PRINTCatalogue Note:
ZHOU CHUNYA
OVERFLOWING TALENT - THE HEART OF A LITERATI
Zhou Chunya, a talented artist who remains true to his principles and beliefs, rose to prominence in the era which contemporary Chinese art took the world by storm. Caught in the flow of the times but never letting himself become swept away, his sole pursuit is that of his truest feelings and desire toward art. By creating unique and vivid works that move and amaze, he rises from the hustle and bustle of the material world and shines above all.
If the Modernist movement which had originated in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century brought artistic visions to unexplored frontiers, then the contemporary Chinese art movement engendered by China’s Sichuan Fine Arts Institute at the end of the twentieth century not only revolutionized Chinese mainstream culture with new energy, but moreover grew into a superstorm that forever changed the global art market. This power that has shaken the art world arose in Sichuan around the 1980s. Within the cultural hotbed of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute attended by young students like Zhou Chunya, history was written on modern Chinese art. Following Mao Zedong’s death and the conclusion of the Cultural Revolution, China retrived higher education entrance exams in 1977. As such, Zhou Chunya was accepted into Sichuan Fine Arts Institute along with Luo Zhongli, Zhang Xiaogang, He Duoling, Cheng Tsunglin, and Gao Xiaohua. Despite their differences in age and artistic experience, they were all youths who held fast to their artistic dreams in times of materialistic poverty. To have entered Sichuan Fine Arts Institute together during such times, they were truly the greatest of their generation.
ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PRAIRIES
As a student of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhou Chunya came to the grasslands where the Tibetan people of Hongyuan lived in 1980, deeply attracted by the distinctive colors of the views there as well as the simplicity of the people. He once reminisced that, “At the time, I had never seen the colors of the prairies, the colors of their clothing. I had never met ethnic minorities before, and when I did, I was instantly stunned by their colors.” (Interview of Zhou Chunya and Li Xianting, Zhou Chunya, 2010, p. 25) Thereafter, Zhou Chunya picked up his brush and painted frame after frame of colors of the earth glistening beneath the sun. It was around this time that Zhou Chunya’s classmates Gao Xiaohua and Cheng Tsunglin also adopted ethnic minorities as their subjects, creating a new trend known as “Scar Art” through which they observed the day to day survival of those people. Together with Luo Zhongli, who primarily portrayed the lives of farmers, the works of these arts amassed widespread attention. Though his art was also centered on ethnic minorities back then, Zhou Chunya’s works were not built upon epic descriptions of national fate like that of “Scar Art,” nor did they embody literary expressions of emotion. What the works did express, however, was the artist’s pure and simple pursuit of art.
This auction features a series of works painted by Zhou Chunya since 1981 just as he was in the midst of establishing his unique personal style. The paintings are heavily coated with colors of the earth, the dark, sun-tanned faces and hands of the Tibetan people, and the vibrant, saturated colors of their clothing. His expression of colors had already differed from what he had been taught in the Institute, one which had been derived from the social realist methods of the Soviet Union. Instead, he incorporated the daily observations he and his comrade Zhang Xiaogang absorbed from the European Impressionist art books in the library collection of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. He used a plethora of textures to depict the brilliancy of colors glistening beneath the sun, and utilized dynamic lines to interpret the natural beauty of the Tibetan people. The large surface areas within his composition express his outstanding talent for figurative exploration; for example, “Portrait of a Tibetan Woman” exhibits a warm sense of trusty dependability, “Portrait of a Tibetan Elder” hints at times gone by, while “Portrait of a Tibetan Youth” features simplistic brush strokes for representing the body in contrast with the youth’s delicately delineated face. On the other hand, “Sheepshearing” was inspired by a visit to the Zoigê grasslands. “Sheepshearing” depicts a group of Tibetans crowded around a sheep to shear its wool. The colors are piled on with bold, rough brush strokes, but the different textures of the skin, cloth and wool glistening beneath the sun are delicately rendered. The thick, black outlines moreover complement the glowing colors that shine with an ethereal light like the mosaics of European cathedrals. Just before his graduation from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhou Chunya submitted this piece of art; not only was it selected and included in the Art Exhibition of China, the most important event in the world of Chinese art at the time, it moreover garnered an award.
OVERFLOWING TALENT - THE HEART OF A LITERATI
Zhou Chunya, a talented artist who remains true to his principles and beliefs, rose to prominence in the era which contemporary Chinese art took the world by storm. Caught in the flow of the times but never letting himself become swept away, his sole pursuit is that of his truest feelings and desire toward art. By creating unique and vivid works that move and amaze, he rises from the hustle and bustle of the material world and shines above all.
If the Modernist movement which had originated in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century brought artistic visions to unexplored frontiers, then the contemporary Chinese art movement engendered by China’s Sichuan Fine Arts Institute at the end of the twentieth century not only revolutionized Chinese mainstream culture with new energy, but moreover grew into a superstorm that forever changed the global art market. This power that has shaken the art world arose in Sichuan around the 1980s. Within the cultural hotbed of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute attended by young students like Zhou Chunya, history was written on modern Chinese art. Following Mao Zedong’s death and the conclusion of the Cultural Revolution, China retrived higher education entrance exams in 1977. As such, Zhou Chunya was accepted into Sichuan Fine Arts Institute along with Luo Zhongli, Zhang Xiaogang, He Duoling, Cheng Tsunglin, and Gao Xiaohua. Despite their differences in age and artistic experience, they were all youths who held fast to their artistic dreams in times of materialistic poverty. To have entered Sichuan Fine Arts Institute together during such times, they were truly the greatest of their generation.
ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PRAIRIES
As a student of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhou Chunya came to the grasslands where the Tibetan people of Hongyuan lived in 1980, deeply attracted by the distinctive colors of the views there as well as the simplicity of the people. He once reminisced that, “At the time, I had never seen the colors of the prairies, the colors of their clothing. I had never met ethnic minorities before, and when I did, I was instantly stunned by their colors.” (Interview of Zhou Chunya and Li Xianting, Zhou Chunya, 2010, p. 25) Thereafter, Zhou Chunya picked up his brush and painted frame after frame of colors of the earth glistening beneath the sun. It was around this time that Zhou Chunya’s classmates Gao Xiaohua and Cheng Tsunglin also adopted ethnic minorities as their subjects, creating a new trend known as “Scar Art” through which they observed the day to day survival of those people. Together with Luo Zhongli, who primarily portrayed the lives of farmers, the works of these arts amassed widespread attention. Though his art was also centered on ethnic minorities back then, Zhou Chunya’s works were not built upon epic descriptions of national fate like that of “Scar Art,” nor did they embody literary expressions of emotion. What the works did express, however, was the artist’s pure and simple pursuit of art.
This auction features a series of works painted by Zhou Chunya since 1981 just as he was in the midst of establishing his unique personal style. The paintings are heavily coated with colors of the earth, the dark, sun-tanned faces and hands of the Tibetan people, and the vibrant, saturated colors of their clothing. His expression of colors had already differed from what he had been taught in the Institute, one which had been derived from the social realist methods of the Soviet Union. Instead, he incorporated the daily observations he and his comrade Zhang Xiaogang absorbed from the European Impressionist art books in the library collection of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. He used a plethora of textures to depict the brilliancy of colors glistening beneath the sun, and utilized dynamic lines to interpret the natural beauty of the Tibetan people. The large surface areas within his composition express his outstanding talent for figurative exploration; for example, “Portrait of a Tibetan Woman” exhibits a warm sense of trusty dependability, “Portrait of a Tibetan Elder” hints at times gone by, while “Portrait of a Tibetan Youth” features simplistic brush strokes for representing the body in contrast with the youth’s delicately delineated face. On the other hand, “Sheepshearing” was inspired by a visit to the Zoigê grasslands. “Sheepshearing” depicts a group of Tibetans crowded around a sheep to shear its wool. The colors are piled on with bold, rough brush strokes, but the different textures of the skin, cloth and wool glistening beneath the sun are delicately rendered. The thick, black outlines moreover complement the glowing colors that shine with an ethereal light like the mosaics of European cathedrals. Just before his graduation from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhou Chunya submitted this piece of art; not only was it selected and included in the Art Exhibition of China, the most important event in the world of Chinese art at the time, it moreover garnered an award.