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Lot Essay
Chen devoted his life to the development of visual art effects, believing in the presentation and appreciation of beauty. To Chen, art works are "not only for people to appreciate and enjoy, but also carry social functions with depth. An artist should not be limited to create beautiful art works, but also maintain a pleasant social environment, pertain to the value systems of integrity and courtesy, constrain the society morals, and purify the human soul." Through Chen's Musician series, we see him as an artist who could reach into a person's inner thoughts, an artist who's particularly sensitive to the surroundings. Chen's achievements in his Musician series are how he makes use of character design, light, and composition to guide the viewer from the visual to the sensual, and to appreciate music harmony and human talent of creating beautiful things. His series indicate how the artist pursues the connection between objects, explores the inherent connection between painting and music, and shows the unique aesthetics of the Eastern culture.
Constructing the Romantic Atmosphere
Chen fully utilized light, an abstract yet expressive element in oil painting, to indicate the poetic and romantic atmosphere. In Lady with Clarinet (Lot 18) created in 1990, Chen highlighted his meticulously created lighting effects with a dark background. The focus of the light source illuminated the facial features of the character. He then painted with grinding techniques to deal with light on the face, shoulders, and arms, producing more scattered and dispersed light. William Blake, the renowned romantic artist in the early 19th Century of Europe, expressed emotions with light, creating heartfelt religious paintings. For instance, in his Angels Opening the Holy Sepulchre (Fig. 1), the angel removes the shroud and pushes away stones for the resurrected Jesus. With the dark background, the light seems to penetrate characters' bodies and spread out from inside with a feel of haziness. A traditional and solemn religious theme is suddenly soaked in human emotions. In the same way, Chen's use of light brought the audience into a picturesque ideal world.
Combining Vocabulary of Classical and Modern Paintings
Chen's refined painting techniques make the golden hair, alabaster skin, charming eyes, and evening gown super realistic in Lady with Clarinet. In order to enhance the sculptural and three dimensional aspects of the character, Chen painted in layered colours on facial contours. His delicate grinding techniques deliberately reduced traces of strokes, making the painting almost as a photograph when viewed from a distance. While successfully creating a romantic atmosphere, Chen pushed the boundaries between photography and painting.
Eyes, facial expressions and the body are undoubtedly the most important elements in oil painting of realistic portraits. They are also the key to interaction and communication with the audience. Chen's characters illustrated how he carefully fused the classical body language with the Western contemporary abstract concepts, the idea with which Kandinsky and Malevich deconstructed human bodies and objects to dots, lines, and surfaces. Chen painted from an angular perspective. The straight arms and forearms of the female performer in his work form an elegant right angle, with one in the front and one at the back, expressing a sense of calm and great expectation. Chen, holding onto Realism with faith, progressed with time and kept inserting new energy to traditional realist paintings.
Chen's bold and theatrical choice of black as the background color of the painting helps us trace the roots of Chen's realism to the East as well as to the West (Fig. 2). The theatrical effect of black is striking and dramatic, creating a space out of time symbolizing the transcendent qualities of beauty and harmony. The empty background can be linked to the "blanking" technique of the portrait in Song Dynasty. Chen replaces the "white" of Chinese ink painting by "black", forming a space for meditation.
Constructing the Romantic Atmosphere
Chen fully utilized light, an abstract yet expressive element in oil painting, to indicate the poetic and romantic atmosphere. In Lady with Clarinet (Lot 18) created in 1990, Chen highlighted his meticulously created lighting effects with a dark background. The focus of the light source illuminated the facial features of the character. He then painted with grinding techniques to deal with light on the face, shoulders, and arms, producing more scattered and dispersed light. William Blake, the renowned romantic artist in the early 19th Century of Europe, expressed emotions with light, creating heartfelt religious paintings. For instance, in his Angels Opening the Holy Sepulchre (Fig. 1), the angel removes the shroud and pushes away stones for the resurrected Jesus. With the dark background, the light seems to penetrate characters' bodies and spread out from inside with a feel of haziness. A traditional and solemn religious theme is suddenly soaked in human emotions. In the same way, Chen's use of light brought the audience into a picturesque ideal world.
Combining Vocabulary of Classical and Modern Paintings
Chen's refined painting techniques make the golden hair, alabaster skin, charming eyes, and evening gown super realistic in Lady with Clarinet. In order to enhance the sculptural and three dimensional aspects of the character, Chen painted in layered colours on facial contours. His delicate grinding techniques deliberately reduced traces of strokes, making the painting almost as a photograph when viewed from a distance. While successfully creating a romantic atmosphere, Chen pushed the boundaries between photography and painting.
Eyes, facial expressions and the body are undoubtedly the most important elements in oil painting of realistic portraits. They are also the key to interaction and communication with the audience. Chen's characters illustrated how he carefully fused the classical body language with the Western contemporary abstract concepts, the idea with which Kandinsky and Malevich deconstructed human bodies and objects to dots, lines, and surfaces. Chen painted from an angular perspective. The straight arms and forearms of the female performer in his work form an elegant right angle, with one in the front and one at the back, expressing a sense of calm and great expectation. Chen, holding onto Realism with faith, progressed with time and kept inserting new energy to traditional realist paintings.
Chen's bold and theatrical choice of black as the background color of the painting helps us trace the roots of Chen's realism to the East as well as to the West (Fig. 2). The theatrical effect of black is striking and dramatic, creating a space out of time symbolizing the transcendent qualities of beauty and harmony. The empty background can be linked to the "blanking" technique of the portrait in Song Dynasty. Chen replaces the "white" of Chinese ink painting by "black", forming a space for meditation.