Cheng Yajie's Media Reports

If you are an artist who talks about Kan Kan with some admiration and fear, only to find that you have become an artist in Kan Kan, it must be Cheng Yajie. He is elegant, modest, honest and wise. Can you miss this feast of the soul? Facing Cheng Yajie who listens, you will really think that he is not a god, but a human being.

When you walk into Cheng Yajie, you will always hear his inner voice from his words and works-longing for silence. He can not hesitate to put off all kinds of enthusiastic invitations and exchange activities and create his own warm world: painting, music, fitness and family. This surprises us that some people want to push themselves to the forefront of social focus at any cost. He said: do your own thing with peace of mind and not be disturbed by fame and fortune. How can a person succeed? Just be happy! In the face of such a quiet Cheng Yajie, you will be fascinated by his low-key and truth!

He was born for art! He has very rich artistic experience, from decoration, dance beauty to fashion design. His pursuit of the highest artistic realm never stopped, from China to Japan, the former Soviet Union, Europe and the United States to study and inspect. His artistic style is never static. He absorbed the essence from Soviet academic school, French impressionism, European and American classicism and Vienna fantasy realism school, and formed his own unique painting language. He became the proud pupil of the fantasy realism school of Wolfgang Huth, the top Austrian artist, and the only China artist who shook the monopoly of foreign artists in the world-famous SHEBA competition. This is the persistent master of art, Mr. Cheng Yajie!

He is also a thoughtful painter, who thinks that without superb professional skills, he can't be everyone. However, if you want to be a leader, you must be a "spiritual leader" beyond technology. Therefore, he told a beautiful and wonderful story to the audience in the painting with the ultra-thin skills of pure classical oil painting, the rich colors of Impressionism and the dreamy language of the film. His paintings are not elegant furnishings and ethereal artistic conception, but let people touch the purity in their hearts and pick up the beauty forgotten in the distance.

Maybe if a person chooses painting, he chooses wandering, and he is doomed to stop. Cheng Yajie laughed and called his painting "Esperanto". Not long ago, Mr. Cheng Yajie personally led an art troupe to Taiwan Province Province to participate in the "Special Exhibition of Horse Painting in the Year of the Horse in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895", which showed the world the unique charm of China's traditional zodiac culture and promoted cultural and artistic exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Mr. Cheng Yajie said in his speech: "This exhibition shows the culture of our zodiac horse. China is a country of poetry with a history of 5,000 years of civilization. She has too many poems that praise friendship and pay attention to communication. However, when China has our friendship, heaven is still our neighbor, and a famous China poem has gone abroad to the world. Under the excellent cross-strait situation today, people and mass organizations on both sides of the strait should be more United and contribute to the common goal of rejuvenating China. "

Mr. Cheng Yajie, a painter, takes painting as a medium and literature as a friend to promote cultural, aesthetic and emotional exchanges between people on both sides of the strait. Taiwan Province politicians, celebrities and overseas Chinese have sent congratulatory messages, congratulatory messages and flower baskets. The strong social response of this trip is rare for cross-strait exhibitions in recent years. As an overseas painter, Mr. Cheng Yajie has a deep affection for China and is rooted in China. He hopes to build a cross-strait cultural bridge with painting and do his bit to promote cross-strait cultural integration and development.

Cartographic periodical author: Du Zhonghua

Cheng Yajie is a mysterious name in the domestic art circle.

However, in the art comprehensive auction index of Yachang Art Network, he has been ranked in more than a dozen for many years, which is definitely an extremely important indicator and position for contemporary artists. Some heavyweight deals in the art circle occasionally come up with Cheng Yajie's name-"Gone with the Wind", because he often connects with top international collectors and contemporary art in China like a needle in a needle. People rarely see his reports, and even if there is, they rarely see his face; Even if it appears, I don't like to make public, and I even feel like doing nothing. Only after in-depth contact did I know that all this was inseparable from his status as an international master painter in Singapore-1995, he was invited to paint the portrait of Singaporean President Lee Kuan Yew, which had a great influence in Singapore's political and business circles. As an artist whose works are widely collected by the National Gallery of Singapore, Cheng Yajie's low-key and rigorous style is directly related to the style of this country.

The Evolution from Su School, Impressionism to Wise

Every painter's experience of learning painting is similar, but the road to success is different. Looking back on his artistic path, Cheng Yajie summed it up in two points: one is solid foundation, and the other is good luck.

Cheng Yajie was born in Beijing and moved to Tianjin because his father worked in Tianjin TV station. He has been fond of painting since he was four or five years old. Although careless, it also shows special artistic talent and childlike interest. When I was studying in Pingshan Road Middle School, I studied painting with famous artists such as Shu and Bu, and my painting skills improved greatly. 1975 was admitted to Tianjin arts and crafts school and studied decorative arts for three years. After graduation, he was assigned to Tianjin People's Arts to engage in dance beauty and fashion design. During this period, he began to transition from practical art design to pure painting. Three years later, he was admitted to the Oil Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts.

"You know, at that time, China studied oil painting in the Su school, with accurate modeling and structure, solid basic skills in sketching and proper use of colors; However, it is easy to "freeze" your personality by painting Su School all the time. At this moment, the west wind spread to the east, and the impressionist's relaxed brushwork and color application excited me, so I went to nature to paint landscapes and capture the changes of light and shadow. After a period of' relaxation', when you look back and draw characters, the structure, texture and inner depiction are relatively weak; At this moment, Wise's painting style came in again. Wise's surrealism painting style was exquisite and solid, which just made up for the shortcomings of Impressionism. The integration of these three styles of painting has given me both accurate modeling methods and a sensitive grasp of color ... Our generation of painters is really lucky. " Cheng Yajie concluded this way.

Cheng Yajie has made his mark in the art world since his college days. During this period, his oil painting "Silent Rain" was selected for the National Art Exhibition and won the Excellent Works Award; "The Returning Pigeon" was selected for the World University Student Art Exhibition and collected by Mei Wei Michiko, Chairman of the Executive Committee; Judo performance "Silver Flower" was selected for the National Olympic Sports Art Exhibition and was collected by Tianjin Sports Commission. After Heart Melody was published in Poetry magazine by his wife as a model, Wang Guozhen, an idol poet at that time, praised it affectionately: "Just a silent gesture is enough to fascinate the world ..."

Master Huth's Oriental Disciple

Although art knows no national boundaries, as an imported oil painting, it is Cheng Yajie's lifelong yearning to make a pilgrimage to his hometown. It was with this in mind that 1990, he went to Surikov Academy of Fine Arts in the Soviet Union for further study. "When I stood in front of Xie Luofu's landscape painting, I was immediately shocked. A tear welled up in my eyes, and my whole body could not move like a frozen stiff, completely entering a state of forgetting. It's so well painted! It's completely different from what I saw in printed matter before. The rich changes in brushstrokes, textures and colors of paintings can only be seen so truly and happily in front of the original! " Cheng Yajie seems to be still immersed in the artistic enjoyment of that year and excited.

Unfortunately, this wonderful study life lasted only one year, and then the Soviet Union disintegrated. Social unrest, school closure, Cheng Yajie had to reluctantly fly to another art shrine-Vienna.

Vienna is the music city of the world, and there are many world-class masters like Klimt in the field of fine arts. Wolfgang Huth, the founder of the fantasy realistic painting school, who is known as "Mozart in the art world", attracts Cheng Yajie like a magnet. He heard that Huth had a "master class" and was eager to try. But when he arrived at the Vienna Institute of Applied Fine Arts, the registration had ended, and the candidates were waiting in a long line outside the campus for an interview. In desperation, he had to bite the bullet and enter the examination room from the back door. He doesn't have an application form, and he doesn't know German. He only knows a few exercises. Mr. Huth looked at them one by one, then stopped in front of the painting "Silver Flower" and asked, "Did you draw this?" Cheng Yajie answered "Yes". Huth went on to say something, but he couldn't understand it, so he hired a German-speaking China interpreter from the corridor. The translator told him: "Hus thinks your painting is incredible, which is the real art, but he doesn't believe it was painted by you: because your silver flowers are realistic and your landscape paintings are impressionist, Hus doesn't believe that one person can draw such a painting with different styles."

"If you really painted, you can graduate now!" Huth said with great certainty that from then on, Huth had a proud Oriental disciple.

"Champion" born in the corridor

While studying fantasy realism with Huth, Cheng Yajie also studied architecture and the production and maintenance of oil paintings. Imagine how pleasant it would be to work in the Louvre in Paris after graduation and repair the famous paintings of the masters every day! What impressed me the most was sketching the human body in the amphitheatre. Modern art is popular in Europe and America, and students' realistic skills are generally poor. When Cheng Yajie stood in front of the easel and accurately drew the structure of the human body with smooth lines, all the students stopped drawing and surrounded him layer by layer, staring at his hand with a pencil with amazing eyes, as if wondering how the magician on the stage turned a living person out of an empty box. At that moment, he was a little proud and encouraged.

Opportunities always favor those who are prepared. In the second grade, there was a famous SHEBA competition in Europe to collect works from the society, and the receiving office was located in Vienna Institute of Applied Fine Arts. When Cheng Yajie learned the news, not only did the registration end, but all the applied works were collected. Cheng Yajie hastily drew a portrait of an Austrian girl holding a cat and named it My Baby. When he sent the wet oil painting to the mailroom of the college, he was told that the entries had been sealed. He didn't give up. He hurriedly filled out a form and put it on the sealed bag. The painting was invited to the corridor, and everything was resigned to fate.

A week later, My Baby broke the monopoly position of Europeans and was successfully selected for the Bruno Competition! As for this painting thrown in the corridor, how it was discovered and passed by the judges is still a mystery. Next, "My Baby" toured European countries, published picture books, was collected by art galleries, and signed contracts with famous galleries ... overnight, he became a star and obtained the right of abode in Austria, which made him bright and promising. From 65438 to 0994, Cheng Yajie graduated from Huth's "Master Class". Did he stay in Europe to explore the mysteries of western art? Or go back to the East and combine the artistic essence learned in the study with the cultural elements you are familiar with, and then climb new artistic peaks? After much consideration and weighing, Cheng Yajie chose to settle in Singapore, where the cultural background and customs are more "oriental".

"draw things that others can't see"

After more than 20 years' unremitting pursuit, Cheng Yajie combined the painting spirit and techniques of Austrian dream realism founder Hus with the oriental aesthetic taste, and created a unique painting style of depicting dreams in Esperanto, which attracted wide attention and praise at home and abroad.

What is dream realism? Dream realism combines dreams and reality in a very dramatic way, and expresses the painter's subjective feelings about the world and life by means of symbols and metaphors. Its founder is Cheng Yajie's mentor and Austrian national treasure artist Wolfgang Huth.

"Your skill is very good," Huth said in his first class for Cheng Yajie. "This is your basic skill in the field of painting, and it doesn't mean that you are already an artist or a master. What is an artist or a master? It is to master a technology and create your own style through this technology, otherwise you are just a craftsman or craftsman. "

Hutt also taught Cheng Yajie that colors should be "mixed" in space and blended into the air, instead of being laid flat on canvas and superimposed layer by layer; The color above and the color below should have a "breath", be able to "talk" and make a "dowry" for the first time and the second time. The color covered is not a negation of the color below ... Finally, Cheng Yajie said that he has learned a superb method of using color, which feels like painting in a mirror, and the painted things have a strong sense of texture and space. 1994, one of his 29×29 cm oil paintings was sold at Christie's in Hong Kong for120,000 Hong Kong dollars, using this technique.

There is also the question of "what to draw". "In the past, when we painted, we considered color tone, composition and image, which were all passive. The technical thing is to copy nature, not to create it. The biggest gain from learning from Huth is learning to draw things that others can't see. In fact, there is nothing that others can't see, but the angle you are looking for must be different. You must show it in your own unique way, so that people can taste and think slowly and appreciate the painter's true feelings and attitudes towards nature and life. This is the real artist. " Cheng Yajie said.

Wang Guozhen writes poems for his paintings.

At the beginning of last century, psychoanalysis, which arose with Freud's dream interpretation, gave birth to the surrealist school of painting, whose representatives, such as Miro and Dali, brought people into a world full of anxiety, fear and absurdity through fantastic pictures. The school of fantasy realism represented by Huth emphasizes the use of figurative, colorful and elaborate painting language to create a world that is both real and illusory and full of romantic imagination.

In the process of learning from Huth, Cheng Yajie quickly digested and mastered the teacher's theory, but he was quite confused when studying his works. Huth's understanding and expression of color, flowers and human body is completely western, and his spiritual realm is completely different from ours. How to find the balance point and intersection point in the huge gap between eastern and western cultures? That is to say, as a China painter, he can't use "German", but must use "Chinese" or even "Esperanto" so that readers in the East and the West can understand and be influenced by art.

At this moment, he thought of the doll. "Childhood things have no national boundaries, such as Barbie dolls, which children all over the world can understand and love. Innocence is one of the most pure and lovely qualities of human beings, and the psychology and emotion it reflects are as transparent and beautiful as a mirror ... "

He asked Santa Claus to "whisper" to bears and ducklings; Let Mickey Mouse meet Japanese girls; Let the little bear and the duckling sit on the big bear's leg and "listen to mom's past stories"; Let Pavarotti turn into a fat old duck and sing "I Love Beijing Tiananmen Square" with the children in Vienna Boys' Choir ... He also turned his favorite classical buildings-the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Louvre and the Leaning Tower of Pisa-into cultural symbols and interspersed them in the doll world, so that East and West, classical and modern can imagine and think together.

Cheng Yajie's schema is the same as his, with elegant appearance and fashionable dress. He painted some cartoon images with classical techniques and brushstrokes, and examined reality with dreams, which made people think deeply. Different people have different interpretations. The following interpretation of Adam and Eve comes from the poet Wang Guozhen.

( 1)

Anything that is forbidden

It is often tempting.

The ancestors of mankind

I've eaten forbidden fruit, too.

Be careful.

Maybe a snake is seducing you.

free will

This is certainly good.

Just don't forget to remind yourself.

No, rolling in the deep sea.

Even sin.

(2)

Depressed mood

It seems to be always accompanied by torture.

Bring the company you need.

That's just a fragment.

There are no legends.

Even if you can't resist the temptation

Hold on to time, too

Even if it can't stand the years.

Let it all go.

Leave an unforgettable memory, the first issue of Cartography Magazine 20 13.

In today's era of great communication, great integration and great collision between economy and art, painters can only create works with the characteristics of the times and spiritual strength by constantly innovating, surpassing themselves and advancing with the times. Only in this way can a painter who holds high the original spirit be a modern painter in the true sense. Cheng Yajie, a China oil painter who lives in Singapore, has a valuable artistic style. His works range from the initial socialist realism to fantasy world, and then to surrealism which can better express his fantasy about the world. He created a brand-new context with his unique artistic style. In his works, visual experience, spatial imagination and magical reality meet skillfully, with beautiful and distinct artistic characteristics, different artistic realm and artistic language, and at the same time, it shows an appeal of "keeping pace with the times".

Cheng Yajie studied painting since childhood, and then went to Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts for further study, laying a solid foundation for painting under the formal guidance of professional teachers. During my college years, I mainly focused on the traditional academic school (Su School), emphasizing the training of basic skills, and expressing the light, shadow, color, space and texture of the picture in a photo realistic way, striving for realistic atmosphere and proper portrayal. The direction of creation is to observe things from a realistic perspective and reproduce life objectively and truly. The oil painting "Countless Yellow Sands" created in college won the first prize of Tianjin University Students Art Exhibition, and "Silent Rain" won the Excellence Award of the Sixth National Art Exhibition. These realistic works reflect Cheng Yajie's solid painting skills and realistic ability. The social realism of the Soviet Union not only guided the art world in China in painting, but also influenced China in literature, music and dance, becoming the mainstream trend of thought. At that time, in addition to China's classical poems and world famous works in Europe and America, the Soviet song "Night outside Moscow" and the novel "How Steel was Tempered" also deeply influenced that generation. In addition to real life, artistic creation also has profound ideological connotation. These influences are also reflected in Cheng Yajie's works. For example, the oil painting "The Returning Pigeon", which participated in the World University Student Art Exhibition held in Japan, borrowed pigeons to bring a letter from afar to a girl who was grinding flour in the countryside, giving people room for reverie. Ms Vivian Michiko, the executive chairman of the World University Student Art Exhibition, was moved by this painting and shed tears. She sent a commissioner to China to negotiate with the painter to collect this painting. Another work, Spring, which participated in the International Youth Festival, was also collected by Japanese Mr. Hong Wen.

When Cheng Yajie created My Friend (won the second prize of Tianjin Youth Art Exhibition), his painting style began to change. The thoughts of philosophers such as Hegel and Socrates, especially Freud's psychological work "The Interpretation of Dreams", gave the painter Cheng Yajie more enlightenment, which made him start the germination of fantasy as early as 1983. The work "Silver Flower" selected for the Olympic Sports Art Exhibition shows a dreamlike "blooming flower" by using the spinning action of women's judo (the original work was collected by Tianjin Sports Commission of China). At the same time, the "wisdom" of the United States swept the Chinese art festival with lightning speed. Luo Zhongli's "Father", He Duoling's "Spring Breeze Awakening" and Chen Kaige's "Yellow Land" have brought art closer to life and given it a new language. French Impressionism, Soviet Academics and American Intellectuals have become the mainstream of China's art world. However, it is difficult to talk about how to really grasp the strengths of others and then carry them forward. "But you can broaden your horizons by walking up a flight of stairs for 300 miles", but where are the stairs? How can we create a higher level of work? There was a lack of artistic information in China at that time. If you want to know the works of European and American painting masters, you can only rely on poorly printed picture books. No matter classical or impressionist works, their colors are almost uniform. The skill of brushwork is even more difficult to distinguish. The road to the future, where to go?

The change from 1980s to 1990s means the change of cultural pattern and artistic trend of thought for the whole China fine arts and China oil paintings. In the reorganization of the new international cultural pattern, the younger generation of painters express their realistic situation and cultural memory with keen exploration. Cheng Yajie also came to Japan to study because of Painting Life. But he was disappointed when he really understood Japanese oil painting art, so he began to study in the Soviet Union at 199 1. Influenced by the Soviet School in China, Soviet art became a model for China people to learn at that time. He traveled all over the art galleries and carefully tasted the essence of the works of Surikov, Lie Bin, Hitchcock and Maksimov, and then he visited and studied European countries and their museums. "Zero distance" appreciates the classic masterpieces of artists from all over the world, which makes him have a deeper understanding of the world art trend, and thus engages in painting practice that integrates the artistic spirit of the East and the West with a broader vision. These experiences played a great role in his becoming a realist and surrealist painter in the 1990s. Poker-a war beyond time and space, without smoke and swords. However, it is the romance of a human drama. 54 seemingly equal cards, but hit by mistake, let each player get a card, has been divided into high and low. However, a good hand may not be successful, but a seemingly inconspicuous card face may change doors. This requires not only luck, but also wisdom; Only by being bold and cautious, strategizing and fighting bravely can we become strong. Poker has therefore become people's favorite, becoming a "Esperanto" magic drama.

Indeed, my 199 1 experience in the Soviet Union is enough to prove all this: the magic of the former Soviet faction once influenced all aspects of China, and I worshipped the "holy land" of the Soviet Union with a pilgrimage mentality. However, a seemingly "good card" is blurred by the players' constant changing hands. The oil painting Enigma I created during this period is my incomprehension of the Soviet Union in reality. And "password 199 1" is a variety of questions that I don't know about the Soviet Union. Then "O 199 1" is my sigh about the status quo that the Soviet Union cannot explain! That's why I started to create a series of paintings with the theme of poker, such as The Golden Married Couple and Recent Flowers. I want to use my paintings to record my mystery about the former Soviet Union. Through my works, I also discuss with people the reasons why "a good card" has many endings; At the same time, it also gives confidence to the "weak" who have bad cards: "Although poker is born by cards, it is difficult to decide the result by luck. The last strong man is a warrior who goes upstream and is a smart and pragmatic "ninja".

Cheng Yajie's poker game-a physical war with no gunfire and no flashing blades. However, it staged a drama of life and humanity.

When 54 seemingly equal cards are randomly assigned, each player is divided into winners and losers as he gets the hand. But a good hand is not a guarantee of success, and an ordinary set of cards can still turn the tables. Doing so requires not only luck, but more importantly intelligence; Only by being brave and observant, having strategy, courage and fighting spirit can you become a winner. Therefore, poker games have become people's favorite and the global language of wonderful human drama.

Exactly. Everything I met during the Soviet Union 199 1 proved this point. The magical charm of the former Soviet Union once permeated all aspects of China society, and I went to the Soviet Union to worship with the idea of pilgrimage. However, a seemingly good set of cards becomes more and more mysterious as they change hands among different players. During this period, the creation of my oil painting "Mystication" represented my confusion about the real Soviet Union and the code. 199 1 is a reflection of my numerous doubts caused by that confusion. Then, I will lament the unexplained status quo of the Soviet Union! Therefore, I began to create a series of oil paintings with the theme of poker, such as Perfect Couple (golden couple) and Butterfly Passion Romance.

I hope to use my works to record my unsolved mysteries about the former Soviet Union. And through my works, I will explore with you the principle that a good set of cards can still lead to many different results; At the same time, I hope to give courage to the weak who have not got good cards and improve their confidence level; Although poker can affect the winning or losing situation through the initial set of cards, it cannot affect the influence of luck or opportunity on the result. The ultimate victory belongs to those who have enough courage to go upstream. They are smart, pragmatic and patient ninjas.

Zhou Xingyao