The concept map depicts the connections of translation, where it is not only applicable to language, but also to the study of art. Translation in Art takes place when its techniques, styles and perspectives experience high fluidity in crossing country borders. (The East influenced even aspects of western Art- slower pace of development in futurism) In this reflection, translation of Western Art, which is evident in Chen Wen Hsi’s works will be analysed, by looking especially at the formal analysis of his works.
The Nanyang Style
Chen is a versatile painter who never fails to stop exploring. With his exposure to both Chinese ink painting and Western art movements, he combines the elements to achieve the Nanyang style, which was unique to SE Asians.
Chen’s interpretation of “East meets West”
Herons, 1990
Chen Wen Hsi
Chinese ink and colour on paper
Morning in the Village after Snowstorm (Utro posle v'iugi v derevne), 1912
Kazimir Malevich,
Oil on canvas
31 3/4 x 31 7/8 inches
'Herons' shows the influence of Futurism, where movements of objects were fragmented, and segmented; several impressions of the herons were painted with echoes of lines and volumes. However, Chen avoided the mimesis by painting the composition in Chinese ink, using conservative colours like dull shades of red, green, with generous white negative spaces, using outlining with black and white strokes, which has the characteristics of “fei bai”; the random white spaces left behind by spontaneous brushes strokes in Chinese paintings.
Western elements in Nanyang style
The Couple, undated 1950s
Chen Wen His
Oil on Canvas
André Derain, 1905
Henri Matisse
oil on canvas
46.0 x 34.9 cm
Self-portrait, 1907
Picasso, Pablo
In 'the couple', which he did in Bali, bright colours were used to depict the decorative styles of SE Asian Art, which reminds me of the vivid, non-naturalistic and exuberant colours of Fauvists. Bold, expressive brushstrokes were evident too and lines were drawn to create angular forms to resemble that of Cubism’s.
1 comment:
It is good that you use images to show similarities between Chen Wen-hsi's works and those of European modernists like Picasso. However, I am not quite sure what you mean in the first paragraph. What was Chen translating that resulted in personal expression? Also, the term "Nanyang style" doesn't have an established meaning. So try not to use it, and if you must, try to say what you mean by that.
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