Chen Pinxi's Landscape Paintings

Author: Chen Pinxi (Illustrator)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Chen Pinxi's brushwork originates from the Song Dynasty. Poetry had already matured in the Tang Dynasty, leaving little room for improvement for later generations, so Chen Pinxi's paintings' artistic conception stems from the Tang. However, landscape painting techniques only reached a high level of maturity in the Song Dynasty, and Chen Pinxi's painting style is rooted in the Song. Based on the Southern Song imperial workshop style, he incorporates elements from the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods that were traditionally not adopted in landscape painting. However, he does not simply combine the painting techniques of the Northern Song and Nanjing in one work. He has his own ideas and applies his unique aesthetic sense, organically blending, enriching, and integrating both meticulous and freehand techniques, as well as ink and color methods. The brushwork of ancient masters is filtered through his thoughts, with both selection and rejection, addition and transformation, so it is not entirely the same as the ancient style. Yet, its depth reveals the accumulation of traditional culture. Upon closer examination, his paintings resemble the Southern Song style but are richer and more lustrous; they resemble the Northern Song but are more elegant and dynamic; and they resemble the Yuan Dynasty but are more profound and meticulous. There is no hint of the decadence of the Qing Dynasty, nor the superficiality and vulgarity of modern times. When Chen Pinxi sent his paintings from Fuzhou, I couldn’t put them down upon first glance and was even more impressed upon second glance. The Southern Song imperial workshop style had been considered a lost art after Dong Xiangguang, but 400 years later, Chen Pinxi of Fujian succeeded and further developed it. The transmission of ancient techniques is now secure for us, but among contemporary painters, there are few as solitary and serene as Chen Pinxi. The sense of admiration has lingered for too long, so I recorded it in writing.