When it comes to Jin Yucheng, people often first think of his novel "Blossom" which won the Mao Dun Literature Award. After "Blossom", he began to immerse himself in the world of painting, starting a life of "writing with his left hand and painting with his right". "Blossom - Jin Yucheng Solo Exhibition" opened at Nanchizi Art Museum on August 8, presenting more than 100 original works created by Jin Yucheng in the past ten years, covering various periods and series, most of which are shown for the first time. In the painting, there are not only the old events and scenes of Shanghai but also the imaginary world.
Ten years ago, Jin Yucheng opened the door to the creation of illustrations by taking advantage of the publication of the novel "Blossom". "Writing articles by myself and then matching pictures by myself is a kind of happiness that I can devote myself to."He tries to touch "the places where words cannot reach" with his drawings, and in the study where he used to write, he picks up ballpoint pens, watercolors, crayons, etc., and records flashes of inspiration on the backs of printed paper and manuscript paper with magazine headers. And he often puts pen to paper late at night, sometimes until 3:00 in the morning.
One of the highlights of this exhibition is the concentrated appearance of the illustrated manuscripts of "Blossom". One of the illustrations of "Blossom" depicts the scene of A Bao and Betty sitting on the roof of Sinan Road in Shanghai in the 1960s. "The tiles are warm, and the boats on the Huangpu River roar." The novel "Blossom" begins here. In this novel, Jin Yucheng narrates alternately in two-time spaces, taking the three protagonists Shanghai Sheng, A Bao and Xiao Mao as clues, radiating dozens of characters living in Shanghai Bund in the two-time spaces.
As early as his youth, Jin Yucheng was already full of interest in painting. Sycamore and Figs exhibited this time was created in 1976 and is the only draft preserved from that year. The exhibition focuses on Jin Yucheng's works. In the past ten years, there have been nearly 500 paintings by him, with different sizes, shapes and themes, full of imaginative imagination, and a combination of symbolism and mystery. The exhibition selected more than 100 of them, trying to outline the artist's creative changes.
Behind Jin Yucheng's free and casual brushwork, what he cares about is the fate and dignity of human beings in the great era. Such as the sympathy for the elderly and infirm in Lunch, and the concern for the fate of human beings and the future world in Ideal. Many works interweave surreal imagery with the daily real world, such as Jing'an Temple and North Wind, which make urban street scenes both real and illusory, as if they can only appear in a dream.
On the second floor of the exhibition hall, in the natural light pouring down from the skylight, there is a work of the artist's "Book Title Series". Jin Yucheng loves cats. His online name is "Old Cat". No matter whether he is reading, writing or painting in his study, he must be accompanied by cats. Through the restoration of the artist's working scene, this work allows the audience to understand Jin Yucheng's dual identity as a writer and a painter. At the end of the exhibition, Jin Yucheng's publications and manuscripts were exhibited, reminding the audience that art and literature complement each other for Jin Yucheng, seemingly parallel but always intersecting.
"The ubiquitous metaphors, criticism and curiosity constitute the unique affection and philosophical thinking in Jin Yucheng's works. These temperaments and strengths, combined with language and media experiments, embody charming charm", curator Xie Xiaodong said. The exhibition is co-sponsored by Nanchizi Art Museum and Yunzhi Culture and will last until October 29.
