EXHIBITED:
Shanghai Biennale 1996, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, March 18-April 7, 1996

ILLUSTRATED:
Shanghai Biennale 1996, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, 1996, color illustrated, no. 47
Zhou Chunya, Timezone 8, Hong Kong, 2010, color illustrated, pp. 260-261

Zhou Chunya was born in Chongqing, China in 1955. He graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 1982, and during the period 1986-1988 he studied in Germany, where he was exposed to the influence of German expressionism and neo-expressionism.

In 1988, Zhou Chunya was awarded his MFA from the Kassel Academy of Fine Arts in Germany, and the following year he returned to China. Zhou currently divides his time between Chengdu and Shanghai; he is one of the most talented, expressive artists active in the contemporary Chinese art scene. His work combines elements from traditional Chinese literati painting with the aesthetic viewpoint of the Western neo-expressionist movement. From early works such as “Sheap Shearing” through to the series of paintings that Zhou produced after his return from studying in Germany (including the “Stones,” “Landscapes,” “Heigen,” “Green Dog,” “Red Man” and “Peach Blossom” series), Zhou Chunya’s work has always been richly varied and expressive, and his paintings have attracted considerable attention in the contemporary art market. Recently, Zhou established the 5 Colors Foundation to help children injured in the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008 to receive support and a proper education. The first retrospective exhibition of Zhou Chunya’s work was held at the Shanghai Art Museum in 2010. The Zhou Chunya Art Academy in Shanghai has won widespread plaudits for its work.

This work by Zhou Chunya – “Mr. Heigen’s – Walking (Heigen’s Family)” was painted in 1995. Following Zhou’s marriage to his second wife in the early 1990s, they acquired a German Shepherd dog which they named Heigen. In the 1990s, keeping dogs as pets was prohibited in most Chinese cities, so Heigen had to stay in their apartment year-round. This sensitive, loyal, brave, perceptive German Shepherd dog kept Zhou Chunya and his wife company both day and night, and a close bond developed between them. Mr. and Mrs. Zhou grew so fond of Heigen that he became like a son to them; they lived together in harmony as a happy family unit. During the first few years of Heigen’s life, Zhou Chunya would paint him in monochrome, either walking, jumping around, running, or playing with Mr. and Mrs. Zhou.

This particular painting still shows traces of the influence of German neo-expressionism on Zhou Chunya’s work. However, around this time Zhou was also starting to study the Chinese literati painting tradition, at one stage producing a series of landscapes in the literati painting style with relaxed, sweeping brushstrokes, and a sense of flowing exuberance. Eventually, Zhou succeeded in fusing Western neo-expressionism with the expressionist techniques of traditional Chinese ink brush painting to create his own personal style. The artistic lexicon that he had borrowed from others was successfully made his own. “Mr. Heigen’s – Walking (Heigen’s Family)” is a classic work from this period. The brushstrokes resemble the technique used in traditional Chinese painting to depict withered trees and rocks, with the brush hairs allowed to splay out as the brush is drawn over the canvas; this adds an extra touch of vibrant expressiveness to the painting. The scene depicted in the painting has a narrative aspect to it, with Heigen shown playing with Mrs. Zhou while her husband watches contentedly off to one side. Between the male and female figures, the canvas is occupied by the dog’s movements, but in a way that depicts the essence rather than the form. Rather than using a wholly expressionist approach, Zhou’s painting somehow succeeds in bringing across a sense of joyful exuberance, presenting a story that combines family togetherness with a romantic truthfulness.

Heigen died in 1999. Zhou Chunya has said that the two saddest events in his life were the death of his father in 1969 and Heigen’s death. Although they only spent five or six years together, Heigen has become an eternal symbol through Zhou’s art.

From stones and landscapes to dogs, to green dogs, and then to peach blossom – the subject matter of Zhou Chunya’s paintings, and the techniques used, have varied considerably over the years. The works in Zhou’s “Stones” series were richly textured in their use of color and their brushwork; the “Heigen” and “Green Dog” series then saw a shift towards monochromatic paintings in which large areas of the canvas were left blank, with expressionistic brushwork in which the lines seemed almost to have emerged spontaneously, before Zhou went on to produce the “Peach Blossom” series of paintings with their bold, rich colors. What ties all of these series together is that, in every case, Zhou Chunya was painting things, people, creatures or scenes that were close to him or had particular meaning for him. In these works, Zhou succeeded in transforming the sad and painful aspects of life through a focus on what is beautiful, moving and true. The sincerity of the connections between Zhou Chunya’s art and his own life is precisely the factor that has made his artistic career such a success, and which has enriched his work and given it real depth.