PROVENANCE:

EXHIBITED:

Yan Pei Ming was born in Shanghai in 1960 and then removed to Dijon City of France in 1981. From 1981 to 1986 he studied in French Ecole nationale Supérieure des beaux-arts de Dijon. From 1988 to 1989, he studied in French Paris Plastic Art Senior Research Institute. From 1993 to 1994 he studies in Académie de France, Rome, Italy. From 1995 up till now he has been professor of Ecole nationale Supérieure des beaux-arts de Dijon. Yan Pei Ming's works are highly recommended in Europe. In Christie's Auction London, his single piece of works was sold as high as US$ 1 million. Yan Pei Ming is the third Chinese artist whose works are collected by French Centre Georges Pompidou after Zao Wou-ki and Chen Zhen. In 2005 Art Basel, five top-notch European galleries recommended his works at the same time. He has also been regarded as one of the oil painters with the rashest expressive- ness in international community. His exhibitions have covered key galleries and museums across Europe and he in person has often become the social public topic giving rise to hot discussion.

Artistic career starting from French

Teenager time of Yan Pei Ming was right in time of Cultural Revolution period. This taciturn boy began painting in the city full of atmosphere of slogans and wall posters. He painted portrait of worker, peasant and soldier, leader and hero. Sometimes he even imitates the "wall posters" to draw the "counterrevolutionary". "I had lots of spare time and did not have to go to school, so I paint everyday. I like this since my childhood". In middle school, Yan Pei Ming began to consider about taking the road of painting and was intended to become a professional painter. Then he took the exam for Shanghai Arts Crafts College but was not admitted.

Thus Yan Pei Ming felt disappointed and dismayed. In 1980, under help of the relatives and friends settled in France, Yan Pei Ming went to France, where Yan Pei Ming got the chance of new life.

At the beginning of his stay in France, Yan Pei Ming led an arduous but substantial life. He endeavored to learn French. In daytime, he learnt painting. At night, he went for jobbing in a restaurant. He persisted such mode life for 8 years, and finally obtained degree in from Ecole nationale Supérieure des Deaux-arts de Dijon in 1989. Yan Pei Ming said that most or his knowledge about painting has come from his study in homeland. "My root is in China", he said. He has learnt how to paint in China. What France has taught him are some painting skills and ability to think and lead life.

In 1990, Yan Pei Ming's debut in Paris arts joint exhibition attracted the limelight. In 1991, he and Gu Wenda, Chen Zhen, Huang Yong Ping and Cai Guo Qiang together participated in the exhibition planned by Hou Hanru in Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. After the exhibition, namely in the 11th year of Yan Pei Ming's life in French, he returned back to homeland for the first time. Then Yan Pei Ming launched many personal exhibitions and his international influence also kept increasing. These exhibitions include "International Landscape" exhibition (French Dijon) in 1996, "Face from Soweto - 21 Children's Portraits" (Soweto, France); "Death and Life" (Dole, France) and "Invisible Man" (Honolulu, America) in 1997, "Visible Man and Invisible Man" (Geneva, Switzerland) in 1998; "Invisible Bodhisattva" (Brussels, Belgium) and "Portraits of 108 Children" (Makoun, France) in 1999, "Children and Stranger" (Montmartre, France) and "Self-portrait" (London, UK) in 2000, "Yan Peiming: for my father, Dijon- Shanghai -Guandong" (Shanghai Arts Gallery and Guangdong Arts Gallery) in 2005. Especially, in his debut personal exhibition, "For My Father, Dijon-Shanghai -Guandong" evokes gigantic repercussions.

Stunning oil painting spread his fame across Europe

As regard artistic style, Yan Pei Ming especially adores Picasso and De Kooning, but he has hoped to develop his own painting style and mode. "In order to avoid identicalness with their creation (Picasso and DeKooning), I began to create with black and white pigments since 1980's". Most of his woks in early stages are large black-an-white portraits and the wall posters accompanying his growth during the period of Cultural Revolution. In 1980's when the artists set up societies and launched artistic movement in succession, Yan Pei Ming created his own style and skill in a more personified mode. Most of his works in early stage are still kept in a warehouse in France. At that time, he mainly created some head portrait and background is less important. Up till now, such means of artistic expression remains, unchanged.

Yan Pei Ming's portrait painting has recovered directness of paining and takes up a challenging dialog with the pubic with aggressive bearing. Yan Pei Ming began to draw large head portrait of Mao Zedong in 1987. In his debut personal exhibition in France in 1991, he indicated, "Through his history, my story has just begum", introducing himself by an omnipresent and all-known leading idol. In Yan Pei Ming' s fame-winning work, Mao Zedong's portrait is just a key piece of work. Yan Pei Ming has presented the recalls about Cultural Revolution through a special way. In other word, his portrait in itself, large format and the artistic employment imply the mode of language typical of Cultural Revolution - a violent or potent feeling, so the freshness and thrill is complete new to European.

Bruce Lee's portrait painted by Yan Pei Ming is a thrilling experience for French fine arts circle. In 1993, Yan Pei Ming won the "Prix de Rome", which has been set up be French Government and is famous in the arts history. Poussin, David, Ingres, Debussy and Berlioz have won the award. Thus Yan Pei Ming got the chance for a year of further study in Villa Medici in Rome. "Swamp Outlaws-108 Brave Men" was created in this period. In later portrait creation, Yan Pei Ming expanded his topics to social problems more and more. Portrait for the humble is the reflection of such expansion. Those small figures with nothing in the developed systematized society - migrant, disable, whorl, thieve and waif have become objects of his creation. That is also the question of the artist and the small figures in base stratum of the society against the society.

In Yan Pei Ming's works, no matter great man, relative and friend, self-portrait or humble small figure, large format is used with imposing manner. He has the humble to become the giant. Thus his works have gone beyond the sphere of painting and evolved into a public media seeing through and criticizing the society. With special program-based method, he depicts some long-familiar historical events as well as photo and newspaper and magazine information derived from daily life. His subtle mocking and ambiguous language seems to ridiculing the history. Then he strives to get rid of the inhibition imposed by painting tradition and common rules to artistic creation, so as to pursue a more free and uninhibited mode of create.

Yan Pei Ming has said that it is because of his humbleness that the painting is eye-catching and large. That is the fantasy for a small figure to change into giant. His pursuit is to use the simplest material to attain the greatest effect. When Yan Pei Ming's works appear into the exhibition hall in an aggressive way, they are enough to antagonize photography and equipments, leaving and extraordinary retentive memory. Topic and format are merely partial elements. More importantly, he has turn painting into a kind of behavioral art. The course of his painting resembles a struggle. Rather than depicting, smearing or spraying, he brandishes his long brush and launches a direct attack upon the canvass, making it clanking with flying pigment. In this regard, we think about "flying brush and spraying ink; splashing as if made cracked; alienating and combining ambiguously; weird modality abruptly popping out" of Zhang Zao in Tang Dynasty and splashing of Pollock, the American abstractive expressionist master, on the canvass. Different from their emphasis on subjective revelation and self-motivation of painting, Yan Pei Ming attaches more importance to control over the process of motion and the possibility of extreme expression. He intentionally creates the tension between the works and the painting standard and subverts our intrinsic knowledge and intuition about painting on the easel. He finishes a large painting at high speed, deconstructs the image while creating it and isolation between idol worship and idol attack. While using monochromatic painting to intensify purity, he also partially dissolves language crux about painting and turns the easel painting in studio into plan for public artistic movement.

In the large-format portrait oil painting, Yan Pei Ming has used the skill of large brush and unique style. The painting is a bit disorder at close sight. Viewing from distance, it is always stunning and evokes emotional echo. Hou Hanru, the exhibition planner makes such evaluat ion: "Yan Pei Ming is surely among the most uncompromising painters in our era. Looking at those potent works of Yan Pei Ming, you are fully exposed to a powerful tension and clash and have a sense about the intimacy between art and life." Yan Pei Ming's works emanates tangy contradiction and sense of crisis and at the same time present a metaphor for nihility of human, even universe and life. his style and technique is different from the western painting. In oil painting creation, he firstly creates the dashes resembling the cursive script in Chinese calligraphy, demonstrating the uninhibited subversion to tradition and norms as well as the free creation spirit.

Outside blooming sends fragrance inside

In term of reputation in China, Yan Pei Ming seems to fall short of Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, etc. According to analysis of many renowned theorists, that is mostly because the entire career of Yan Pei Ming since youth was developed abroad. He has settled in France since 1980. Yan Pei Ming has not participated in the three decades of development contemporary Chinese arts. Instead, he "silently" created a large amount of oil paintings in Europe. Most of them are portrait arts. He keeps trying to reveal the human nature behind the topic figure. As said by Hou Hanru, the renowned international exhibition planner, "Yan Pei Ming's arts career has basically started from the west. His unique painting has stunned western arts circle, especially in an epoch when the tradition is facing disintegration that painting is used as a carrier for a king of artistic norm or ideology. Actually, his persistence in painting is more because of his interest in human, rather than stubbornness in material use. Directness of painting, especially portrait, has provided the approach for direct contact with various person in real life. Each time of create is such a chance."

In international stage, Yan Pei Ming shall be a member of the overseas group including Cai Guo Qiang, Xu Bing, Huang Yong Ping, Gu Wenda and Wang Keping. This group of artists has ideology of cotemporary Chinese arts to a level integrating modern and Chinese features. As said by Yan Pei Ming himself, "My goal is on the summit, to be recognized by the world and to become an artist with world influence. What I feel now is that I have not entered the court to play ball, but still sit on the backseat. My road is yet to begin and I am still in preparation."