.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in Xuchang, Henan in 1961, Duan Jianwei moved to Hangzhou at a young age, and graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Henan University. He has also taught in the College of Fine Arts, Capital Normal University since 2008.
Since the 1980s, the "Two Duans" (Erduans) hailing from Henan - Duan Jianwei and Duan Zhengqu has been known for their depiction of the Zhongyuan Yellow River region with a common percept of the bucolic, idealistic feel to the country life in their paintings. While Duan Zhengqu's work is characteristically more unrestrained, Duan Jianwei's is more pastoral and serene in its sensibilities. Creating his own unique expression within this regional artistic language, Duan Jianwei succeeds in conveying the profundity in serenity of plain country life in his paintings. His sincere and direct observations of country life are often in the form of portraits of village characters seen under focused lens somewhat caricaturized, or larger, epic scenes of figures groups against sweeping landscapes. Like that in The Grand Landscape (Lot 18), the almost cinematic scene of a rural family gazing into the distant exudes tender romanticism as well as a straightforward elegance within the ordinary. Nonetheless, there is a sense of ambiguity conveyed in the choice of rustic colour palette and imagery that is particularly captivating about Duan's vernacular in this representative work. Together with his counterpart, Duan Jianwei's art is an indicator of a genre of unique artistic expressions within the provably variegated art development in China in the past two decades.
Since the 1980s, the "Two Duans" (Erduans) hailing from Henan - Duan Jianwei and Duan Zhengqu has been known for their depiction of the Zhongyuan Yellow River region with a common percept of the bucolic, idealistic feel to the country life in their paintings. While Duan Zhengqu's work is characteristically more unrestrained, Duan Jianwei's is more pastoral and serene in its sensibilities. Creating his own unique expression within this regional artistic language, Duan Jianwei succeeds in conveying the profundity in serenity of plain country life in his paintings. His sincere and direct observations of country life are often in the form of portraits of village characters seen under focused lens somewhat caricaturized, or larger, epic scenes of figures groups against sweeping landscapes. Like that in The Grand Landscape (Lot 18), the almost cinematic scene of a rural family gazing into the distant exudes tender romanticism as well as a straightforward elegance within the ordinary. Nonetheless, there is a sense of ambiguity conveyed in the choice of rustic colour palette and imagery that is particularly captivating about Duan's vernacular in this representative work. Together with his counterpart, Duan Jianwei's art is an indicator of a genre of unique artistic expressions within the provably variegated art development in China in the past two decades.