On July 12, 2014, sponsored by the World Military Art Plaza, Xing Junqin’s studio launched “The Historical Novels of Edward Hopper’s Masterpieces in the First Round” at the World Military Art Plaza in 798 Art Zone. The exhibition is planned by Xing Liunan, featuring the most representative oil paintings themed on military and landscape in Xing Junqin’s “The Historical Novels of Masterpieces” series of work.

Xing Junqin came from the military, and is also keen on the art creation of military subjects, so that his military work is of an intense avant-garde and experimental artistic idiosyncrasy, while soldiers, camouflage, military weapons have always been the main symbols in his works, by transplanting, collage, appropriation, juxtaposition of these symbols in the scene of our daily life, visually constituting a special painting language and a formal experiment. In recent years, based on a group of classic works from Chinese and western art history, Xing Junqin created a series of variants, with the interpretation of the “image” in classic work, consciously using expressive techniques such as misappropriate and spread, to transform the original meaning of the original work, so as to explore the association between image reality and history. Masterpieces by Michelangelo, Chirico, Rodin, Munch, etc., had become the subjects of Xing’s “historical novels”, and the original concepts were “surreptitiously superseded” in the creation, the use of military weapons and camouflage symbols in the work both criticizes the traditional aesthetic standard, and sharply reveals the lifestyle of modern people and the triggered sense of crisis and tension, providing a new interpretation and imagination to the audience.

The exhibited works “The Historical Novels of Hopper” is one chapter of “The Historical Novels of Masterpieces” series of work by the artist. In the process of the artist’s misappropriation, parody, cosmetic surgery, and analysis of Hopper’s works, consciously digested and extended the original creative meaning, deliberately led the readers to misread, and fabricate the artist’s original intention, aimed at expounding the artist’s concert and thoughts on the current social contradiction, the political situation and military competition, etc., meanwhile it also explores a variety of possibilities of the “Appropriation” method of the postmodern art creations since the 20th century. “The Historical Novels of Hopper” is a study of Hopper's case by the artist which is both the continuation of the characteristics of “Historical Novels of Rodin” and “Historical Novels of Munch” series of work, and uniqueness of the individual case, in the artist’s own words, his personal spiritual temperament and inner yearning was very close to the paintings by Hopper.

The exhibition can be divided into three parts: in one part, Xing misappropriated, transformed and deconstructed the works of Hopper, which is a dominant influence of Hopper on Xing Junqin, featuring work “Historical Novels of Hopper: Military Exercise”. In the second part, “Historical Novels of Hopper: Industrial Painting Series” is on display, revealing the implicit influence of Hopper on the artist. The third part brings the audience back to the “classic style”, namely to return to the original work of Hopper, and the photography and films created under the influence of Hopper, which is both the basic visual of the creation of exhibited works, and an extension of the exhibition.

The exhibition will continue to August 12.

Text by Zhang Wenzhi, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Quan Jing/CAFA ART INFO