Oil on Canvas
150x130cm
Zeng Chuan Xing’s Paperbride series of realism paintings is executed with oil on canvas. Inspired by a close friend whose failed marriage caused him to reflect on the meaning and nature of marriage in today’s fast changing society, Zeng’s brides exude a touching melancholia. His paintings reflect on how marriage is built on the foundations of our frail mortality, and the high aspiration and ideals of love, emotional dependency and romance is fragile and can be as ephemeral as the paper in this motif. Zeng Chuanxin has an incredible sense for details and his award winning works have been critically acclaimed both within and outside of China.
1974 Born in Neijiang, Sichuan Province
1999 Graduated from the Oil Painting faculty of the Central Nationalities University of Beijing.
Currently residing in Beijing as a professional artist
Since 2001, he has participated in numerous art exhibitions both within and outside of China.
Zeng’s work has been heavily auctioned with Guardian, Hanhai and other auction houses. Two of his paper bride series attracted ferocious bidding and eventually set record high hammer prices in the 2007 and 2008 Christie’s auctions
2001 Bronze medal, Inaugural “21 Century Oil Painting Exhibition of China”
2002 Silver medal (Hunan area), “National Art Exhibition in Memory of the 60th anniversary of the
speech of Comrade Mao Zedong in Yan'an Forum on Literature & Art”, Hunan Museum,
Changsha
2003 Outstanding award, 'Hand by Hand into the New Century—the 3rd Exhibition of Selected
China Oil Paintings”, Beijing National Art Museum of China
2003 "17th Exhibition of New Works of New Artists", Beijing Yan Huang Art Museum
2004 “10th National Art Exhibition", Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou
2005 Bronze medal, Sixth National Baihua Award
2006 11th Armory Show, New York
2006 Olyvia Oriental Ltd, London, UK
2007 ‘The Paperbride’, Olyvia Oriental Ltd, London UK
2008 ‘Infinite Beauty’, solo exhibition with Olyvia Oriental, London UK
2008 Exhibition at Asian Contemporary, Budja Gallery, Salzburg, Germany
2009 5 Artists’ Figurative Art Exhibition, Hunan University Art Museum
2009 ‘Paperbride in Red - Fish’ entered into 10th National Fine Arts Exhibition in Wuhan, Hubei
Province Art Museum
2009 ‘Paperbride in Blue - Red Rose’ entered into exhibition organized by the National Oil Painting
Academy in Beijing
2010 ‘Paperbride in Red – Twilight’ entered into China Artists’ Exhibition at the Beijing Civil Service
Hall
2011 ‘Paperbride in Red – Dusk’, ‘Paperbride in Red – Horizon’ and ‘Paperbride in Red –
Emerald Lake’ entered into the Young Artist Invitational Exhibition organized by the Manet
Grasslands Art Center in Beijing
2011 Entered into the 2011 China Oil Painters Invitational Exhibition organized by the China Oil
Painting Academy in Beijing
2011 Solo Exhibition at the Old Parliament Arts House in Singapore ‘Paper Brides – Myths’
organized by the Heng Artland gallery
2011 Invited to participate in the Venezuela Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition organized by
the Venezuelan National Contemporary Art Museum
The genesis of the Paperbride series can be traced back to May 2003. While waiting for the Central Academy of Fine Arts post-graduate course application to open, Zeng Chuan Xing caught up with a good friend. The friend was going through marriage difficulties and the topic of conversation naturally turned to the problems of marriage.
Their conversation reflected on the increasing liberalization of society and how the accompanying changing social values have had profound impact on the institution of marriage in China. Expectations of love, emotional dependency and the romance of marriage have all increased dramatically, yet the notion that marriage is permanent and needs to be nurtured has conversely weakened.
Returning to Changde in Sichuan, Zeng was unable to sleep for a few days. He continued to reflect on how marriage is built on the foundations of our fragile mortality. The aspirations, love and romance in a marriage often fades away with time, ground away in a thousand forgetfullnesses and insensitivities, unbeknownst in the rush of our everyday lives. People frequently have their eyes forward, looking to the next horizon, often forgetting the best time is in the now. Ironically, one often looks back with bittersweet regret at times passed when we should have recognized that the moment - being transient - should have been treasured.
His friend in Beijing had at one time been the dreamy romantic bride who could not have imagined the dispiriting sorrow of today. Whether it is fickle fate or perhaps the world just moving too quickly, the time of marital bliss and happiness is not indefinite.
We gather a baggage of worries, fears, sadness and pain as we pass through our life’s journey. Yet along the way are the moments of happiness that should be treasured in our memories. Zeng Chuanxing feels that as an artist, it is imperative that he brings this message through his art; his lovely, melancholic brides bring with them the freshness and hopes of a new marriage but at the same time, a warning that happiness is not something to be taken for granted and can be as ephemeral as paper.
Paper Brides Series - Emerald Lake
Paper Brides Series - Horizon
Paper Brides Series - Red Bride, City In Mist
Paper Brides Series - The City In Mist
Paper Brides Series - The Distant Home
Paper Brides Series - Twilight City
Paper Brides Series - Yellow Bride
