85 Times ·Life Impression
——Art Exhibition of 333 pieces of art works(1979-1989), Yang Shufeng
Nine movements
The first movement: Landscape Sketch—lost in feelings of nature
The status of natural landscape pictures is irreplaceable in the field of painting, returning to innocence is the original nature of life. Nature supplies warm loves to artists, and artists return to poppet in front of nature.
Influenced by his family and living environment, Yang Shufeng began to be infatuated with painting, and painting slowly enlightens his young heart, making him full of wonderful and romantic longing for the art world.
From going to live and work in a production team in a rural area to entering into art academy, Yang Shufeng become more and more being mad for nature. He catches sun shine and colors, listens to the poems and songs hidden in nature. Everything of nature all makes him joy and loving. In the sketching processes full of vitality and funs, Yang Shufeng improved his discernment, savvy and painting skills, realized perfect integration of colors, skills, emotions and nature in his works.
In this movement, the author applies tender but firm strokes, warm colors; soulful styling to express his worship to nature, just like babies relying on mums’ latex, and the author lost himself in pure and clean thoughts and feelings to nature. All works are emotion exchanges with nature, and process of gestating and creating lives. They are child-like true feelings, but more like lovers slowly opening hearts to infuse the eternity of nature and art into our blood.
His works at this stage have no academic atmosphere and no rigid academic technique; each work all deeply affects everyone with its immature beauty. Representative works includes “school painting”, “Honggu painting”, “Northeast China painting”, “Gannan painting”, “Xinjiang Painting”, most of which were created at the period of 1979 to 1981.
The second movement: Character Sketch—first attempt on characterizing figure with emotion
In 1980, Yang Shufeng has been in art academy for two years and finished plenty of homework on oil painting & sketch. He was very distressed at that time, for painting is an original funny deed, but finishing homework is so boring, just like repeatedly coating on targets, painting like this is not his true interests. In the third year in art academy, Yang Shufeng felt nearly stifled as in a cage with bad spirits and emotions, appearing insomnia and hair loss. He submitted to suspend his schooling without losing one's status as a student, but was not permitted by the school, so he had to stay in the academy.
In this period, Yang Shufeng visited Xinjiang area, and was deeply affected by honest enthusiasm of local minority. He began to create character paintings and sketches, expressing the hot feelings with concise strokes, simple colors in the short emotional outbreak time.
Works in this period have freedom feelings on expression, requiring less on relations of figure and color, emphasizing on emotional catharsis and reflecting inner spirits, and with more aesthetic significance. Each seemingly incomplete image all could introduce us to the feelings to the original ecological special beauty, and is intensely interesting.
The author entered a selfless art realm with complete freedom when painting. The art works created in this realm are precious, essential and valuable, possessing special brilliance and charm. We could feel the strong destructive power hidden in author’s heart in these character works. Representative works include “girl head portrait”, “classmate head portrait”, etc..
The third movement: pure art creation—vitality found the destination, deformed figures returned to expressing paintings, many human natures are expressed completely
In June, 1982, Yang Shufeng graduated from art department of Normal University. In the suffering of waiting for allotment, he sighed with emotion the suppression of academic teaching system in the four year university life, and harsh social reality, his creative passions rapidly expanded. He expressed despair to society, human natures and destiny, and challenges to impossibility concepts of pure art painting in his spirits in his works with magic, deformed, even crude expressions.
In 1983, Yang Shufeng was allotted to Lanzhou Bureau of Parks and Woods, living in Jincheng bonsai garden. Everywhere in bonsai garden is green and luxuriant with infinite vitality. Fruit trees growing robustly in sun shines, slender paths paving with grass made him infatuated. He was like a beast without constraints, suddenly returning to nature and finding his spirits, and he operated his paint brushes and sharp eyes on canvas swiftly without any limitations from then on, energies accumulated for 6 years instantly broke out.
Works in this period are different from any previous stage. They are more like a group of free wild birds escaped from constraints, reaching the infinite possibility of art with intuition. Most works are deformed human bodies and pictures with symbolism, including topics of human natures, life and death, sky and earth, contents referring to animals, landscapes, character. Plenty of shapes and colors are super emotional, taking red, yellow and blue as dominant tones, hot and romantic expressing impulse and bloody of youth, such as running red boy, bloody-red three-member family, huge golden woman body, maturity, children’s songs, children in the wind, pope-style self-portrait, boxer-style portrait of youth, holy family with religious-like brilliance. Each works all express with bloody, impossible to be imitated by anyone, including author himself.
In this period, the author was in an enjoyable creation status without any limitations of shape and color, previous suppressing living has faded in works slowly, expressing appropriate mature colors. Integration of shape and color in works becomes flawless day by day. Author’s exploration to shape and controlling on color both reach a super-perfect status. Pure art paintings and pure spirits are completely expressed in these works; life found its destination, art life broke out.
The fourth movement: line-drawing human body—soft wind of black, white and grey blows me into dream homeland, fondling body beauty, feeling love of lines
When creation impulses of originally reaching Jincheng bonsai garden quelled a little, art life would not terminate. At that time, Yang Shufeng just took a piece of paper, and drew unconsciously with a charcoal monochrome on it, his strokes would fly between emptiness and substance like angles with swings. He drew more than 30 monochromes with topics of line-drawing human body, like wind, or cloud, or water, or air, expressing aesthetic beauty.
Embrace imaginations with lines, pieces of works are just created in this emotion. This patch of works bring author back to homeland in dream, emotions of vitality are so smooth and exquisite at this time. It is never imagined that so strong emotions even have so gentle aspect. He believed art could heal at many times, being able to dispel those permanent injuries seeming leaving in life.
These small works like pets bring infinite beautiful reveries to people.
The fifth movement: still life—temporary tenderness climbs on paintings like a piece of sun shine, but could not rest
After the period strong creation passion, author’s emotions were released, then became gently, and author married, too. He went to Liangdang area of Gansu to create pottery for three times, established Lanzhou Special Art Institute, and also established Oriental Art Salon at same time. He exchanged with other people with drinking wines and discussed art. His home and salon became gathering places for young people longing for arts from Lanzhou and the whole nation.
For attachment of lover, author’s body and mind took temporary breath, works also naturally expressed tender sentiments. Author drew plenty of still life works with warmth, such as golden lilac flowers, dried flowers, wedding photos, daffodils, pigeons, searching for peace, and quiet eternity.
The sixth movement: uncharted painting—meditated space, universe and life heroically and tranquilly interlace together
After visited Dunhuang, author began to think about cosmic philosophy, Buddhism, culture and traditions, created plenty of uncharted drawings. The frames are small, contents include characters, animals, colors tend to thick and deep grey, browse and dark red tones, primarily finished with deformed structures, character line-drawing has a religious atmosphere, such as cat in the darkness, Buddha in the air, female body sitting back. There are universe, life, meditation and peaceful waiting.
In this period, author was more in the status of hesitating in soul family, the dignified dark browse replaced the previous blood, smooth bodies replaced the strongly deformed shapes. These works could introduce people to imagine the distant future and think about philosophy of life.
The seventh movement: jam-line characterization—dreamwalker of emotion, sex and love brought me to anywhere else
In this period, Yang Shufeng wandered aimlessly in the city like a dreamwalker until very late to begin creation. Representational form, abstract artistic conceptions, and unique visual forms impacted author’s soul, he applied special instruments, materials, skills to more deeply attempt perfect integration of unconscious and graphics.
Sharp stylus numerously crossed paper, author applied this method to express his dreams, works evolved from aimless to with shapes and colors. Lines and colors converge and cross, the complete expressions make works in this period possess a different aura from previous ones. Even author himself could not determine which style they belong to, it is difficult to explain in language.
Numerous dreams were created in this expression, including those on life, unconscious and sex. Representative works of this period include “evening song”, “life spring”, “reborn”, “mother painting”, expressing sentiments of author to time, space, sex, love.
These works were finished in less than 2 months, and this expression adds a new chapter in our visual art field.
The eighth movement: paint abstract painting—liberation pleasure brings eternal convulsion
Influenced by alcohol, author’s art life is more unconventional and uninhibited, soul and body pace up and down between life and death, the instinctive pure art passions strongly returned. An unstoppable creation impulse impacted author’s thought and painting brushes. In short 3 months author created plenty of oil paintings, paint paintings and woodcarvings. The screen tension is full, strong visual impaction seems instantly pouring energies accumulated in the whole life into the works, the strong physical and mental powers make these works with life traces eternally, more like freehand brushwork on life.
Sizes of works in this period are larger that the previous period, color tends to black, frames are strong and tight, the works are with more abstract but rational elements. The visual perception symbols are still clear.
In 1988, author joined Huang Mountain Modern Art Seminar, and brought some woodcarving, however, the participators had less interest on this kind of pure art works, but more focused on works with traces of imitating western previous art. It does not matter for author because author enjoyed himself in pure art creation, and his art life got sublimation.
The ninth movement: sicked series—body and mind are laid down lightly, left to be recalled in the future
After heavy mental creation projects, Yang Shufeng has paid great physical and mental consumption, he had a hunch that his life would enter termination status. In September, 1989, he finally fell down, and remained in bed in the following two years. He created nearly 30 works of sickbed series and family series on sickbed, the contents refer to lives and death, and the applied materials are gentle.
Yang Shufeng’s life experiences in the eighties express his persistent to art, life and emotions when he was in Lanzhou, and just this persistent accomplished a special artist with most vitality and pioneering spirit in China.
The above is the nine movements of 85 times·life Impression —333 pieces of works of Yang Shufeng exhibition, vividly and truly recorded the whole process of living and creation of Yang Shufeng.
As a visual artist, his art works have more persuasiveness than any other exchange manner. These works of Yang Shufeng reflect the true emotions, spirits and awareness of author in the special social environments at that time, possessing wide exchanging capacities.
These works hides great vitality and spirit under the art forms, possessing artistic values for the whole human race!
We hope appearing more pioneer artists with different styles and taking life as topics!
【Editor：jen】
