Chen Hanqing

Chen Hanqing

Details
1996
Born in Yongchun, Fujian, China

2020
Bachelor’s Degree, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China

2021
Postgraduate Studies, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China

Chen Hanqing

“The strokes on paper resemble murmured soliloquies, evolving like a gentle stream, flowing with expressions.”

Born in Yongchun, Fujian in 1996, Chen Hanqing started learning sculpture techniques from his father, Mr. Chen Rongchun, from a young age. He graduated from the Academy of Chinese Painting, Flowers and Birds Painting major at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 2020, earning a bachelor’s degree. In 2021, he continued his studies as a master’s candidate at the Academy of Chinese Painting at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, under the guidance of Professor Liu Wanming and Professor Wang Defang. He is a participant in the National Young Talent Painter Training Programme, a young painter at the Li Keran Art Institute, a special-invited painter at Dalian Art Academy, a special-invited painter at the Ren Bonian Memorial Hall, a member of the Beijing Gongbi and Heavy Colour Painting Association, and the founder of the ReadWhite Art Space.

Artistic Exploration

Chen Hanqing, born into a family renowned for ceramic sculpture in Dehua, often played with clay in his father’s studio, completely absorbed in the experience. In the realm of painting, he displayed extraordinary talent and proficiency. As a 90s-born artist, he approaches artistic creation with a blend of reverence and curiosity for traditional culture. Eager to challenge and experiment with various materials, textures, characteristics, and artistic techniques, he explores the boundless possibilities of art. This spirit of continuous exploration and pursuit of diversity allows his works to gradually break free from traditional constraints in the language of art, forming a unique and rich painting style. For instance, he employs highly dramatic shadows to create imaginative psychological spaces. His paintings exhibit a coexistence of reality and illusion, incorporating post-modern spatial elements onto a foundation of traditional appropriation. Within the elegant and simple ink tones, a hint of modern and vibrant colours emerges, adding a contemporary touch to his work.

Artist Statement

“Perhaps related to the environment of my upbringing, both of my parents are sculptors. Curiosity has always led me to ask countless questions since childhood, typically in the form of ‘What is it?’ and ‘Why?’ My parents would patiently answer, and these responses might be about materials, images, and even expressions of some symbolic or metaphorical spiritual sustenance. In my naivety, I seemed to become curious and attentive to images and their implications.

René Magritte once said, ‘Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.’

As I progressed in my professional learning and growth, the desire to express and question the surface and hidden, images and implications, became stronger within me. I also attempted to use the methods I had mastered to express or narrate.

Painting is, in fact, relatively personalized, especially Chinese painting. Its expression is more implicit and profound. In terms of historical context, Chinese literati painting is a transformation of humanistic spirit, an externalisation of creators seeking their ideal inner world, attempting to avoid the introverted expression of real life. In my creative ideals, I also pursue this, although in terms of technique, it is more rooted in the traditional Chinese meticulous painting technique of ‘three minerals and nine dyes.’ Perhaps lacking the uninhibited joy and pleasure of ‘casual brushwork for self-amusement,’ but in a serene state, the subtle rendering between brushstrokes is more like murmuring to oneself, a trickle of expression flowing and developing.”

Evaluation by Lin Rongsheng, Researcher at the China National Academy of Painting and Doctoral Supervisor

“Han Qing’s creations, whether in painting or porcelain sculpture, fully demonstrate a young artist’s reflections on historical culture and his own inner existence in the current era. Although his methods of expression are very traditional, and the scenes in his works are highly narrative, the subjective consciousness and multidimensional concepts he employs unquestionably reveal a young person, nurtured in an academic environment, using art to express his understanding of the world. His work showcases his creative consciousness and his ability to create, which is built on a solid foundation of form and structure.”