Cheng Yong

Cheng Yong (程勇 born 1983 in Yingkou, Liaoning Province) is a contemporary Chinese painter based in Shenyang, North-East China. He graduated from Luxun Academy of Fine Art which is one of the leading fine art academies in China. He now lives and works in Shenyang, China.

Through personal perception, Cheng Yong deconstructs the real and rational life and reconstruct it in his paintings so to suit the purpose of his art. He prefers to assemble into an imagination-evoking illusory situation and images from different times and spaces and those between the old-fashioned and the fashion which are irrelevant to each other or which even oppose mutually. The expression both illusory and real and both false and true has created span in time and space to generate imagination, allowing the audience to drift between the illusion and reality, thus reaching the inner unity between the mental and the objective images.

Male protagonists in Cheng's paintings are mainly the artist himself, while female protagonists represent the image of the artist's wife. Be it standing, lying down, gazing at oneself or at the viewer, the portrayed characters interact silently with viewers in a subtle manner found exclusively in an Eastern context. By reflecting upon oneself just as one does in front of a mirror, Cheng perceives and explores his own identity and existence while revealing the detachment and loneliness of the general public in the digital era.

Merge between classical Realism and Eastern Impressionism Cheng's oil paintings express in an accurate and exquisite manner the traditional ambience prevalent in Chinese paintings. Recently, Cheng employed skills such as blank-leaving and made use of metaphors to take his works to the next level, transforming the appearance of an Eastern ambience into a more profound spirit found exclusively in the Chinese culture. This new style appears not randomly but is the fruits of the artist's awareness of and identification with his own culture. Just as Cheng said in his self-narrative, “I have endeavored to connect contemporary cultural phenomenon with local traditions in the past years to merge the two into one. This integration has repeatedly occurred in my works because I firmly believe that it is this kind of spiritual transcendence that will move and resonate with viewers. In turn, oil painting, originally a Western art, will now become a form of art which expresses one's thoughts and emotions."

Cheng's perspective towards culture identity sets him apart from his counterparts. Different from traditional Western paintings, Cheng's works showcase his mastery of Realism and his subtle ways of expression, while elements integrating the past and the present, as well as the juxtaposition of conflict and harmony are manifested. These qualities accentuate the Cheng's uniqueness among the young generation of artists. Cheng's recent works Ending．Starting and Chinese Classic-Monkey on the Horse are both sophisticated interpretations of the spirit of Chinese culture. Cheng selected themes representing Chinese philosophy. The overall image of his paintings paid homage to Chinese calligraphy, as they included blank-leaving techniques, a new artistic style in contemporary oil painting. Images of Cheng’s paintings include classical elements, while real characters such as the artist himself or his wife were also portrayed. Cheng's ingenuity connects various elements representing ancient and contemporary cultures, creating an intriguing contrast between the past and the present.

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