Classics, Contemporary No.1

Chen Jun
Born in Yueyang, Hunan province in 1977
Graduated from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, majored in Traditional Chinese painting
Now work & live in Xiamen City

In today’s society of multi-cultural fusion, the oriental culture integrates with and offsets that of the west. So do the traditional and the contemporary. How should the Chinese painting engage in the contemporary society and re-establish its features as well as values in such a cultural context is what Chen Jun intends to figure out. Having been trying new materials and skills in his creation, Chen’s art has gone beyond traditional techniques and subjects of the Chinese painting, presenting an ink language and artistic look with strong personal features.
Chen doesn’t confine his ink painting to the choice of ink, rather, he has introduced many other materials such as acrylic and ready-mades to his ink art. Furthermore, Chen has made conscious and selective absorption of traditional Chinese culture, which is a vast reservoir of inspiration for artists. In Chen’s work, a composition that is similar to that of traditional Chinese landscape painting can be found, which is a clear testimony to Chen’s absorption of traditional Chinese culture in his own artistic creation. Instead of mechanically copying the traditional culture, Chen has reinterpreted and represent i t in a way that combines the traditional and the contemporary elements, conveying modern messages via traditional forms.
Therefore, it is not weird at all that both traditional and contemporary elements can be found in Chen’s creation. His recent works in particular, to which he applied found objects, are a new continuation of his creativity. By juxtaposing highly imitated ancient paintings and modern creation, two absurdly contradictory styles in one image, Chen tries to present the dialectical relationship between tradition and modernity by digestion of tradition and transformation of modernity.
—Song Jirui