Sponsored by Chinese Academy of Oil Painting and the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio, the solo exhibition of Duan Zhengqu reviews his art career during the past thirty years and will draw its curtains at 3:00 pm on April 22nd, 2012 at the Art Gallery of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting. This exhibition will showcase over a hundred pieces of oil painting, drawings and sketch works that Duan created in the past 30 years, which is also the most systematic and comprehensive exhibition displaying his achievements in art.

Story and Legend: Thirty Years Art Pursuit of Duan Zhengqu belongs to the series of “Exhibitions on Oil Painters’ Academic Research” which selects artists who have made outstanding contributions to oil painting and establishes three-dimensional art research on these artists through exhibitions, publications, transmission, and by means of communication. In the purpose of bringing intensive study to each individual artist, it sorts out the academic thread of Chinese contemporary figure oil painting, draws on its great prospects and contributes to the promotion of Chinese oil painting through the healthy guidance of the partial to the whole.

In the patterns of Chinese oil painting, Duan Zhengqu’s work features the spirit of Central Plains(comprising the middle and lower reaches of the Huanghe River), vigorous and firm. Based on the realism, his language of painting belongs to the scope of the Figurative Expressionism which strengthens the symbolism in the expressive force and conveys plain and profound feelings. His representations are full of passion brewed from the loess of the Central Plains, torrential Yellow River and deep feelings for the citizens while his symbolism is deeply rooted in the culture of the Central Plains, affected and fostered by the feelings on the loess of China, and upgraded from rustic life.

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Duan Zhengqu and his rough and passionate plateaus of Northern Shanxi have developed into a specific cultural landscape of contemporary Chinese painting. Different from many painters who have depicted the themes of Northern Shanxi, Duan Zhenqu takes his observations and performance of the northern natives as his starting point, along with his inner feelings instead of from the needs of ideologies or from the form of painting.

Duan bases his style of oil painting on his free and fresh experience of rural life and expressive form of painting. Drawing using Chinese characteristics which are also the most international languages of painting, Duan expresses his deep emotions and ardent love of the lands and the people with his unique language.

It is worth mentioning, that most of the works in this exhibition have never been exhibited before. Duan Zhengqu hopes that this exhibition will present his artistic development of the last 30 years which will make his sequence of thought on his style clearer for the audience.

Duan Zhengqu was born in 1958 in Henan Yanshi and graduated from the Oil Painting Department, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1983. He is currently a member of the Chinese Artists Association, professor at Fine Arts Academy of Capital Normal University.

He won the Bronze Award at the 7th National Art Exhibition (1989), Award of Excellence at the 1st Session of the China Oil Painting Exhibition (1991), Award of Excellence at the 8th National Art Exhibition (1994), Toward the New Century—China Youth Oil Painting Exhibition Award (1997), the Bronze Award at the 9th National Art Exhibition (1999), Nomination Award at the 11th National Art Exhibition (2009). His publications include Duan Zhengqu Selected Works, Self-selected Works of Contemporary Oil Painters—Selected Oil Painting of Duan Zhengqu, Academic Fine Arts for 30 Years, Duan Zhengqu Volume and other catalogues.

About the Exhibition

Organizer: Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Chinese National Academy of Arts

Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio

Sponsor: Art Gallery of Chinese Academy of Oil Painting

Co-organizer: Shandong Yinzuo Art Museum

Academic Supports: Chinese Art Association,

Department of Fine Arts, Capital Normal University,

Art Committee of Oil Painting, Chinese Artists Association,

China Oil Painting Society

Opening Ceremony: 3:00 pm, April 22nd, 2012

Exhibition Dates: 9:00-17:00 from April 22nd through May 5th, 2012

Venue: Art Gallery of Chinese Academy of Oil Painting

Address: Gaobeidian Cultural and Arts Street 1704, 100124