清影

Inna Art Space is delighted to participate in 2022 West Bund Art & Design with “Chen Dongfan: Chinese Zodiac,” a solo presentation of artist Chen Dongfan. The exhibition features twelve recent works based on the Chinese zodiac, reflecting New York-based artist Chen Dongfan’s imaginative experimentation with Chinese mythological imagery. The exhibition will display the twelve “Chinese Zodiac” paintings in a pantheon-like setting, evoking a theatrical atmosphere that brings more distinctive viewing experiences to the audience.

In Chinese traditional culture, the twelve Chinese zodiac signs are the twelve animals that each represent a year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. The Chinese zodiac is not only integrated into daily life as a common spirit, but its natural habits are also endowed with many thoughtful cultural meanings, raising their status from animal to divinity while receiving respect and worship. The beliefs of the twelve zodiac signs are a combination of traditional Chinese religious philosophy and art culture, supplemented by the association of animal temperaments, forming an imaginary belief system that in turn affects and marks people’s concepts and behaviors. Aside from the ethnic perspective of cultural compartmentalization, as a common imagination of mankind, the Chinese zodiac is very similar to the Babylonian zodiac, as ancient Greece and Egypt also had totem worship that was akin to that. This is the cultural root of the exhibition in the name of the “Chinese Zodiac.”

Inna Art Space is delighted to participate in 2022 West Bund Art & Design with “Chen Dongfan: Chinese Zodiac,” a solo presentation of artist Chen Dongfan. The exhibition features twelve recent works based on the Chinese zodiac, reflecting New York-based artist Chen Dongfan’s imaginative experimentation with Chinese mythological imagery. The exhibition will display the twelve “Chinese Zodiac” paintings in a pantheon-like setting, evoking a theatrical atmosphere that brings more distinctive viewing experiences to the audience.

In Chinese traditional culture, the twelve Chinese zodiac signs are the twelve animals that each represent a year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. The Chinese zodiac is not only integrated into daily life as a common spirit, but its natural habits are also endowed with many thoughtful cultural meanings, raising their status from animal to divinity while receiving respect and worship. The beliefs of the twelve zodiac signs are a combination of traditional Chinese religious philosophy and art culture, supplemented by the association of animal temperaments, forming an imaginary belief system that in turn affects and marks people’s concepts and behaviors. Aside from the ethnic perspective of cultural compartmentalization, as a common imagination of mankind, the Chinese zodiac is very similar to the Babylonian zodiac, as ancient Greece and Egypt also had totem worship that was akin to that. This is the cultural root of the exhibition in the name of the “Chinese Zodiac.”

The Chinese zodiac is an ancient subject. As a contemporary artist, Chen Dongfan’s choice of such a folkloric subject for creation is undoubtedly a difficult challenge, yet it has inspired Chen Dongfan’s strong desire to experiment and explore. Revealing the new value beneath the mythological theme became his goal, and it took him nearly a year to complete the challenging series in his New York studio. The charm of this series lies in the fusion of Expressionism, Pop, and folk-art forms. The combination of ancient subject matter and contemporary artistic language constitutes a remarkably unconventional artistic style that is distinctive enough. And the playfulness of the Chinese Zodiac paintings reveals the artist’s introspection and imagination of human nature.

As Chen Dongfan said, “The Chinese Zodiac is a portrait of everyone, that is, the present-day lives of all of us, which is our hope for living.”