4/04/2006

Yun-Fei Ji

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice follow up.
Did this artist do the Marie Walsh Sharpe program?

Anonymous said...

here is a close up im am inclined to enjoy these, if not just for the really tight detailed dynasty technique.

JD said...

I love this work so much. . . hard to tell from the jpeg, of course, but they're such an interesting amalgam of eastern and western drawing styles. The stories he tells seem to be about global culture meeting ancient culture; at least that's my read on it. The drawing line is kind of Ensorish; nervous but also flowing. So beautiful. . . and yes, he did have a Sharpe studio. He shows at James Cohan.

zipthwung said...

Too fussy. I prefer the compositions of

zen
or japanese stuff

I don't know that much about Chinese art (Taoism, Tantrism, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism (K'ung Fu Tsu), Nationalism) but I did see the travelling show from China - the last officially sanctioned one. Reminded me of some of the stuff they churn out at the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan (academicism).

In that sense these are traditional...at least they dont try to be modern in the western style....

And I'm all for narrative.

But I hate the color palette - I know there are philosophical underpinnings, but c'mon, gimme some!!!! Just a dash...
Take your sensitive tea stains and dump them in the east river.

Mark Barry said...

It is a good follow up, painter. Reminds me of Ben Shahn, or maybe the Asian influence is on him.

Anonymous said...

anonymous paint teacher -

interesting followup to previous artist. yun-fei is a wonderful artist! who CAN draw in contrast to the last artist huey who doesn't display a capacity to draw (just cut and paste stencils with some generic painterly affectations which she does OK). ability to draw is a key reason why his work is SO SO much stronger. he can invent his landscape populated by figures that are credible and come from the painting/drawing process

operation enduring artist said...

i believe that Pierogi in Brooklyn still has some of Yun-Fei Jis work in their flat files. it is well worth looking at them up close. wonderful detail and paint quality. he has a great ability to create atmosphere and light using touch and urgency, something very difficult to do with water mediums.

Anonymous said...

Yun-Fei was the youngest student at Beijing's Central Academy...very classically trained--what gets me is the variation of texture in the work. I believe the image posted here is from a print, but no matter what, it takes skill to work the brush in so many ways!
Isn't he on a Rome Prize now?

Anonymous said...

a little better than huey,but nothing terribly good

Anonymous said...

this is beautiful! visually challenging and interesting! In person the detail and paint application is quite lovely! Glad to see some work that is technically and creatively engaging

Anonymous said...

I agree. The collage from this artist is authentic, a real synthesis of reality and some inventive, creative substance. The previous painting and this demonstrate the difference between analysis and synthesis. This collage is both cohesive and distict with texture at the same time.

Anonymous said...

I like this work. Definittely see Ensor and Shahn. The problem I have with them is that the parts are better than the whole. But his pockets of creative drawing and brushwork are excellent. This could be compared to Darger as both their work reads as book pages...

Anonymous said...

these avoid the illustrative book trap trend for me as i read it more as a chinese wall hanging like a precious contemporary version of one found in most restaurants in chinatown.

zipthwung said...

illustrative book trap. I dont think its a trap at all I love William Steig don't you?

Could someone please be a bit more critical? No? Ok, I will.
I dont think this jpg shows any more resolution to the figure ground problem than the previous other than maybe some overlapping imagery, a trick they learned one sunny afternoon illuminating manuscripts. Ho Lee was pretty stoked, being a monk of meagre means. Across the continent Frater Jesus smirked like a bhodisatva. "God is great," he said, but secretly he knew it was his skill alone that got him into the end zone.

Bruehgel rather than Hieronymous Bosch.
Right?
Right!

God I am smart.

You know collectors should all get rubber stamps and sign the artists work whe they get it. It would be like a passport system they have for the kids at the museum.

In conclusion I hate Morris "Zen palate" Graves, Mark Tobey and anyone else making dingy ash tray on linen grunge.

Cash in on the culture clash bro! Pacific rim can blow me.

Anonymous said...

they are beautiful in person. he is talented. i see the shahn reference in the figures... ensor a bit... and that drumming man really reminds me of nordstrom. but what's most interesting to me are the elements of traditional eastern painting within a tilted-up western folk painting perspective. makes for an uncomfortable, charged composition. very ominous.

Anonymous said...

Mark Tobey is amazing.

zipthwung said...

Ominous? Are you shitting me? Like Grant Wood forsaged the rise of the closed circuit surveilance camera? I'm going to bring my white gloves to the flat file and take a look. If I cant see it the glove come off and all the dirty oil is gonna soak right in.

Anonymous said...

yeah, ominous. i'm not surprised that you didn't notice.

Anonymous said...

Mark Tobey is awful.

You want critical, Zip? Well, these colors are brutally dull. Worse than Dzama. Brown, grey, black, more brown... ugh. Maybe it's 'of the tradition' of chinese landscape painting, but it's pretty rough.

But I like the wonky space in the pictures. Nothing is worse than classical deep space 2-point perspective...

Mark Barry said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
JD said...

Hmmm, I don't find Yun-Fei's color to be dull. It's very unsaturated, but he plays subtle cools against warms and relative brights against grayer tones. I think grays and browns can be fabulous, just as bright color, if used clunkily, can be deadly dull.

zipthwung said...

ww im watching you now. Surprised?
Ed Pashke is a great colorist.
I outline everything I do in black, straight from the tube. Cloisone ™ is my middle name, dont use it up.

Anonymous said...

pistols at dawn, jd?

Anonymous said...

Hmm, glass eyes abound here.

JD said...

bb, no way! I'm not a fighting woman.

Anonymous said...

i'll fight you bb.

Anonymous said...

I've been wanting a piece of you too, w.w. We'll use switchblades and tie our wrists together like it the "Beat It" video.

Anonymous said...

bb and ww. love connection.

Anonymous said...

I would really like to get in some of that bb and ww action. Sounds very hot!

Anonymous said...

in as much as there is the possibility for universal concepts "sex", "dance", "mother", "home", "war", "food" there exists the possibility for universal Art and a means to discuss.

Anonymous said...

well, yeah, but does that have anything to do with what makes the art enjoyable?

Anonymous said...

Listen to me whine

Anonymous said...

"enjoyable" is as subjective as "looks good"

it allows communities of pleasure to form.

Anonymous said...

what exactly do you have against "subjective"?

Anonymous said...

off topic but does anyone want to get me some hookers?

Anonymous said...

Pop art- shanghai style - but pop nonetheless.