ILLUSTRATED:

Blooming Stories, Sichuan Fine Art Publishing Co., Sichuan, 2007, color illustrated, p. 115

Zhou Chunya has always had a special affinity for sculptures because to him, the world of sculpture deals in structure, volume and form without having to deal with trivial concerns like a concrete narrative. The simplicity of form is particularly suited to expressing the inner character of design art while its symbolism is also more widely accepted and constant.

The sculpture Green Dog is unique in its form and presentation. Here the artist has sought to find a common path between painting and sculpture. While one deals with brush strokes, canvas and shapes, the other deals with feel, dimensions and presence. Zhou had in the past treated painting as a way of sculpting on canvas. In his sculpture, this sense of presence, dimensions and feel was elevated to give his work a masculine and extroverted air. In his sculptural expression, Zhou imbued power and speed within a very stylized body structure. The paradox and conflict between the dynamic and static presents a power unchecked yet not unleashed.

In his paintings Zhou uses a wide range of vocabulary from sculpture so the traditional image is freed from its introverted nature. In its place is an energetic and slightly "violent" character.

Zhou Chunya: Color is my resonance

Rockeries, flowers, portraits, green dog,peach blossoms, and red people, all thesewords conclude the themes of Zhou'spaintings. Yet, what cannot be concludedare the changes in twenty-one years of herleaving from Sichuan, China to Germany,and from Germany to Sichuan since 1986.

Zhou is honored as the most brilliantartist in color using in the contemporaryChina. His gentle appearance cannothide his unrestrained strokes. In the pastyear, Zhou has been the new climaxof the auction and is still rising. Hispaintings are not to prove the reality, andhe abolishes metaphors and symbols.The deepest and the most natural thingshidden in the others' minds are clearlyand simply presented. For him, either thehistory of art, or sociology or moral isothers' conclusion. His intention is simply"to paint at will!"

In March 3rd, 2007, Zhou began hispersonal exhibition - Blooming Stories - the Today Art Museum, Bejing, whichexhibited his recent peach blossoms seriesand his latest work of sculpture. Thewhole gallery was crowded by the seriesworks of peach blossoms, green dogs, andred people.

Presenting the result, this exhibitionturned the "green dogs" into the realentity, and the intention of the artist intoan experimental and concrete language.Zhou's intention of painting the "greendogs" is "when it is sculpted, its strokesand structure absorb the characteristicsof the paintings of flowers and birds ofthe men of letters, and thus becomes thefusion of both the sculpture and painting.When I look at the classic paintings, Iusually think about the entity as wellas the spatial sense of the sculpture. Inthe meantime, I realize the depth of thesculpture from that huge negative space.Boldly I magnify the visual characteristichidden behind those classic paintings, andget an amazing result."

Among the comments about his latests culptur e , one s ays : in hi s way ofpresenting his sculpture, Zhou hidesthe power and speed inside the mostsophisticated structure, and between theconflict of the dynamic and the staticthere stores a silent explosive force. Zhoupersonally likes his friend's commentbetter, "My friends said that my paintingshave "a sense of gentle violence," whichcould not be more real. Putting the beautyof the peach blossoms and the violence ofa wolfhound presents a strong contrast forboth visual and psychological, in which Ihave been intoxicated. The meaning of mypainting is always between "gentleness"and "violence" - and from the wolfhoundto the peach blossoms a transformationfrom "violence" to "gentleness" thusbegins."

Just like their creator, Zhou's works areneither social nor symbolic, but truereflections of one's mind: an amiableappearance hides a firm will, a longgeographical culture and a vast toleranceof everything - this is the spiritual qualityof Sichuan people which is clearlypresented in the artist's Green Dogs series.While a critic always tries to understandan artistic style and transformation froma social or a historical aspect, the artistpresents the tradition of an intellectualfamily, an urban personality of delicacyand extravagancy, and a personal styleof gentle and passion. Thus the granddiscourse of the vitality of art for the otherartists becomes his footnote, just like theflying dust can never compare with thebeauty of the daring blossoms.

The Turn

His stay in Germany from 1986 to 1988is a critical time for Zhou. Every artisthas a turn which changes his or herstyle. "I would not have made myself gofurther if without those three years." Inthose years, Baselitz, Penck, and Kieferbecame his favorites, and he was deeplymoved by the new expressionist paintersin Germany. In the first year in Germany(1987), he created nothing. The trace ofRed Horses and Blue Oxen painted in1988 can still be found in his Green Dogsseries. However, they are not the ultimatedecisive force.

An incident made him decide to returnto China. Once Zhou visited a smallexhibition, and saw a note hung onan artist's booth said, "My works areoriginal, not made in China." That artist's understanding of China came from hisonly visit to Hong Kong, where he sawmany reproductions of paintings andthus believed that China was a placemaking reproductions. "At that time I feltthat Chinese artists have no dignity atall." This is why he returned to China.Another call of hometown was from anancient piece of Chinese music - On theFrontiers. Two Chinese musicians askedhim to organize a concert in Germany andsent him a sample of music. Zhou wastotally overcome by its melody, and evennow he still insists on listening to thiskind of music only.

Zhou began to paint the Rocks series afterhe came back to China, which are veryprecious. A famous critic commented thatZhou amazedly fuses the impression ofthe Chinese landscape paintings and theframe view of the Western painting, andthus presents a sublime beyond geography,history and culture, which leads thebeholders into a primitive and hugewonderland. Zhou said, "I don't know whylandscape is the permanent theme for thetraditional Chinese paintings. Perhapslandscape symbolizes nature, and itspower and integrity makes the artist fullypresent his spirit as well as his paintingtechniques." "I painted rocks not becauseof images or symbols, but of interests. Ilike the landscape painted by the ancientmen of letters, but I am not satisfied withthat gentle and inward style. I want to trya daring and extravagant way - to presenta violent ever pornographic sense withsuch a classic form."

Zhou began to paint when he was sixteenin 1971. His father passed away twoyears before that, and as a literary critic,his father left him a huge amount ofbooks and some important traditionalChinese landscape paintings. The fathertransmitted his love of landscape paintingsto his son.

In 1992, Zhou began to create his first oilpainting series, Rockeries. The Landscapeseries presents the five colors of thetraditional Chinese painting with the oilpaint. The "crust" of the oil paint coversa large part of the canvas and thus bringsa three-dimension effect for the picture.The artist prefers an abstract style, buthe did not forget to add the detail of thereality as the traditional Chinese paintingdoes, and this style reaches its climate inthese works. Zhou said, " To paint a faceis like to paint a rock: I think a lot aboutthe shape and the image. Under these twocircumstances the themes are important,and paint Heigan makes me very excited."

1994 was an important year. His friendgave him a German Sheepdog, Heigan.He never had a dog before, but he likesit a lot. Although it became very violentsometimes, but it always loves its master.From the day it came, they always havebeen sleeping on the same bed, and verysoon, it became Zhou's favorite themefor painting. In 1997, he first paintedHeigan in green. Zhou explained that itwas a coincidence. In July, 1997, Zhouand Mao Yan held a joint exhibitionThe Characteristics of Portraits. In anarticle in the album of the exhibitedpaintings, an art critic said that Zhouused green because he had been in loveat that time: in China, green is associatedwith aggressiveness. Yet what matters isneither green nor black, for color is theonly matter for Zhou.

Color

Zhou's early style originated from hisexperience in the Tibetan area. In 1980,Zhou visited the Tibetan area near Sichuanprovince several times. The appearances,frank personalities and the colorfulclothes of the Tibetans soon becameone of the artist's favorite themes. Until1991, Tibetan people have always been afrequent theme in Zhou's works. In thoseyears, Zhou recalled that once he wanteda pure idea, and he painted flowers onlyfor practicing the use of colors. Now, heunderstands that flower itself can be thetheme for painting. Around the same timein the 90s, Zhou was creating anotherseries, The Peach Blossoms, with yellow,green and few strokes of pink to paint thepeach blossoms in the vase.Comparingwith the series works of Rockeries, GreenDog, and the Peach Blossoms, in the 90s,the portraits he sometimes painted for hisfriends are more like a sketch of life, aproof of time, and a detail complementaryof the artist's life.

To his own style, Zhou believes that anartistic language forms gradually, not asudden eruption, and that it is related toone's culture, self-cultivation, and viewof life. "I always have new thoughts, butI don't want to give up the tradition. Myartistic language owns a strong personalstyle, and such style can be found in TheGreen Dog and Tahu Rock. An artist musthave his own uniqueness, be differentfrom others: a different language, adifferent color, a different subject, forsimilarities are not fun at all. Somepaintings emphasize on the content, likethe Political pop, which emphasizes onsociety, and some paintings emphasize onthe ways of expression. In my paintings,color i s very s t rong, for I am ver ysensitive to colors, and colors are myresonance."

To himself, Zhou admits his own conflictbetween tradition and novelty. "Unlikesome artists who discard tradition anddemand for novelty, such spirit is veryprecious to discard restraint for novelty,I am different. The subjects I choose,the techniques and colors I use are veryambiguous. I am a person who thinks alot, reviews a lot before I take the nextstep. I am not those who dare to marchforward regardless of everything. I havebeen deeply influenced by the Chinesetradition, which I can never be rid offwherever I am."