Pei Yongmei’s painting has the distinct characteristic of paintings. From her oil paintings “Green Velvet” and “In the Lamp Light”, we can fully experience her artistic controlling ability reflected in the strong and weak, the virtual and real with the shaping and colors, as well as the process of harmony and contrast in the style of painting. In addition, she actively grasps the state of the object to create the artistic effect blending the subject and object, revealing her pursuit of bold writing, unrestricted and strong artistic charm. Her works in various mediums, such as ink painting “Untitled” and so on to reveal a strong expressive force in painting.
Zhan Jianjun, The Charm of Painting Art
Pei Yongmei is one of my highly gifted students.
Imagining and dreaming is the only source to create people’s own limitation, but only the artists of life can understand life, and life is the biggest resource for art, while dreamsare without any purpose, imagination is the reality that doesn’t need to echo life. It may be a necessary condition for the existence of art to refuse to have a purpose. The rational is an inevitable existence of individual life, perennially living in one’s mind together with artistic thinking, so it seems that half dreaming and half waking is a reasonable normality, and it is a natural and comfortable existence.
Yuan Yunsheng, The Half Dreaming and Half Waking – Pei Yongmei’s Artistic Impression
Pei Yongmei uses the strokes in rich layers with strong and bright colors to portray various locations of contemporary Chinese cities: such as a bar, a shopping center. Even if she deliberately made the paintings blurred, her paintings are still able to accurately capture the marked characteristics of things, the crystal chandelier or moving elevator were properly embedded in the whole screen. The flashing surface is filled with lights. The gleaming “new shopping center” is contrasted with the calm and simple in the time ahead with modernization, and her painting style is contrasted with traditional Chinese artistic technique and art form. It seems that Pei Yongmei challenges herself, challenges painting. She and her paintings are exploring how to cross the hustle and bustle of contemporary urban life? If she can, which way will she use?
Rogerm Buergel, Art Director of Busan Biennale 2012 and Art Director of the 12th Kassel Documenta
About the artist
Pei Yongmei was born in Tianjin in 1975, and her ancestral home is Shandong Province. She graduated from the 3rd Studio of the Department of Oil Painting, CAFA in 1998, with a bachelor’s degree, and graduated from the 4th Studio of the Department of Oil Painting, CAFA in 2003, with a master’s degree. Currently she serves in the 4th Studio of the Department of Oil Painting, CAFA, and she is also a member of China Artists Association.
Exhibitions:
2014 “Modernity 3.0 Exhibition”, Art Museum of New York University, USA
2013 “From Beijing”, the Art Institute of New York City, USA
2013 “The Interwoven”, Soka Art Center, USA
2012 “Busan Biennale”, Busan Museum of Art, South Korea
2012 “The 15th Dhaka Asian Art Biennale”, National Art Museum of Bangladesh
2012 “Chinese Oil Painting Art Exhibition”, Olympic Center, London
2012 “In the Contemporary - 2012 Chinese Oil Painting Biennale”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
2011 Contemporary China in the Eyes of Artists – Chinese Oil Painting Art Exhibition, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen
2011 Academy – Exhibition of Eight Young Teachers from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Baiyaxuan Art Center, Beijing
2010 Oil Painting Art and Contemporary Society, Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
2009 The 11th National Art Exhibition, Hubei Museum of Art, Hubei Province
2005 The Art of Time - Swiss MOVADO Touring Exhibition, Wanfung Art Gallery, Beijing
2003 The Third Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
1997 Chinese Contemporary Sketch Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Awards:
2011 “The Waiting of Waiting for Gala” was awarded “Excellent Award” by Contemporary China in the Eyes of Artists - Chinese Oil Painting Art Exhibition
1998 “Portrait of a Senior Man” was awarded “President Award” by the Exhibition of CAFA’s Students Achievement
1997 “Groups of Gypsum” was awarded “Contemporary Art Award” by Chinese Contemporary Sketch Art Exhibition
Collections
Her works are respectively collected by CAFA Art Museum, the Department of Oil Painting, Dadu Museum of Art, Build America Mutual, USA, Jiangsu Art Museum, Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, Shenzhen Press Group, as well as galleries and private collectors.
Courtesy of the artist, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.
