Watercolor - The Beginning - Chen Xidan's Works Exhibition

I was thinking of going to listen to a lecture on Chinese painting, but I didn't find a place, and by mistake, I caught the last train of Chen Xidan's watercolor works exhibition (this kind of incident didn't happen once or twice, so I need to reflect on it...). I need to reflect on this. Back to the topic, Chen Xidan's works are amazing. The exhibition featured more than one hundred works by Chen Xi Dan, divided into four parts: Early Watercolor Creation, Bund Centennial Series, Water Town Series and Overseas Scenery Series. The works include the traffic of the metropolis, the tenderness of the Jiangnan water town, and the street scenes of European towns. Some of them are similar to oil paintings with heavy ink and colors, while some are like overflowing water, like a dream (I really want to hold one of them and go home to enjoy it slowly). I have always been particularly fond of paintings with water, such as watercolor, such as Chinese painting." The saying "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn a boat" can also be applied here, when the paint and paper meet water, there will be a magical and wonderful chemical reaction.

Three of my favorite paintings are attached at the end of this article: Beautiful Zhujiajiao - Colorful Water Town, Dusk on the Seine River, and Little Lane 2. Love every painting by Chen Xi Dan about water. His handling of water and shadow, the inking of light is very careful, one stroke at a time, as if the river is really flowing slowly. There were several works depicting Zhujiajiao in the exhibition, among which "Beautiful Zhujiajiao - Colorful Water Town" was my favorite. When I turned around and saw this painting, I couldn't take my eyes off it anymore. The sky, the lake, the distant mountains, and the ancient houses along the waterfront, colored by the evening sun, are so calm and peaceful. Looking at the painting quietly reminded me of the sky in Canada. I remember countless evenings, driving on the highway or strolling on the city lane, there was such a similar sky that used to accompany me on my way. For the first time in more than two months since I returned home, I began to miss Canada, the country where I stayed for more than seven years.

Most of Chen Xidan's works depict the scenery of different cities, which reminds me of a painting exhibition I saw in Canada a few years ago. Most of the paintings were painted in winter, and you could vaguely see scattered pedestrians in the white background, wrapped in thick coats, walking around because it was too cold. People nowadays can rely on the artist's blessing to understand what people's lives were like a hundred years ago. Similarly, Chen Xi Dan's paintings will become witnesses of history in the distant future, recording the cityscape of the first decade or so of the twenty-first century. As far as I understand it, the difference between paintings and photographs is that paintings have more of the author's own thoughts and emotions mixed in, while photographs can show the facts more accurately. There are 10,000 Hamlets in 10,000 people's eyes, but it doesn't matter, what matters is that we must preserve these masterpieces carefully.

Photo taken at the China Art Palace, "Watercolor - The Beginning" - Chen Xidan's Artworks Exhibition