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"He who regards all things as one is the companion of Nature."
- Zhuangzi
With this new selection of paintings, Chen Yingjie continues to develop a cross-breed style uniquely his own, a powerful fusion of Chinese traditional landscape painting and graffiti art. The paintings presented here, all from his well-known series Gravity, mark the latest stage of his genre-breaking explorations.
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Chen Yingjie, Gravity LII (52), 2021, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 140 x 80cm
IN AWE OF NATURE
Every year Chen Yingjie spends some time in Yangshuo, a small town in southern China, home of some of the most impressive landscapes in Asia. Layers upon layers of emerald green mountains, misty rivers, deep blue skies reflected in paddy fields, the place has long been treasured by artists and nature lovers alike. Armed with his painting tools, Chen puts to use this time in Yangshuo to refuel his creativity. Nature is the overarching theme in all of the artist’s œuvre. The paintings of his Gravity series, with all their fiery abstract look, are a tribute to natural forces. They can be read as imaginary landscapes where the mind is free to wander, taken in by the vivid hues and the strong sense of motion that transpires from the works.
Gravity was conceived and initiated in 2020, upon the realization by the artist that our present ecological situation was improving with the pandemic, and that the slowdown in global activity induced a mild recovery, a form of revival for the environment. It was a time when Chen began to reconsider the relationship between nature and humanity. In the explosiveness and intensity of these new paintings, conflicts and contradictions are expressed, and this prevailing idea that “we must be in awe of nature.”
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Chen Yingjie, Natural Energy in the Deep No.2, 2019, acrylic, spraycan and gold leaf on canvas, 200 x 400cm
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Chen Yingjie, Gravity Lix (59), 2021, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 86 x 92 cm
An art deeply rooted in tradition
“Chinese traditional culture has a significant impact on my creation.”
- Chen Yingjie
Taking a contemporary approach to the work of Chinese Old Masters, Chen Yingjie uses a variety of unconventional techniques while keeping with the spirit, the strength and vitality of ink painting and calligraphy. His style shows a great balance between dynamism and contemplation, influenced by age-old concepts that lie at the heart of Chinese art practices and philosophy: the Yin and Yang, as well as the idea of a cosmic flow permeating all things. “You may feel,” he says, “that dynamic and invisible qi flowing around my works.”
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Chen Yingjie, Gravity XLI (41), 2021, Shanghai
A unique fusion of Chinese painting and graffiti art
With a great number of mural projects to his credit in China and around the world, Chen can be regarded as a street artist in the full sense of the term. Spray cans are among his favorite tools, particularly to create the fuzzy and colorful backgrounds of his paintings. This fusion of street art and traditional landscape themes makes the work of Chen Yingjie an unidentified artistic object, taking the best of two worlds while being in itself unlike anything else. “I would like to break away from cultural constraints, and create my own artistic language,” he says.
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Chen Yingjie, Gravity LXII (62), 2021, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 140 x 80cm
An unconventional technique
A painter, Chen is also something of a performer. His way of working is greatly gestural. Inspired by traditional ink painting, he physically engages with the canvas, with dynamic moves and splashing techniques. American art critic Harold Rosenberg, who coined the term “action painting”, famously argued that the American abstract painters of his time, the likes of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, were using the canvas as “an arena in which to act.” This applies very fittingly to the work of Chen Yingjie.
“Creating is like fighting, you’ll never know your opponent’s next punch, and the most important thing is to observe the current paces and adapt to circumstances.”
- Chen Yingjie -
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Chen Yingjie, Gravity LIX (59), 2021, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 86 x 92cm
Gravity and outer space
Paying close attention to the paint drips occurring in his work, especially when doing murals, Chen developed an interest in the effect of gravity on his creations. With this new series, the paintings were rotated many times in order to obtain drippings in different directions, simulating in a visual and artistic way a zero-gravity environment. An experiment in connection with the artist’s fascination for outer space, and his conviction that the exploration of the universe is bound to have a great impact on art practices.
“Perhaps in the near future, what people can see with their naked eye won’t be limited to the Earth’s scenery subject to gravity, but will also include outer space sceneries under zero gravity. Landscape painting will enter a new chapter with the development of astronautics.”
- Chen Yingjie
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Chen Yingjie was born in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, in 1991. He studied at Raffles Design Institute in Singapore. His work has been presented in major institutions in China and around the world, among which Tank and Power Station of Art in Shanghai, CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, or the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. He has collaborated with many international brands like Cartier, Volkswagen, Louis Vuitton, Adidas or Volvo. In 2020, he was named by Forbes one of China”s “30 Under 30”. His work is present in many world-class private and public collections, including Honolulu Museum of Art, BMW China Automotive or CapitaLand Group. He currently lives in Foshan.
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