Different from others and different from trends, this is a personalized way of creation, which I think is the core of contemporary art. --Zhou Chunya There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people
Art can be very simple or very profound. Different people have different views on it, and the levels of art are also very rich. With the self-proclaimed The number of artists continues to increase, and their works tend to be more and more self-expressive. If you don't think carefully, you may really miss some unique works.
Some people say that art is an elegant thing, and it is difficult for ordinary people who are wrapped in firewood, rice, oil and salt to collide with art. Some people say that art is a vulgar thing linked to money. After the death of the authors of many classic masterpieces, The value is higher. There is such a painter in China. His works are mixed with elegance and elegance, and his works can be sold at high prices for generations.
This is Zhou Chunya’s painting. His paintings have been criticized as not worthy of his reputation, but they are the most popular at auctions. The transaction volume exceeds that of Fan Zeng, a master of Chinese calligraphy and painting. One of his paintings Sold for a high price of 43.7 million, his life was equally exciting. He married four wives and gave birth to a son at the age of 58. The feeling of life in painting
Zhou Chunya was born in Chongqing in 1955. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982. However, due to insufficient accumulation of art knowledge, he went to Germany for further study. He graduated from the Free Art Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kassel, Germany in 1988. This combination of Chinese and Western learning experience set the tone for his paintings. Everyone says that "there are no shortcuts on the road of life," but we have to admit that talent is sometimes the biggest shortcut, especially in artistic creation. Talent is almost given to us by God. Among a group of contemporary painters, Zhou Chunya is undoubtedly the most talented. Lucky genius.
In traditional Chinese painting, Zhou Chunya's painting method combines freehand brushwork and blank space, while integrating Western heavy ink and color. His study experience in Impressionism made him more familiar with Chinese compositions and lines, while focusing on powerful Western oil painting techniques. Such an eclectic approach has made Zhou Chunya's paintings loved by many international fans. Born in Chongqing, Sichuan in 1955, Zhou Chunya showed amazing talent for painting in his childhood. After re-study, Zhou Chunya was admitted to Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts with great enthusiasm for art. Zhou Chunya's paintings have achieved great development at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts.
Perhaps it is this idea of ??blending Chinese and Western things that makes Zhou Chunya’s creative thinking very flexible and changeable, and he is very willful when expressing his own personality and thoughts. As a reflection of his personal life feelings, his paintings Styles are constantly changing. In the early 1990s, he began to create the "Stone Series", using the image of mountains and rocks in traditional Chinese culture as the main element, and using bold and strong Western colors to give it a new form of expression. After Zhou Chunya graduated from university, he worked in the system for a period of time. In 1986, he decided to further his studies at the University of Kassel in Germany. There, he was deeply influenced by foreign art styles, which laid a solid foundation for his future informal artistic creation.
At this time, he had just begun his career as a painter. Everything was new and enthusiastic, capable and lively, and his style was quite direct and lively. By 1997, Zhou Chunya's comprehensive painting techniques gradually matured, and he began to create his most controversial "Green Dog Series". The protagonist is a dazzling green dog, which has a surreal, exciting and grotesque effect. Zhou Chunya is different from academics such as Luo Zhong. His creative style is unique and incompatible with the mainstream painting world at that time. However, he still insists on his own style and has a large number of followers.
The dog in the painting is incompatible with the surrounding environment, giving people a strong impact. In fact, this is Zhou Chunya expressing his feelings about loneliness in the world. The bright and dazzling dog is so vivid, but it cannot understand The various crowds around him represent a kind of loneliness and desire in the painter's heart. If the "Green Dog Series" is strange and desolate, then the "Peach Blossom Series" created by Zhou Chunya since 2005 is brightly colored and full of enthusiasm.
Large expanses of pink and white are spread on the canvas, either unrestrained or soft. The peach blossoms are full of visual tension, joyful and beautiful. In traditional Chinese painting circles, peach blossoms are considered to be a symbol of femininity and softness, while Zhou Chunya is a symbol of passion and romance. Because he was in love, he poured out this sweet emotion in his paintings, so he has a bright-toned "peach blossom" series".
"Dinghai Shenzhen" in the auction
Zhou Chunya's creative style has changed rapidly over the decades, but he has his own life experience and expression, with rich and full connotations, and has extremely high collection value. At the auction, The prices of his works have also skyrocketed, and some antiques have been reprinted for tens of millions of dollars.
For example, his "Mountain and Stone" series created in 1992 was sold at a high price of 43.7 million yuan at the China Guardian Spring Auction in 2018. However, this work is not his most famous "Green Dog" ” and “Peach Blossom” series. Zhou Chunya ranked first among the "most expensive living artists" with a total transaction volume of 470 million due to his impressive performance on the 2013 Hurun Art List.
Because the style of his works is not limited by trends, and he is good at exploring unique angles in ordinary things, giving people a strong ideological and aesthetic appeal, some of his early works are also in line with today's internationalization of people. It fetched a high price at auction due to its aesthetic vision. With the increasing abundance of domestic cultural activities, Zhou Chunya's paintings have also been exhibited in major art exhibitions, further increasing his popularity.
The turnover of Zhou Chunya’s works at auction has reached 1.677 billion yuan, ranking third among local Chinese artists in the past ten years. However, this is only temporary. His paintings have gained recognition in recent years. With the recognition and favor of more and more people, the transaction volume has increased rapidly. If the time was shortened by half, he would be the best-selling contemporary artist in China. Even the painter who has auctioned hundreds of millions of paintings cannot match him. Love Scene "Peach Blossoms in Bloom"
If a painter wants to create emotionally full works, he must first be an emotional master. Zhou Chunya is a passionate person. He has been married four times with good looks, and all of them have been married. This lasted for a long time, and he seriously wanted to find a partner, but he encountered "love misfortunes" many times.
Because most of his works are romantic and gorgeous, and because his works are loved by many women, even actress Carina Lau is his loyal fan, which shows that Zhou Chunya should have a good rapport with women. As a creator, his works are his sustenance and expression. Several of Zhou Chunya's emotions are reflected in his paintings.
They met each other when they were young, and they drew a portrait for each other, including "Woman with Type A Blood" for his second wife, and the famous "Woman with Blood Type A" for his third wife. Peach Blossom and Red Man". According to him, he got divorced because he was under too much pressure to paint and resorted to gambling to relieve the pressure. This often reversed his wife's schedule and often aroused her dissatisfaction, which eventually led to various conflicts and the breakup.
Zhou Chunya’s relationship experience is often criticized. People have different opinions on his attitude towards relationships. Some people think that he is sentimental and irresponsible towards relationships. Some people think that he is a romantic, at least for every relationship. Very serious. In fact, like many artists, Zhou Chunya's wives were once his muses. He painted a portrait of his first wife, and "Woman with Type A Blood" was created for his second wife. "Peach Blossom Red" was created for his third wife; "Peach Blossom Red" was created for this third wife. Life will eventually find stability
In fact, Zhou Chunya's love is still very early. His first child, his eldest daughter Zhou Brown, was born in 1981, and they are all married now. Now living with Zhou Chunya is his fourth wife. The two met at a charity auction and gradually became familiar with each other because of their mutual interest. They got married in a low-key manner in early 2013.
At the end of the same year, 58-year-old Zhou Chunya finally gave birth to her second child. She claimed that she had completed an amazing work of art. Although he is over sixty years old, Zhou Chunya's creative source is still endless, but his style has undergone new changes. While his older works with strong colors sell for astronomical prices, he prefers to produce works with subtle colors and delicate lines.
But this is not surprising. He said that contemporary art is the creator’s own language and should be expressed by his own experience. To this day, with a happy family, he often plays with his son, growing flowers and grass, losing the enthusiasm and excitement of his youth. This quiet and warm painting style may be a reflection of his state of mind.
Over the years, as his youngest son became famous, Zhou Chunya was very happy. He personally named the child and asked Li Xianting, the "godfather of Chinese contemporary art", to check it. Finally, he decided to call him Zhou Ziyan, which can be seen from the name. , their youngest son has placed their greatest hope on the couple, and it is also the focus of their lives now.
Immortal works of art often have an authenticity, which is an authentic human fantasy naturally revealed by the creator, which is the most common touch for mankind. They use flowing colors to express their sincere emotions. They use warm colors when they are happy and cold colors when they are melancholy. They have no goals and no frames, and they confess themselves cleanly. Creation is a kind of addiction. In fact, there is no art, only living lives.