Chinese-Australian Painter Shen Jiawei’s Surreal History Les
Nov 8, 2014 18:19:56 GMT -5
Post by helen on Nov 8, 2014 18:19:56 GMT -5
Chinese-Australian Painter Shen Jiawei’s Surreal History Lesson
If you thought that the genre of history painting was dead, internationally renowned Chinese-Australian painter Shen Jiawei might be the man to change your mind. Shen’s epic 22-panel 30-metre-long mural “China 1936-1937, Years of Change” 2010-2014, which is currently on show in the Everest Foyer of the Seymour Centre in Sydney, is evidence that history painting has its place in contemporary art.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” portrays 422 historical figures who shaped events in China during the twelve months from July 1936 to June 1937, on the eve of the Japanese invasion. It comprises three different parts: part one is titled “Revolution,” (7 panels), part two is titled “Resistance,” (8 panels) and part three is titled “Renaissance.”
The Xi’an Incident of December 1936, which took place during the Chinese Civil War, was a turning point in Chinese modern history. The event led to China’s ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and the insurgent Communist Party of China (CPC) reaching an agreement to form a united front against the Japanese invasion. This event was the main inspiration for the painting.
According to Shen, in the 20th century history painters began to be faced with the challenge of competing with the mediums of film and television which made it easy to tell stories. “Moving pictures seemed to have defeated the still images of paintings. But I think that I have something that movies can’t replace,” said Shen. “In the movies actors and actresses have to play the role and nobody can look exactly the same as the real person; they couldn’t come back to that older time, the feeling is different. But I can depict people exactly as they were using old photographs.”
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” took Shen four years to complete using old photos as the basis for each of the 422 portraits. All the people depicted in were alive during the period of July 1936 to June 1937, and of the 422 people in the painting, Shen was able to identify a total of 389, all of whose names appear in the painting.
Shen started with a list of about 100 highly influential figures who changed the direction of Chinese history. He then added some people who contributed to the history of China, people who interested hime because of their stories, people who were important to China’s history because of their connections, as well as people who were important to his art. The composition was guided by historical context, the different relationships and connections between the people in the painting, as well as the different poses and position of the people in the photos he used for reference.
“Many art critics see my painting and comment on how real it looks. But hiding behind the real, I have to tell you, the painting is surreal. All the people are in a different space and in a different time – they were put together by me,” Shen explains. “I rebuild the images and brings them into today, allowing people to experience them face to face and experience a feeling of the history,” he added.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” might be visually and contextually historical, but the concepts behind the composition and context of the work are surprisingly modern. Shen’s contemporary vision thrusts the genre of history painting into the 21st century and reveals him to be one of the most important painters working today.
In his early career, Shen was a celebrated propaganda painter in Maoist China, but by the late 1980s had lost his faith in Communism. He is now one of Australia’s most highly regarded portraitists and is acknowledged as the leading history-in-art painter in China. He has received commissions from many prestigious institutions such as the National Military Museum of China, the Jiaxiang City Museum, Australia’s National Portrait Gallery, and the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, to name a few.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” is at the Everest Foyer of the Seymour Centre in Sydney until November 11.
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See more at: au.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1061160/chinese-australian-painter-shen-jiaweis-surreal-history#sthash.YHB0MmAQ.FbZvF7eN.dpuf
sydney.edu.au/arts/slc/news_events/events/index.shtml?id=3168
If you thought that the genre of history painting was dead, internationally renowned Chinese-Australian painter Shen Jiawei might be the man to change your mind. Shen’s epic 22-panel 30-metre-long mural “China 1936-1937, Years of Change” 2010-2014, which is currently on show in the Everest Foyer of the Seymour Centre in Sydney, is evidence that history painting has its place in contemporary art.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” portrays 422 historical figures who shaped events in China during the twelve months from July 1936 to June 1937, on the eve of the Japanese invasion. It comprises three different parts: part one is titled “Revolution,” (7 panels), part two is titled “Resistance,” (8 panels) and part three is titled “Renaissance.”
The Xi’an Incident of December 1936, which took place during the Chinese Civil War, was a turning point in Chinese modern history. The event led to China’s ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and the insurgent Communist Party of China (CPC) reaching an agreement to form a united front against the Japanese invasion. This event was the main inspiration for the painting.
According to Shen, in the 20th century history painters began to be faced with the challenge of competing with the mediums of film and television which made it easy to tell stories. “Moving pictures seemed to have defeated the still images of paintings. But I think that I have something that movies can’t replace,” said Shen. “In the movies actors and actresses have to play the role and nobody can look exactly the same as the real person; they couldn’t come back to that older time, the feeling is different. But I can depict people exactly as they were using old photographs.”
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” took Shen four years to complete using old photos as the basis for each of the 422 portraits. All the people depicted in were alive during the period of July 1936 to June 1937, and of the 422 people in the painting, Shen was able to identify a total of 389, all of whose names appear in the painting.
Shen started with a list of about 100 highly influential figures who changed the direction of Chinese history. He then added some people who contributed to the history of China, people who interested hime because of their stories, people who were important to China’s history because of their connections, as well as people who were important to his art. The composition was guided by historical context, the different relationships and connections between the people in the painting, as well as the different poses and position of the people in the photos he used for reference.
“Many art critics see my painting and comment on how real it looks. But hiding behind the real, I have to tell you, the painting is surreal. All the people are in a different space and in a different time – they were put together by me,” Shen explains. “I rebuild the images and brings them into today, allowing people to experience them face to face and experience a feeling of the history,” he added.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” might be visually and contextually historical, but the concepts behind the composition and context of the work are surprisingly modern. Shen’s contemporary vision thrusts the genre of history painting into the 21st century and reveals him to be one of the most important painters working today.
In his early career, Shen was a celebrated propaganda painter in Maoist China, but by the late 1980s had lost his faith in Communism. He is now one of Australia’s most highly regarded portraitists and is acknowledged as the leading history-in-art painter in China. He has received commissions from many prestigious institutions such as the National Military Museum of China, the Jiaxiang City Museum, Australia’s National Portrait Gallery, and the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, to name a few.
“China 1936-1937, Years of Change” is at the Everest Foyer of the Seymour Centre in Sydney until November 11.
-
See more at: au.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1061160/chinese-australian-painter-shen-jiaweis-surreal-history#sthash.YHB0MmAQ.FbZvF7eN.dpuf
sydney.edu.au/arts/slc/news_events/events/index.shtml?id=3168