Yang Feiyun: “Painting is Like the Painter”
A flower, several fruits and ordinary canisters, a landscape in front of Zhang Xiaoxi, are all the painting tools for Zhang, and in her eyes, are the appropriate subjects for paintings. She loves life, and likes to depict it with a brush. Over the years, she has been obsessed with painting her innocent desire for color on small canvases, calmly and patiently drawing her clumsy, clear and beautiful lines. Her paintings neither seek anything, nor need any external pressure, purely physical and mental preferences, it is a state that a professional painter tries hard to maintain, and also a blissful painting circumstance often pursued by a good painter.
Because Zhang Xiaoxi is the wife of my old classmate and prominent painter Cao Li, she has the perfect conditions for painting instead of working for money. She is a good cook, and has an extraordinary talent in taste, so that the happiness index of life is very high, which is a temptation for all the students with an admission in the Department of Oil Painting, CAFA in 1979, they hope Cao Li would entertain us at home. Although Zhang has never studied on a course, she has been immersed in the academic atmosphere of CAFA for decades, due to her identity, influenced by what she constantly sees and hears. She actually has an advantage which is impossible for general professionals to attain. At the same time, she paints without any prejudice or tricks, only with a pure and healthy intuition. Her painting proves the old saying, painting is like the painter.
She has imperceptibly accumulated a large number of works, and some friends like her simple and direct beauty, the intention is to organize a show for her, which is a good thing. Firstly it encourages Zhang Xiaoxi’s authentic true color in painting, and secondly it is beneficial to review the false, big and empty fashion. I sincerely hope her paintings can remind the painting circles of an old principle that is beyond all knowledge, concept, and skill, if you want to arouse spectators’ feelings through the painting, you should initially arouse your feelings.
About the exhibition
Opening: from 15:30 to 18:00, on November 9, 2013
Duration: November 9 – December 20, 2013
Venue: Can Art Center, No.11 District B, 798 Art Zone Dashanzi, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Courtesy of the artist and Can Art Center, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.
