Ye Yongqing

Acrylic，Mixed media on canvas
72.5 x 61 cm.28 1/2 x 24 in.
Signed in Chinese and Pinyin，dated on lower right
LITERATURE Anna Ning Fine Art，Hong Kong，China，Ye Yongqing--A Journey Of Art，Mar 2008，p.131.
EXHIBITED Hong Kong Arts Center，Hong Kong，China，As Free As A Bird：An Exhibition of Works by Ye Yongqing，5-9 April，2008.
Ye Yongqing b. 1958
Ye Yongqing was born in Yunan，and studied together with Zhang Xiaogang and Zhou Chunya in Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. He was also in the same cohort with Luo Zhongli，He Duoling and other figures whose names would be written on art history.However，he avoided the scar art and nativist realism of the last generation，and was influenced by masters of modernism in the west at an early stage. As early as 1983，his landscape series of ‘Gui Mo
Created in 1998，“Distant News” showed an extensive range of symbols which the artist created with acrylic，collage and other media on canvas. All sorts of combinations such as birds，birdcages，old photos，posters and nudity appear on the piece of work，resembling a collage of stamps. In the mid-nineties，Ye Yongqing was in a ‘graffiti freedom’，his works somewhat in the style of images in Chinese classic text Classic of Mountain
Birds can be found in many places on the piece of work. On the bottom part of the while canvas there is a blue bird depicted in realist style. The contrast between the blue feathers and the red claws responds to the blue and red square in the lower part near the centre of the painting，introducing another bird depicted in a children’s simple drawing style. Depiction of the same element with vastly different styles brings a visual shock to view
“Bird”，created in 2007，is one of the series of concept art which Ye Yongqing started deliberating on in 2000. With the reverse thinking to do ‘slow graffiti’，he has enlarged a bird to the point of losing authenticity. By drawing ordinary yet abstract lines bit by bit with a extremely delicate pen，he purposely shows a careless and spontaneous character and a bird’s true nature. Ye Yongqing loves this contrast and absurdity，which is different from conventional mindset. ‘Graffiti is thought to be quick and simple. If one is to depict something childish in a mature way，and to produce a quick image by a slow process，so that at first glance people would think it is a chil