the sea that has lived on the surface for thousands of years. It is not accompanied by trees, flowers and plants, only the washing of the waves. This lonely, lonely reef spirit also touched me. Zhang Leiping said, "As a painter, he spends a lot of his life in loneliness. This loneliness is actually cultivating the heart, as if the reef reminds us that everyone must have the spirit to overcome difficulties alone. ”
Lin Mingjie, the academic host of this exhibition, professor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts and director of the academic committee of the Institute of Contemporary Ink Art, was pleasantly surprised: "Almost all painters have a dream of 'transformation', but only a few dream come true. But I didn't expect it, and I think the painter Zhang Leiping herself didn't expect that this year's epidemic made her 'retreat and cultivate' in the studio, and she miraculously achieved 'transformation'. The lines on that painting are like the dance of the wind, like the scroll of the clouds, like the horror of the waves, completely natural, ghostly, and really breathy. She painted not the reef, but the spirit of the reef. ”
Zhang Leiping graduated from the Dance Art Department of Shanghai Theater Academy in 1968, and is currently an advisor to the Shanghai Artists Association, a painter of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, a national first-class artist, the deputy director of the Art Committee, a member of the China Artists Association, and a member of the Shanghai Federation of Literature and Literature. He used to be the vice president of Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy and the vice chairman of the 5th and 6th Shanghai Artists Association.
Over the years, Zhang Leiping has been committed to the road of artistic breakthrough. The previously widely appreciated red reed is Zhang Leiping's successful exploration of color, composition and subject matter. But she did not stop at the praise, and continued to explore the fusion of Chinese brush and ink with Western composition with Western themes and terraced theme series.
Having received both Chinese and Western art education, Zhang Leiping appreciates the rich imagination of Western painters and the charm of the color tones of the pictures, and is also deeply attracted by the vivid charm of the Chinese painting tradition and the freedom of the masters before him. "Eastern and Western art has its own strengths and weaknesses, and I want to hold hands between them, let them talk and merge, and explore a new path."
He Xi: Using the waves to complete the autobiography of inner vision
The waves are the subject of almost all of He Xi's works in this exhibition. "I want to use the waves to complete the autobiography of my inner vision and also express my inquiry into the fate of mankind." He Xi said.
Born in Beijing in 1960 and graduated from the China Academy of Art in 1987, He Xi now lives in Shanghai. He is currently a painter of Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, a national first-class artist, a member of China Artists Association, a standing director of Shanghai Artists Association, a deputy director of the Chinese Painting Art Committee, a professor of Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts, an adjunct professor and graduate tutor of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University.
The works in this exhibition use the waves as the theme, and He Xi tries to study the waves as landscapes, using very traditional landscape painting techniques to express the solemnity and majesty of the waves instantly solidifying.
He Xi said: "Since 2020, because of the epidemic and anxiety, I have been thinking more about myself, the present and the future. I am a pessimist who will make my work face the inner abyss, and at the same time pay more attention to the value and life outside the material. ”
In 2019, He Xi lived by the Japanese sea for a few days. "Although I live in Shanghai, this is the first time I have really faced the rough waves of the Pacific Ocean, and it is very shocking. This time, the title is 'Mountains and Waters', but unlike the previous landscapes, I painted the sea like a mountain. ”
The epidemic divided He Xi's creation in the past year into two periods, the previous stage focused on the landscape painting expression of the waves, rational and quiet; The latter stage is to express their emotions by depicting the waves, and the passion is surging. He Xi said frankly: "After painting, I became closer and closer to my heart, and it seemed to come out without thinking. ”
Lin Mingjie, the academic host of the exhibition, said: "He Xi's new work is invaluable. The vast sea, the quiet earth, the desolate volcanoes, the gliding giant eagles, and the walking bones of his paintings all made me stunned and speechless. If He Xi's early works were sad about personal sorrow, now it is sad and compassionate. The worldwide epidemic in recent years has undoubtedly inspired He Xi's endless compassion and thinking about the ultimate problem of mankind. In front of his paintings, people will feel their own smallness and the shortness of life, but there is a faint burst of power surging and pervading. ”
The exhibits in the two-person exhibition series had to subvert the previous style techniques
The co-presence of the two senior Shanghai painters is also reminiscent of the first exhibition of the "Contemporary Shanghai School Masters Double Exhibition Series" held at the same time last year, when Shanghai artist Yang Zhengxin and Wang Jieyin competed together for the first time.
In line with the purpose of excavating the contemporary representative artists of the "Shanghai School", promoting the revitalization of Shanghai School of Art, and then promoting the improvement of Shanghai's cultural soft power, the Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts gave full play to the advantages of aesthetic education in colleges and universities and planned this series of exhibitions in collaboration with Liu Haisu Art Museum. Graphite said that the exhibition must not only be the latest works, but also works that subvert or break through their previous styles.
Unlike other exhibitions that are artist-led, the Contemporary Shanghai School Masters Double Exhibition Series is led by the curatorial team, and puts forward more "strict" requirements for the selection criteria of artists and the works exhibited. The fame of the selected artists is not the first criterion to be considered in the series exhibition, but the works are the first. First of all, all the works of the artist must be newly created for this exhibition, no matter how famous the old works are; Secondly, artists are required to break their own creative inertia, especially to eliminate the habits or elements of commercial creation, and create works that have real academic value and can be collected by museums. The four artists in both exhibitions have done a good job of fulfilling the requirements of the curatorial team and academic organizations.
In this exhibition, Zhang Leiping and He Xi have selected the latest works that subvert their previous representative style techniques, and the exhibition uses contrasting visual images in the duo to show the new results of iteration. In addition, the double exhibition form of "masters facing each other" has further stimulated artists' exploration of the creative transformation and innovative development path of traditional culture.
Graphite said, "The prosperity of art is, to some extent, to create a group of influential and creative outstanding artists. It is expected that Shanghai artists will lead Shanghai art to a broader stage in the new era with a tense 'turn'. ”