“Chang Qing provides us with an interesting experiment, which is about the collapse of the traditional language of ink painting and the multiple expressions of materials of ink painting.”
Li Xiaoshan, Art Critic, Director of The Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, China

LONDON — Chang Qing (b.1965), an established portrait painter from China will present his version of contemporary realism to a British audience for the first time, at his forthcoming solo exhibition (Un)social Realism at Cookhouse Gallery Chelsea College of Arts this September (15th-20th).

As endorsed by Chairman Mao in the 1970s, “The life of the people…provide literature and art with an inexhaustible source, their only source”; socialist realism has been deeply rooted in modern and even contemporary Chinese art history. Although Chang Qing is a painter of “the life of the people”, you will not find any propaganda DNA in his works. In Chang Qing’s first London exhibition entitled (Un)social Realism,  he will present 30 works created between 2012 and 2015, illustrating the often difficult yet interesting life and strained social conditions of the most ordinary people, in the fast-developing Chinese society. In these paintings, there are no perfect heroes, but instead a mixed cocktail of blind masseuses, potbellied street-food eaters, bombastic businessmen, lonely gate guards, and mischievous domestic cleaners. Through carefully observed compositions, Chang Qing unveils the current social issues of the marginalized lower classes in a contemporary, urbanized China, chronicling like few others, their all but invisible existence.

“The series (Un)social Realism are simply my observations and representations of daily life. These ‘clips’ may be outwardly trivial but I pay attention to the lives lead closest to me, and I’m interested in the true state of life of people around me. Unavoidably, this series also contains my own judgment and interpretation of what I see” says Chang Qing.

Chang Qing created the series (Un)social Realism based on the daily snapshots taken by his smartphone or camera over the period of 2012-2015. Although smartphone and social media penetrate our life exponentially, and there are countless selfie-portraitures generated every second, Chang Qing still sees the irreplaceable meaning of the existence of portrait painting today. He believes, “painting, in particular portrait painting, is a pure and magical act, which will be permanently the preserve for those with the talent and innate ability of draughtsmanship.”

Teaching oil painting at China Academy of Art for more than two decades, Chang Qing is best known for his oil painting. However, Chang Qing painted the series (Un)social Realism all with ink and rice paper, the media of Chinese traditional painting. The shifting from canvas to rice paper, is not only because of the influence by the artist’s father who was an ink painter, but also Chang Qing’s relentless endeavour of seeking changes in his artistic career. By combining his advantages benefiting from years of accumulated experience in oil painting, Chang Qing is ambitious to bring something new to the field of Chinese ink painting today and innovate ink painting in his way.

As Li Xiaoshang says, a daring Chinese art critic who provocatively claimed the dead end of traditional Chinese painting and criticized the nihilism in 1985,“Chang Qing’s works announced the other end that ink painting can achieve, instead of utilizing any ready-made templates and schema”.

(UN)SOCIAL REALISM – CHANG QING SOLO EXHIBITION at Cookhouse Gallery, Chelsea College of Arts (16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4JU) will open daily 15 -20 September 2016.

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Notes to Editors
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Chang Qing was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China in 1965. He started painting enthusiastically as a child. He studied oil painting at China Academy of Art and became a teacher at the school after his graduation in 1989. Currently, Chang Qing lives and works in Hangzhou as a professional artist, as well as the professor of the Oil Painting Department at China Academy of Art. His paintings have been widely exhibited in China as well as in Singapore, Japan, Germany, USA, etc. Paintings by Chang Qing have also been acquired by leading museums and art institutions in China, such as the Shanghai Art Museum, the National Art Museum of China, and Zhejiang Art Museum.

Selected exhibitions include:

1987 The 1st Chinese National Oil Painting Exhibition　 Shanghai Art Museum , Shanghai, China
1989 The 2nd Chinese National Oil Painting Exhibition　National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1996 Shanghai Biennale Exhibition of Chinese Oil Painting Art　Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1996 The Grand Exhibition of Chinese Portraits of Hundreds Years Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1997 Exhibition of 100 Years’ Chinese Portraiture Art　National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1999 The 9th National Art Exhibition, Bronze Prize　Shanghai, China
2002 Solo Exhibition of Chang Qing　Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2002 Strategy on the Paper — Works on Paper Invitational Exhibition　Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
2011 My Land, My People　Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2013 Portrait of the Times — Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary ART  Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
2014 To Colour to Ink—The Academic Invited Exhibition at Liu Haisu Art museum Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2015 The Power of People National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
​

“常青对中国这座‘世界工厂’中每一个小齿轮的关注与描绘也使得中国的经济变革历程有了个体化的维度和视角。”
——安德鲁·卡尔曼
英国克瑞恩·卡尔曼画廊的继承人、前任伦敦艺术经销商委员会 (SLAD)
执行理事、前任英国泰特美术馆“新艺术”赞助人委员艺术品收购部主席

伦敦 —— 来自中国美院的艺术家常青即将于2016年9月在伦敦艺术大学切尔西学院(Chelsea College of Arts, UAL) 举办其在英国的首个个人作品展——《(何处)立足社会现实主义》。该展览举办时间正值英国皇家美院(Royal Academy of Arts)呈现英国画家大卫·霍克尼(David Hockney)《82幅肖像与一幅景物》新作展以及伦敦蛇形画廊(Serpentine Gallery)推出美国当代现实主义代表人物亚历克斯·卡茨(Alex Katz)个展《急光》，“现实主义”和“肖像”再度回归艺术焦点。艺术家常青也将通过他的艺术作品向英国观众阐释他所理解和呈现的“中国当代现实主义”。

毛泽东的著名言论“人民生活… …是一切文学艺术的取之不尽、用之不竭的唯一的源泉”曾对中国近现代美术史的发展有着深远的影响；而缘起于苏联的社会主义现实主义风格在中国更是有着深厚的根基。尽管常青是一位描绘“人民生活”的艺术家，但他的作品却丝毫不带有政治宣传的基因，有的却是当今生活在飞速发展的中国社会里那些最普通的百姓和他们或艰难或有趣的生活状态。《(何处)立足社会现实主义》伦敦艺术大学常青个人作品展将呈现艺术家于2012 – 2015年间用水墨创作的30幅当代现实主义肖像作品。常青的画作里没有高大全的英雄人物，反而是爱“看”电视剧的盲人按摩师、小酒馆里大肚便便的食客、夸夸其谈唾液横飞的生意人、一脸委屈的小门卫、不修边幅开怀大笑的钟点工成了主角。常青通过其细致的观察和出众的艺术表现力，为我们展现了处在城市化、工业化进程中生动多样、但又往往被我们忽视的社会百态。而这正是常青不同于众多当代艺术家的地方——他落脚于社会日常琐碎的生活，以诚恳的目光洞察众生。在前任英国泰特美术馆“新艺术”赞助人委员艺术品收购部主席、英国克瑞恩·卡尔曼画廊的继承人安德鲁·卡尔曼先生看来，“常青对中国这座‘世界工厂’中每一个小齿轮的关注与描绘使得中国的经济变革历程有了个体化的维度和视角。”

常青说，“为时代造像、为众生造像的动念一直都有。这些作品是我对生活的观察与表现，是一些日常生活的片段。我关注离我最近的生活，关注当下及周边人群的真实状态。通过对这些东西描绘，更多注入的是我的选择和判断。”

《(何处)立足社会现实主义》系列作品的创作内容是基于常青在2012-2015年间日常通过手机或相机所拍摄的真实照片。随着智能手机和社交媒体日渐入侵我们的生活，尽管每秒钟都有不计其数的自拍式肖像产生，常青依然认为当代现实主义肖像作品有其不可替代的重要意义。他坚信，“绘画是为造型艺术天才们永久保留的一片神奇净土。肖像绘画亦是如此。”

在中国美术学院油画专业从事教学和创作二十余年的常青，更让众人熟知的身份是“油画家”， 然而《(何处)立足社会现实主义》系列作品的创作媒介却是中国水墨。从画布到宣纸的转变，不仅仅与常青父亲作为水墨画家的身份和其成长环境的耳濡目染有关，更与常青一贯探索革新的艺术创作精神有关。常青视这种转变为“一场令人兴奋的冒险之旅”，迫不及待地将他在油画创作中日积月累的经验植入到传统的水墨画中来，创作出一种崭新的绘画面貌。

曾在1985年就宣告中国画走入穷途末路的艺术批评家李小山这样评价常青的创作，“常青的水墨画为我们提供了一种独一无二的绘画样式…他宣告了水墨画可以达到的另一端—–回归绘画的本源，以最贴近自身的方式，揭示出水墨画效能的另一种可能性：不利用任何现成的模板和图式，而是把自己的体悟、经验和美感直接投射到画面之中。常青给我们提供了一个有趣实验—–有关水墨画传统语言的破产，以及水墨画材料的多丛表现力。”

《(何处)立足社会现实主义》——伦敦艺术大学的切尔西艺术学院常青个人作品展将在Cookhouse展厅于 2016年9月15 – 20日10.00-18.00向公众开放。

关于常青
常青，1965年生于中国四川成都。他于1989年从中国美术学院油画系毕业并留附中任教，现为中国美术学院油画系副教授。其作品曾在中国以及包括新加坡、日本、德国、美国等海外地区的美术馆和艺术机构多次展出，并被包括中国美术馆、上海美术馆以及浙江美术馆在内的中国多个重要美术馆永久收藏。

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