PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from the artist, 1980

ILLUSTRATED:

The Cosmorama Pictorial, no. 291, 1980, coverpage

The Art of Shiy De-jinn

Shiy De- j inn once said, "In watercolor painting, the clean and beautifuldistribution of colors does not equateto success. Colors on paintings shouldportray reality and exaggeration. Shouldit delineate away from reality, it willbecome decorative and near to beingposters."

Shiy De-jinn mainly employs the use ofdarker tones as base for his paintings.Moreover, his knowledge of the nature ofcolors and its extension has reached thepeak of allowing application interface bycombining the advantages of ink paintingsand homogene i ty tha t wa t e r colorpaints hold thus reaching an even moresatisfactory standard. Among these works,the main color schemes are usually eitherdark grey or dark blue and through hisrumination of colors, it never fails to bringforth a clear breeze of homesickness. InShiy De-jinn's composition career, watercolor painting works once faded behindthe scene for a period of time and it wasnot until the 60's that his water colorworks gradually appeared. This periodof stagnation was not in the least forma wastage but as mentioned previously,it was a period where he explored anddigested the tricks of employing colorsand once again reconciling with thetouch of "wetness amongst wetness"found in water color painting. This isindeed a very huge contribution to thetransition of Chinese painting towards thecontemporary.

Shiy De-jinn is particularly adamantabout not sel f repeat ing and in theOriental arts scene, this is an extremelyWesternized idea. To be honest, the fouryears of living experience in Europe hasindeed been playing a great factor in thecontinuity of lifestyle and direction in theartist's career and this is could be linkeddirectly to the Western artistic spirit andmodernism. Interestingly, this experiencehowever led him to use native Taiwan asa theme for his compositions; whereasthe period of stay in Europe saw himplacing his focus on the skill and masteryof lines of which is evidently so in theperiod of composing sketches. And asthe man who is unwilling to self repeatsays, "Creativity is a determination whichshould be cultivated from young. Whatothers have done, I shall not do. Not onlyshall I not repeat after others, I shall alsonot repeat myself. Should life be full ofrepetition, then it will be a wastage of life...I will rather be a revolutionary artistwho fails then be one who wags its tailafter reputation....... Man is a creaturefull of creativity, thus he should be moreimportant than any system or sects ofthoughts and stress the importance ofindividuality. To the Chinese who focusesa lot on communal lifestyle, this is indeedan unconventional and groundbreakingthought. Shiy De-jinn's determinedcharacter has added much revolutionarycolors to art composition. In a bid to seeka breakthrough in perspectives, the artistwillingly uses himself as an experiment,constantly seeking creativity and this isindeed the true artistic spirit. To drawwhat we are familiar and passionateabout and draw what others do not dareto, this is done, so that we do not seek tojust draw a painting beautifully but at thesame time, we will draw a painting whichis one with an open road ahead." Being adown to earth man with a realistic attitudetowards life Shiy De-jinn is indeed onewho leaves others in awe. His manypieces of works records the memorabletimes in Taiwan or we could also saythat it recorded its "previously" beautifultimes. Be it Oriental or Western, time hastold us one thing, and it is "the best artshould always depict of the things we arefamiliar with". Shiy De-jinn is thus thebest example of this.

Born to liberal family, Shiy De-jinnis very much loved by his parents. Ashis mother was only a hardworkinghousewife who received no educationbut was equipped with nimble handsand artistic talent, she was able to createpieces of embroidery which was like reallife pieces of the natural surrounding andthat of flowers and birds. As it was vibrantand has a life of its own, it was often wellreceived by their neighbors, and in theeyes of Shiy De-jinn, this has also spurredon the desire for him to pick up drawing.Upon graduation from high school, Shiself studied for around half a year andwas finally admitted into Chengdu ArtsCollege. As the things learnt were mainlyapplication arts, thus this was not in linewith what he had initially in mind ofpursuing fine arts. As his literary sketchteacher Pang Liu Chin began to introducehim to revolutionary Western artistssuch as Matisse and Picasso, and as thegradual departure of his teacher from theschool left him with much discontent,all these factors led him to quit schooltogether with a few schoolmate andtogether, they pursued after their teachertowards an education in National ArtsAcademy which has since shifted toChongqing after being embroiled in thewar. The atmosphere of the arts scene wasboth liberal and thick in National ArtsAcademy. Interaction among teacher andstudents was frequent and together withthe same undying passion for their love ofthe arts, they got along harmoniously. Asthe students often got together to organizeart meetings and observed and learnt fromeach other, the mood for learning andpursuing excellence was prosperous. Andit was under such an environment thatShiy De-jinn started to build a foundationfor his personal artistry and it was alsoat this same time that he noticed that afew of his classmates were engaged inreading genres of literature such as poetryand drama and soon, it began to pique hisinterest which led him to start exploringforeign literature of which his favoriteis "Jean-Christophe". As time flies, ShiyDe-jinn gradually transformed from acommon village child into a modernartistic youth.

In 1945, Shiy De - j inn pi cked Li nFengmian as his teacher in Westernpainting. Lin Fengmian was extremelyrespectful of his pupil's character andupon observing the characteristics ofhis pupil, he taught them to continueto progress with a style that belongs tothem uniquely and as such, not one ofhis pupils possess the problem of havingthe same structure under one commonteacher. As Shiy De-jinn himself said, "Ifit had not been for Mr Lin's two years ofinstructions which developed and saw methrough the profundities of art and guidedme on the right path, my art will just be ofanother form which is just like any othercommon artists, unable to form its ownstyle and identity."

After declaring victory in the war in 1946,the school shifted back from Chongqingto Hangzhou. Situated at the foot of themountain near to the West Lake, theacademy has groomed many outstandingartists among which are Chu Teh-chun,Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-ki. Besidesthe liberal school culture being one ofthe main factors, it is also because of thenatural picturesque scenery in the WestLake where ancient poets fall in love withbe it Su Dong-po or Bai Juyi.

Under the influence of Lin Fengmian,Shiy De-jinn was often alone sketchingthe outlines of men and women, andportraits of head, busts, mid body and fullbody using steady and sure strokes for alllines and shapes without intermittence,hoping wholeheartedly that he willone day be as steady in his skills as histeacher. This sheer determination and hardwork was awarded with well deservingresults and it could be seen in his worksthat there are no traces of hesitation.

In 1948, Shiy De-jinn followed the207 Youth Division to Taiwan. Uponarrival, he resided in Tainan and wasimmediately captivated by the bright huesof red brought about by the flowers ofRoyal Poinciana which literally dyed theentire Tainan as its spread over the entireplace. The distinct scenery and simple,unaffected farms brought him to therealization that in his days as a student, hehas never experienced everything betweennature and the earth appropriately. It wasupon recommendation later by a classmatefrom the academy, Wu Xuerang that helater came to Chiayi High School to beappointed as an arts teacher. Together withhis students, he thus painted coconut treesand sketched real life. These adorablestudents provided the young teacher withboundless inspiration and confidence andvery often after a lesson, Shiy will stepinto the open country, the mountain and tothe beach, repeatedly admiring the thingsthat touch him and when the mood arises,he will start to sketch and as time goespast, he becomes increasingly familiarwith the boundless elegant appearanceand bearing of the scenes found in acoastal atmosphere which is distinctive ofTaiwan.

Shiy De-jinn's artistic style underwentmany different periods from Op Art toPop Art and even through the probing ofHard edge art. It was only in 1969 whenhe drew "Ox" with a realistic paintingstyle which greatly reflected GustaveCoubert's spirit that it stopped. Undersuch a theme, the painting does not needto worry about the culmination of eastand west and most importantly, it doesnot need to be restricted by the fashion,total ly imbued wi th a local f lavor.Such a choice is definitely a result ofexperimenting with a range of differentstyles and as he continues to tour aroundremote and backward corners in Taiwan,regardless of whether it is villagers whoare tanned dark, ancient places tannedred or even an ancient urn being mottledunder tanning, these will be the objectsthat he will continue to unearth so asto provide evidence of the existence ofthese things. These themes does indeedgain an opportunity for them to expressthemselves as they are not under themanipulation of the artist but of whichstems from his honest respect for them.As we observe these themes, we will alsofind that we are the object of observationat the same time.

Another issue worth mentioning whichalso happened in 1969 was that he startedto learn Chinese painting. As he wasaccustomed to using lines to presentan object and not to calculate underlightings, when he arrived Taipei andsaw the employment of dark and resolutelines and how it enhanced post 1957works with lines which are more upright,Shiy De-jinn experienced that when heis drawing a water color, the use of linesis extremely helpful towards the drawingtechnique. As such, his drawings inventeda new style of its own.

The nine pieces of works for this springauction consists of six water colors andone wash drawing which is believedto be a feast for the senses and thespirit of lovers of paintings, last one, acombination of sketch and calligraphy.This is also a passage to learn more aboutShi who has made strenuous effort ingetting on with life. More intricately, theprecious relationship held between boththe artist and collector could be observedas the collector started to show deepinterest and research on the artist's worksince young. At a personal exhibition heldin1974, the collector befriended the artisthimself and from there, a truthful anddeep friendship blossomed and in the lateryears when Shiy De-jinn was hospitalizeddue to cancer, the collector was one ofthe good friends who provided delicatecare. In last year's autumn auctions, ShiyDe-jinn's works created a stir that wasmore than enough to prove its marketand artistic value. The spring auction thisyear will once again provide everyonean opportunity to get up close with theperson and his style.