Round Table | Chen Yifei's Era and His Artistic Influence

"Era Yifei: Chen Yifei Retrospective" is currently on display at the Pudong Art Museum. This is also the largest personal retrospective of artist Chen Yifei (1946-2005). From the red-themed works "Pioneer" and "Ode to the Yellow River" to the representative work of the "Old Dreams on the Sea" series "Yu Tang Chunnuan", to "My Neighbors" which debuted in Shanghai for the first time, it fully presents Chen Yifei's artistic exploration and pursuit.

Chen Yifei's artistic life is undoubtedly an extremely important page in the history of contemporary art in Shanghai, and is also one of the samples for tracing and exploring the contemporary cultural spirit of Shanghai. Recently, the Pudong Art Museum held a special academic seminar on Chen Yifei, where experts and scholars from the art world and Chen Yifei's relatives, friends and old friends gathered together to talk about "Era Yifei".

"Stroll" in the exhibition hall, with the audience and Chen Yifei's backs

Chen Yifei (1946-2005)

Chen Yujun (exhibition academic director, former director of Shanghai Museum) : Thank you all for coming to this academic seminar. Why is this exhibition called a retrospective exhibition? Not a works exhibition or an art exhibition? Because Mr. Chen Yifei has great artistic appeal and cultural penetration.

It is not easy for a painter to be a "painter, film director, public artist, and cultural activist" in one person. Chen Yifei used his life's efforts to shape the cultural portrait of the times and won the cultural attention of the world. An artist often has many interesting things and stories, but he is still very fashionable 20 years after his death. His art is actually connected with great art, great art, great vision, public cultural art, and urban aesthetics, which is rare in the history of art.

Chen Yifei belongs to Shanghai, he grew up with the city of Shanghai; Chen Yifei belongs to China, his works are imbued with Chinese aesthetics and cultural spirit; of course, Chen Yifei also belongs to this world, and art history will give him a permanent memory.

Chen Yifei's seminar

Li Minkun (Deputy General Manager of Lujiazui Group, Chairman of Pudong Art Museum)

It is very meaningful for us to review Chen Yifei today. Chen Yifei's concept of "big vision, big art" is not just a simple artist. He has played an important role in the development of our city and our lives. Many landmarks and places in Shanghai that we pass by every day have Chen Yifei's contributions behind them. Through this exhibition, looking back on all this, we are filled with emotion. All the things he did are worth commemorating and worth learning from him.

Chen Lin (son of Chen Yifei)

Let me first talk about my views on my father's paintings. I am also a collector, and I regularly collect various types of art works from around the world every year. When I was collecting, I found that it was difficult for many painters to break through themselves. Most painters have fixed painting styles and themes, which are difficult to break through.

Chen Yifei's painting language in the exhibition hall: "In my works, I am a bit heroic; in my attitude towards life, I will be as calm as water"

His creations are based on realism, but he is constantly breaking through himself, from his earliest revolutionary series to music themes, Venice, ladies, water towns... His themes are constantly changing, constantly trying new themes and new ideas. His painting style is also changing, from the initial style to the delicate and rough brushwork later. Many people may not know that he started to paint ink paintings before his father passed away. Few people have seen his ink paintings, but he actually painted a lot of ink paintings. He has been seeking innovation and change in art.

Mao Shi'an (Former Vice Chairman of the Chinese Association of Literary and Art Critics)

I once wrote a review for Chen Yifei's exhibition, "Flying Yifei", quoting a sentence from Liu Xizai of the Qing Dynasty. Liu Xizai summarized Zhuangzi with the word "fly". I think Chen Yifei can also be summarized with "fly". This "fly" is reflected in two points:

"Flying" is a kind of attitude. The era we are experiencing has undergone tremendous changes, but Chen Yifei has always been flying on the crest of the wave of the times. He has always maintained a very avant-garde and pioneering spirit. In addition, "flying" is a kind of spirit. His artistic imagination and artistic ideals have a sense of "flying". Specifically, I summarize Chen Yifei's art as "sensitive to the times" plus "aesthetic sensitivity".

First, he is "sensitive to the times". Perhaps young people today don't know that the era that Chen Yifei and we experienced had a lot of repressive things and a lot of space that you can't imagine. He is very sensitive to what the era needs. For example, the works he painted in the 1970s and 1980s were exactly what the era needed, praising idealism and war.

In addition, he has an "aesthetic sensitivity" that changes his obedience to the times. If an artist completely follows the times, he will soon be eliminated by the times, because he turns his artwork into a symbol to interpret the spirit of the times. Chen Yifei has a sensitivity to art. How can he be enterprising while being sensitive to the times? These two things constitute Chen Yifei's art.

Exhibition site: Ode to the Yellow River

For example, his works in the 1970s are realistic, but his realism is different from that of ordinary people, and it opens up the visual atmosphere of realistic art. For example, in "Ode to the Yellow River", his romantic temperament is presented, especially the scene of a group of wild geese he designed. Wild geese are an image often used in ancient Chinese poetry, and they represent the yearning for home and peace. He designed a group of flying wild geese, which was not available in that era.

Zhu Guorong (Consultant of Shanghai Artists Association, art critic)

We are now introducing Chen Yifei. As for some of his paintings of old Shanghai, there are actually works, but there are very few comments, which is missing to some extent, such as "Golden Years" and "Yutang Chunnuan". Therefore, I would like to approach my research from this perspective today to understand some of the "codes" and "ideas" hidden in Chen Yifei's paintings.

Exhibition view: Spring in the Jade Hall

I think Chen Yifei's works should have gone from the surface of depicting old Shanghai to the depth. In fact, we see that some painters paint old Shanghai, which is the Bund, Nanjing Road, slogans of big sale, people in long gowns, and the hustle and bustle of traffic. This is too superficial. Who can paint these two works? Many people will copy Chen Yifei's ancient costume ladies, but no one wants to copy this, it's too difficult. Like "Xunyang Relics", many people are painting it, and it has become a symbol of Chen Yifei's painting, but no one dares to paint these two works because what he expresses is too profound.

Chen Yifei's oil painting "Xunyang Relics" (not on display)

He reflects the life in the old Shanghai bar, and also uses a kind of deformation to show such a scene. I think he has another expression technique at this stage, which is to close up the distance, making you feel like you are standing in the painting, and you can hear their heartbeats and smell their breath, creating a sense of urgency or cramped space between the audience and the painting, giving you a very sharp and touching effect.

There are two works like this. The one on the left is him in a cafe. Some people have said that this kind of work doesn't seem to have much meaning. In fact, he depicts the psychological state of some people in bars and cafes at that time. This is a very profound portrayal. The people behind the bar counter seem to be watching from the sidelines. The cold-eyed observation of the world is also expressed very deeply.

Therefore, there are two completely different views on Chen Yifei's works, some say he is good, some say he is bad, and the views of praise and criticism are essentially the same. Why? That is because they fail to recognize the urban cultural significance of Chen Yifei's "Old Dreams on the Sea" series.

The "Lady with Birdcage" on display was created in 1992 and is one of the iconic works in Chen Yifei's "Old Dreams of the Sea" series after he returned to China.

He used a critical approach to depict the life in old Shanghai, which was warm and bitter. He found that the past years were not entirely black and white, but also had a vivid and lively side, recording the smiles and smiles of that era, the atmosphere of the market; he used typical characters to construct the appearance of the life of the citizens of old Shanghai, which has the beauty of social aesthetics.

Zhang Lixing (Creative Planning Director of Wenhui Daily, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Literary and Art Critics Association)

Chen Yifei is still missed by us today, and we can't stop talking about him. He is indeed a product of that era. Just now, everyone talked about Chen Yifei from the perspective of painting. According to my understanding, if it is just a painter Chen Yifei, it is difficult for the exhibition to become a cultural event in Shanghai. Only a retrospective exhibition of a social and cultural figure with a wider influence can become an event. Indeed, before returning to China in 1993, we can say that Chen Yifei was a painter, a famous oil painter, but in the 10 years after 1993, he was a visual artist Chen Yifei.

Gu Cunyan (Editor-in-Chief of Art Review, The Paper)

Some people say that Chen Yifei "reached his peak as soon as he debuted." In fact, his growth and emergence have a lot to do with the large Shanghai cultural context of modern Shanghai.

Chen Yifei's growth process reflects the core characteristics of Shanghai culture: adherence in openness and innovation in integration. His teachers, such as Yan Wenliang, Meng Guang, and Harding, combined Western techniques such as lines and sketches with Chinese aesthetic connotations through localization transformation, forming a unique "Shanghai style expression". This inclusive mind avoids the monotony of the Soviet education system and draws on the characteristics of traditional literati painting. For example, the sketch teaching system of "Meng Guang Studio" takes "emotion and reason integration" as the core, emphasizing the independent aesthetic value of lines and the emotional expression of the creator, which is in sharp contrast to the block light and shade method of the mainstream Soviet sketch at that time. Later, Chen Yifei combined the Western realistic system with the freehand painting that focuses on the inner self in his artistic creation, which is inseparable from the teaching and guidance of these masters during his growth. Therefore, his growth is not "peak at debut", but his golden period of growth is concentrated and unique to the city of Shanghai. And he is indeed lucky.

Letter from Meng Guang to Chen Yifei (manuscript)

Chen Yifei: Water Village

Chen Zhiqiang (classmate of Chen Yifei)

I can only share my own feelings about Chen Yifei from the perspective of our old classmates to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Chen Yifei's death and his 80th birthday. I am the same age as Yifei, and when I was admitted to the preparatory course of the Academy of Fine Arts, I still had a red scarf around my neck.

In our eyes, Chen Yifei is first of all a man who respects his teachers and passes on the torch. His relationship with teacher Meng Guang is well-known. He is not only good to teacher Meng Guang, but also to another teacher named Ha Ding. During the "Cultural Revolution", he suffered a lot because he opened a studio. As a painter who insisted on taking the capitalist road in the Shanghai art world, he was greatly affected. But Chen Yifei always treated Mr. Ha Ding as his disciple.

A group photo taken in the summer of 1962 when we sent off our classmates to join the army. Chen Yifei is the first on the right.

I want to say a few words about "big art". Chen Yifei told me a lot. He felt quite aggrieved at the time. He said that many people said that I was like a businessman, saying that I was going to make money. How could I survive without money? I am an evangelist. I hope that the aesthetics of our entire nation can be improved. After that, I will not be considered a master. At most, I am one of the better oil painters. I hope that through the popularization of "big art", our overall level will be improved. I believe that more masters will appear in the next generation. This is what he said to me.

Li Chao (Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University)

Chen Yifei caught up with an extremely good period in history. His first transformation was a combination of revolutionary romanticism and revolutionary realism. His works just fit this transformation. I even think that Chen Yifei has foresight in this regard. This is not cultivated in art schools, but he has this talent and feeling. It is because of the genes of Shanghai's urban culture that the generation of Chen Yifei was created in history. There are also a group of people behind Chen Yifei, including Wei Jingshan, who have achieved transformation in history.

Exhibition site: Occupy the Presidential Palace

There is another transformation, which I think is also related to Chen Yifei, that is, the transformation of combining realism and symbolism after the reform and opening up. Artists seek new breakthroughs in artistic style through stylistic language. From Chen Yifei's perspective, he is actually looking for the elite elements of Chinese visual culture under the "big vision and big aesthetics". Whether it is the "Water Village" series, the "Old Dreams on the Sea" series, or the "Musician" series, they are actually explorations in this regard, but this exploration has just started. If Mr. Chen Yifei makes such a transformation today, it will definitely come to a perfect end, or he will step onto the forefront of academia. This is my feeling.

Fu Jun (Director of Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute Art Museum)

Everyone has mentioned why Mr. Chen Yifei can always hit the cusp of the times. The first generation of masters of our Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, from Wu Dayu, Zhou Bichu to Zhang Chongren, were almost out of sync with the times. But why was Chen Yifei at the forefront of the times not only in the late period of the "Cultural Revolution", but also in the 1980s, 1990s and the early 2000s? I think his artistic talent is not only in the field of art, but also in his judgment and sensitivity to current affairs. He can always grasp the direction at key points. During his time in the United States, he has always maintained contact with China. His sensitivity does not mean making arbitrary judgments. Later, he continued to expand from fine arts to "big vision, big art", including the establishment of the School of Visual Arts today, which also confirms not only his artistic concept, but also the foresight and advancement of his ideas.

The culture of a city is abstract, and we need concrete people and concrete things like Chen Yifei to represent the cultural image of the city. In this sense, Chen Yifei is a son of the times, a symbol of our great era.

Venice

Zhu Gang (President of Shanghai Art Museum Association)

Chen Yifei is the pinnacle of an era, which is not only reflected in his techniques, but also in his advanced ideas. When Chen Yifei was interacting with us, he proposed "big art, big vision" and mentioned Bauhaus many times, saying how it combined life and art. These concepts were forward-looking at the time. He also said that he did not avoid the market and mentioned the concepts of cultural industry. These concepts are still ahead of the times today. Chen Yifei's untimely death is a great loss to us. He left us a rich wealth.

Zhu Feng (Executive Director of Shanghai Film Association, Director)

I always wonder, what should we call Chen Yifei? I think we must add a visual culture artist to the visual artist. He is at the height of visual culture, and he has three perspectives.

One is to look up to him, to revere the god of art. He is a martyr, living the life of an artistic ascetic. After eating New Year's Eve dinner with his family, he immediately rushed to the studio. In fact, he became famous so early, achieved so much, and was not short of money. He could have slowed down his pace and lived a more leisurely and relaxed life. But he was an ascetic and had to be martyred.

One is to look at it from a level. His works are always appreciated by both the elite and the masses. It is not easy to achieve this state. There are various elements in his works, realism, romanticism, modernism, avant-garde, classical, secular, commercial, and find a balance and combination point. People of different levels can find different points of fit in his works, which is very remarkable.

Another way is to look down. All art categories are his vegetable gardens and vegetable fields, where he can cultivate, sow seeds, and bear fruit. He will not be defined by a single thing. Looking up, looking straight, and looking down, these three perspectives may constitute Chen Yifei's artistic personality.

Shen Qilan (Executive curator of the “Times of Flying” exhibition)

Mr. Chen Yifei is both poetic and epic, he is aesthetic and magnificent, which is very remarkable for him as an artist.

The contemporaneity of Mr. Chen Yifei's art is also reflected in his paintings, and in his later practices, such as film and public art, and the visual platform and clothing group he created, which are influencing a generation in every corner. In this regard, I think he is a testament to the light of the times, and the times have also made Mr. Chen Yifei a generation of brilliance. He represents a generation of people with faith, belief, and a sense of mission, so I am particularly moved every time I see him.

Chen Yifei's urban sculpture for Shanghai, with models on display

Wang Yuan (Professor, School of Fine Arts, East China Normal University)

In my impression, in Mr. Chen Yifei's era, people didn't smile much, and the colors of clothes on the street were all similar, all gray. If you went to buy clothes, you probably just told whoever you wanted your size and they would buy it for you. I mainly want to talk about Mr. Chen Yifei's contribution to the times from the perspective of how art can change people, society, and the city. Later, he published magazines, made movies, did public art, and fashion, all in order to change the perspectives that he saw that might not be perfect, so he practiced a lot and did a lot of things across disciplines.

Zhao Kangwei (painter, former president of Shanghai Chinese and Foreign Cultural and Art Exchange Association)

In fact, there are many things about Chen Yifei that cannot be included in this exhibition. For example, Chen Yifei has many ink paintings, which are not exhibited and studied in this exhibition. How can we inherit and carry forward the spirit of Yifei for young people in this exhibition? This is a task for our exhibition in the next six months. Pudong Art Museum is a place where young people "check in with Internet celebrities". Pudong Art Museum is a first-class art museum. It not only does Chen Yifei, but will also hold many exhibitions on contemporary international art in the future. Its audience is mainly young people, and its audience is combined with art, fashion and trends.