Zeng Chuanxing - Contemporary Chinese Realism
Zeng Chuanxing - Blue Paper Bride, oil on canvas, 75 x 150 cm
Contemporary Chinese artist Zeng Chuanxing is a master of realism. Born in one of China's remoter regions, Longchang County, Sichuan Province, Zeng draws influence from his minority roots. Many of his female models are from minority areas, he paints them in the classical tradition of painting with stunning detail. Zeng favours this style of painting over other modes of expression for it's ability to serve as a window to understanding other people's feelings, thoughts and emotions.
Zeng Chuanxing - Red Paper Bride, 2010, oil on canvas, 150 x 130 cm
Zeng is best known for his Paper Brides series, which depict the fragility and uncertainty of the institution of marriage in present-day China. Traditionally the Chinese marriage was strictly arranged, and the possibility of divorce forbidden. Following Chairman Mao's encouragement of a somewhat more equal division of responsibilities and duties between male and female, and the influx of Western life and ideology, the traditional, stalwart bond of marriage suddenly evolved into a more uncertain union.
Zeng's quiet, pensive figures, draped in delicate paper gowns represent the fragility of this once impenetrable bond and reflect the often melancholic and insecure state he sees in the new generation of Chinese women.
Zeng Chuanxing - Pink Magnolia, oil on canvas, 90 cm
Zeng currently teaches painting in the Fine Arts Department at Hunan University of Arts and Sciences. His work has been extensively exhibited and can be seen at the Beijing Yan-Huant Museum, the Hunan Museum and the Guangdong Art Museum amongst others.